| Hi friends! Bethany here on Tutorial Tuesday to share a quick and easy way to add some dimension to your project with paper pleating. I use this technique to add a fun, ruffled embellishments to some of my layouts & cards, like on these layouts… 
 You can use a variety of different width paper strips for this technique, but here I started with a 1”x 12” strip of patterned paper. Starting at one end of the paper strip, make accordion pleats the length of the strip. (Rather than measuring, I just eyeball my folds as I go, so some folds may be wider than others…and that’s ok! I think it adds a little more interest.) 
After making folds the entire length of your paper, you’ll have something that looks like this… 
Using either a straight stitch or zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, I stitch down the middle of the pleated strip. After it’s stitched, I fluff the folds so it’s not so flat & curl the ends up a bit too. 
Also, I give a tug on the bobbin thread to pull the top thread through to the back, tie a knot to secure the stitches & clip the threads. 
And…if you don’t have a sewing machine, never fear! You can also secure the paper pleats with staples. Here I used the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher and really like how this looks too! 
Another fun variation is to use a border punch to make a decorative edge on your paper strip before pleating and stitching, like I did on this fun Halloween card. 
Try using various border punches, different decorative stitches, contrasting threads & various patterned papers…there are so many fun options when creating these paper pleated ‘ribbons’ for your projects! |