Origami Sewing

Okay, the pure inspiration that hit me the other day...combining origami and sewing.  I am sure it isn't an original idea, but it was to me.  I remember making origami samurai hats a lot as a kid and thought, "how cool would that be for my boys!?!"  I then also was trying to think of a way to make it so it would last longer...then it hit me, with fabric!  That would last much longer than newspaper and how hard would it really be?  Now, I can imagine this wouldn't work with all origami, but figured it was worth a shot for the samurai hat.

Excuse the photos, I did not take as much care or time taking them as I should have, but am showing them anyways because I deemed the project a total success!

Items needed:

• Scissors/rotary cutting tool
• Sewing machine and thread
• Ruler
• Iron
• 2 fabrics of your choice

The first step is to cut both of your pieces of fabric 18 inches square.  I then sewed them right sides together with a 1/4" from edge, leaving room to turn.  Clip the corners, turn and press.

Once the edges were pressed, stitched 3/16" top stitch all the way around.  I then started my folding.  I pressed between each fold.  I had this memorized from when I was a kid, but did this quick drawing of my modifications just for you!  This differs slightly from a traditional origami samurai hat...but if you find one you prefer to my drawing, (and I will take no offense) I am sure you can follow that just fine.

A select few of the steps will the shown below in photographs.

I then pinned the last fold, because even with ironing each fold, it was too thick to get it to stay.  In the brim of the hat, I then stitched in the middle to get it to stay, then flipped the hat over and stitched the back side too at the same height.  My boys had fun wearing it and it held it's shape well, which was the biggest shock of all to me!