Last week Princess wanted to create an under-the-sea-world, which in her 4-year-old mind involved making a bunch of jellyfish out of disposable bowls and crepe paper streamers.
She is one of those kids that once an idea gets planted in her head, there is no letting it go. I finally, after listening to days of pleading, took her to the dollar store for some supplies. She made her jelly fish, I hung them from the ceiling, and she spent a few happy days pretending to be “under the sea.”
The point of my little story is that her project left me with several rolls of pink & white crepe paper streamers. I have never really been a big fan of crepe streamers as party decorations, but I didn’t really want to let them go to waste, either.
I started searching the internet for crepe paper ideas and lo and behold, I found these and these and these, and I had an aha! moment. I would make ruffled crepe paper streamers for Trouble’s Sweet Soda Shop party, and they would be fab-u-lous!
Step 1: The crepe paper at the dollar store comes in two-packs, which is enough to make one very looooooong streamer. Using both rolls of crepe paper, overlap the ends as shown. Place on sewing machine & sew for a few stitches (maybe an inch or two). Do NOT backstitch!
Step 2: Leaving the crepe paper pinned under the foot of the sewing machine, tie the two loose threads together before sewing further. This will keep it from unraveling.
Step 3: Begin sewing in a straight line, stretching the crepe paper out fairly taut as you sew. It will automatically begin to ruffle as it goes through the machine.
As you sew, you may have to stop periodically to spread out the ruffled streamer or untwist the yet-unruffled crepe.
Just keep sewing….
…and sewing until the entire length has been ruffled, then be sure to tie up the loose ends. The streamer can be cut to varying lengths, just use a piece of tape to secure the loose threads after cutting.
Be sure to load your bobbin with thread before starting because it will take the entire roll!
I am SO excited about how it turned out. I can hardly wait to show you how I plan to use it for the party! I know it probably seems overly labor intensive but it really was very easy. One full streamer only took me about 15 minutes from start to finish. In my opinion, totally worth the effort!
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Crystal L. (Crafting & Rambling) May 10, 2011 at 5:36 pm
Oh my. I had NO idea you could sew on streamers! And you made them look OH, so CUTE!!! Thanks once again for amazing me with your craftiness! This party will be AWESOME, and I can’t wait to see the end results (via pics, obviously)!
Running Mama May 10, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Love it. Thanks for all your party tips, I’m taking notes for next time I throw a party.
Hugs.
Runningtobeskinny.com
patty May 11, 2011 at 5:47 pm
adorable!
Bohemian Hijabi May 11, 2011 at 8:36 pm
I love it! I am not a huge fan of streamers either, but this is a really nice twist on them. I can’t wait for an opportunity to try it out!
Emily@domesticdiscoveries May 18, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Love, love, love! I am just learning how to sew, and this is definately going on my project list!
Erica September 9, 2011 at 7:19 pm
I’m trying this, but my crepe paper is NOT ruffling at all. I just have a running stitch up the middle. What’s not right?
Ruth September 9, 2011 at 7:58 pm
You may have to play with the tension & stitch length a bit. On my old sewing machine it just worked, but when I tried this again later (after this post was written) on my new sewing machine, I found that I needed to use the longest stitch length and increase the tension to the maximum tension. Hope that helps!
stephanie October 5, 2011 at 2:58 am
so i am having the same problem as erica in the above message and i did what ruth suggested but still had NO success!!! i am not a very good sewer and have a plain sewing machine but i have tried every length and tension in different ways and nothing has worked….seriously this is paper how hard can this really be??
Rachel October 20, 2011 at 10:39 am
I didn’t have much luck either. I could not get nice ruffles. I managed to get bits of nice ruffles but not a nice long continuous stream of them. I tried different things with stitch length etc but wouldn’t call the results great by any means.
Hillary October 26, 2011 at 2:48 am
I also can’t get this go work!! I’ve tried everything! Highest tension & long stitch & also pulling it tight–I have a ton to make for Halloween party & I’m stuck! Help!!
christi April 16, 2012 at 12:50 pm
very cute idea yet I too am not having success. Tried at longest stitch length an increased tension but never got ruffles only breaking thread =(
Molly July 30, 2012 at 5:22 pm
I was just searching photos of these ruffled streamers to see what others had done (I made some and use them quite frequently). I noticed that people were saying it wasn’t working. I held the spool of thread in my hand as I sewed and controlled the tension manually, since I could not get the tension right using the settings on my sewing machine. Just wanted to post that here in case people wanted to try that. Worked like a charm.
Rachel February 6, 2013 at 7:59 pm
Molly you are a life-saver! I was getting nothing until I tried holding the spool while sewing. It works perfectly!
Amy A. November 5, 2012 at 6:24 pm
Thanks so much for this tutorial!! I used it to help with decorations for my daughter’s first birthday party: http://amyagimudie.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/gabriellas-1st-birthday-party/