How to Make Folded Paper Bracelets

Posted on April 29, 2014 29 Comments

We love our water colour paint sets. I mean, we really love them.

I don’t think a week ever goes by when someone doesn’t get out the water colours for a little painting. One of the big kids got them out on the weekend, and before long all four kids were busy filling the paper with colour.

With so much painting, there is always a pile of artwork in my study and recently I remembered a fun way to use it. Cleaning out some paperwork I came across an ancient photocopied sheet of instructions for making folded paper bracelets. I remember making these as a teenager, and I knew my kids would love to transform their paintings into wearable art so we got out the pile of paintings got to work!

To make a folded paper bracelet you need to begin by cutting lots of strips of paper. The strips need to be 12cms x 3cms (bigger or smaller as long as the size ratio is 1:4). We worked on our math skills counting by threes to rule up the paper and then I cut the strips with a paper cutter to make quick because you need a lot of strips! For each bracelet you’ll need between 16 and 22 strips, depending on how big a braclet you want to make. We used 18 strips to make one big enough to fit over my ten year old’s hands.

Begin by folding your strips into the basic shape, my six year old was good at this process.

Then you need to learn the basic construction technique. This is a little tricky but with help and supervision my girls (aged ten) were able to master the process after some learning time.

Once you’ve got the hang of it, keep adding strips. I suggest making the loop part of each strip a little on the large size when working with kids, it will look a little less neat and symmetrical when finished but it makes it much easier for kids to insert the next strip.

Keep adding strips…

And eventually you will have enough to make a bracelet, remember it needs to fit over your hand when it is done, so don’t make it too small!

Our folded paper bracelets turned out even better than I remembered! The colours of the kid’s paintings looked fabulous all folded together.

They would make an unusual and one of a kind gift don’t you think!? We are working on folding a really big one to make a crown!

How To Make a Headband

Ribbon headbands secured to elastic ponytail holders.

I’ve seen many headbands lately which use a loop of cord elastic that is cinched at the center, usually by a metal crimp, to form a figure eight (like Anthropologie’s Oxford headband, Anthropologie’s Fairytale Theater headband, Banana Republic’s double ribbon headband, and Santi’s metallic headband). This inspired me to use two ponytail holders to achieve a similar effect–because I do not have any metal crimps and neither do you, I presume, and, while we’re at it, maybe you don’t even have cord elastic. So here it is, an easy headband using minimal supplies that you probably already have at home.

Materials

• Ribbon, approximately 15-20" (38-51 cm) in length (the length will depend on the size of the ponytail holders you use)
• 2 elastic ponytail holders

Instructions

1. Interlace the 2 ponytail holders together as shown in Diagram 1 and pull on them to form a knot.



Diagram 1

2. Fold one end of your ribbon 0.25-0.5" (6-13 mm) to the wrong side twice, slipping one of the ponytail holders inside the second fold. Without sewing over the ponytail holder, sew the folded end of the ribbon with a rectangle of stitching as shown in Diagram 2.

Tip: If your ribbon is wider than 0.75" (19 mm), you may want to fold or pleat the ribbon at the ends so that it is narrow enough to attach easily to the ponytail holders.



Diagram 2

3. Test the fit by trying on the headband while stretching the ponytail holders to the unattached end of the ribbon. Cut the ribbon to the desired length, adding in extra length for the seam allowance.
4. Repeat Step 2 with the other end of the ribbon and the other ponytail holder, making sure the ribbon is not twisted.