My Paper Crane

Tuesday October 06th 2009, 9:14 am

We have two big parties going on in our house this month. The first will be this Friday to celebrate our oldest son turning 14. His actual birthday is today, so we have some smaller plans tonight. You might remember from last year’s party that he loves color. Last year I was able to find some awesome rainbow streamers, but this year no luck so I decided to make my own.

They are simple and much faster to make then they appear.
#1 Cut strips of streamers. I didn’t measure mine at all, I just cut about 12-15 inch lengths and set aside in large pile.
#2 Sit at your sewing machine with the pile nearby so you can easily grab as you sew. Take the first two strips of varying colored streamers and lay them on top of each other. Don’t worry if one is longer then another. Begin to sew them down the middle slightly pushing the streamers as they are sewn. This will create the ruffle look and takes very little effort to do. You just lightly push along. As you come to the end of the streams grab two more and overlap them with the previous streamers.
#3 Keep sewing until you have a n ice long chain. Snip all threads and wind up until your ready to hang.

Another reason I like these is streamers in general are thought of as disposable. They are thin, cheap, and rip easily. But when sewn like this the streamers become something you can use over and over again. The sewing/stacking/ruffling makes them feel real sturdy and thick. This would go even fast if you want to make a chain of two colors. Then you wont need to cut strips, just lay the streamers on on top of the other and sew, letting the ends unroll as your sewing.

» 30 Comments

i’m in love with this!

Comment by gwen 10.06.09 @ 9:24 am

oooh such a fun idea! thanks for sharing!

Comment by little t jane 10.06.09 @ 9:46 am

Those are LOVELY!

Comment by Lisa 10.06.09 @ 12:32 pm

These are fabulous! What a great idea. I totally want to make some in Halloween colors.

Comment by shannon 10.06.09 @ 12:36 pm

Awesome! I wonder if you could use a ruffle foot too to create these?

Comment by Tiffany Harvey 10.06.09 @ 3:06 pm

i love those! what a great idea! i love sewing through paper – is it just me, or does it make you feel like a rebel? haha :)

Comment by Sam 10.06.09 @ 3:09 pm

BRILLIANT! These look GREAT! Can’t wait to see pix of the party this year. Corn maze on the menu again? ^_^ You’re so my momhero, your kids must have the BEST time growing up around you and your hubbs!

Comment by Amber 10.06.09 @ 3:48 pm

i can’t wait to see these hung!! amazing idea!

Comment by ashleyd 10.06.09 @ 4:19 pm

I LOVE this!! We are having a party for Wesley this Saturday (his birthday is Friday) and I would love to be able to do this for it!! If I can figure out a time, I will, but I’m not sure. Right now we are between houses and my sewing machine is at the new one while we are still living in the other one. Things have been so busy lately! If I can’t this year, I definitely will sometime. I know Wes would love it.

Comment by Heather 10.06.09 @ 6:16 pm

Those are awesome!

Comment by treeathie 10.06.09 @ 6:43 pm

Great idea! I love that they can be reused. I bet holiday colors would be great for Halloween, Xmas etc.!

Comment by Summer 10.06.09 @ 7:55 pm

that was really funny! Make some more up!

Comment by movie 10.07.09 @ 5:16 am

What a great idea! Thank you for posting this!

Comment by Amber 10.07.09 @ 8:05 am

Congratulations on being the mom of a 14 year old!

Wow, you are some sort of mom overacheiver…my 9 yr old had his birthday in August, and he’s still waiting for the party ! (to be fair, it was the second day of school, and the week of the county fair, which we skipped school to be in, so it was a somewhat overscheduled week).

I hope your son has a great birthday!

Comment by coryy 10.07.09 @ 10:37 am

got here this time thru link on twitter @craft, love the idea, the color and the reason, also the idea of keeping them for a next party, i’m all for recycling. have a great party and happy birthday to yr son! 14 is quite an age ;)

Comment by karin 10.07.09 @ 10:42 am

i’d love to see how you decorate with these! they look beautiful!

Comment by liz stanley 10.07.09 @ 10:52 am

WOW, these are GORGEOUS! What a fantastic idea, I just love the way this looks. Thanks so much for the amazing idea, I’ll be linking to this.

Comment by Rachel 10.07.09 @ 3:45 pm

Brilliant. Thanks so much for sharing!

Comment by Melissa 10.07.09 @ 3:48 pm

The coolest idea ever!

Comment by jenny b harris 10.07.09 @ 6:34 pm

AWESOME! Fabulous idea. I’m doing this!!!

Comment by dana 10.07.09 @ 8:58 pm

I did this tonight in yellow and orange for Halloween. I LOVE IT!! What a fun idea – and so easy! Thanks a lot.

Comment by sassypriscilla 10.07.09 @ 9:06 pm

OMG–this is the BEST idea ever! I’ll be passing it along to all my friends. Thanks so much for sharing.

Comment by Suzanne in TX 10.08.09 @ 4:53 am

….very fun and cool!

Comment by karen 10.08.09 @ 6:11 am

I love color too. This is a fantastic idea!!!

Comment by Darlene 10.08.09 @ 6:37 am

Really great idea, further incentive to get my sewing machine in working condition! Check out http://www.creativejewishmom.com (parties or birthday parties category) for some more great party decorations!

Comment by Sara 10.08.09 @ 12:42 pm

I just made two of these. THAAAAAAAAANK YOU!!!! It’s my dad’s 70th birthday party in two days so it this was perfect timing. You’re right — they’re easy to make, and fun, too! I happened to have on hand the streamers that are made to change colour so it made it that much easier. For the second set, I tore off the first strip of colour on one streamer and tacked it onto the other end so the colour combinations would be different. Amazing project! :D

Comment by Ann-Margret 10.08.09 @ 3:12 pm

This is a great idea, Heidi. My favorite ideas are simple, yet high-impact. Yay! Great idea. I would love to link to this from Dollar Store Crafts.