Origami Tie Instructions

The origami tie starts with a square piece of patterned paper. It does not have to be double-sided. Regular weight, one-sided scrapbook paper is the easiest to fold and works well for this piece. You can use double-sided, cardstock weight paper, but it will be harder to fold. In order for this tie to work well with the origami shirt instructions, you will start with a 2 inch square of paper. You can, however, make the tie larger or smaller, depending on how you want to use it in your scrapbook pages, greeting cards, or other paper crafting projects.

The first fold is a simple diagonal. Fold the square piece of paper in half along the diagonal with the patterned side facing out and crease it well.

Open the diagonal fold and place the piece of paper in front of you with the patterned side facing down. Fold one corner into the center crease line as shown.

Fold in the other half of the paper to create a basic kite shape.

Flip the kite over so that the patterned paper side is facing up. The folded end of the kite should be at the top, facing away from you. Fold the top point down towards you, so that the tip is in line with the two side points.

Imagine a line 1/8 inch down from the top and fold the tip back up to that point. Be sure to leave that 1/8 inch space from the top to make your next fold easier.

For this fold, you will fold up the entire point/tip area that you have been working on in the last two steps. However, you will fold it up on the imaginary line that is 1/8 inch from the top - the same "line" that you brought the point up to in the last step. This fold creates a little pleat to separate the top knot from the bottom of the tie.

Flip the tie over one more time and fold each side "wing" in to the center. You can decide how wide or skinny you want the tie to be when you fold in these wings.

Flip the tie over one more time to see your finished piece.

Combine the tie with the shirt by slipping the top of the tie under the shirt fold-over collar pieces. You can use a little adhesive to hold the tie in place or you can add a mini brad in the next and final step.

The mini brad on the finished tie resembles a tie tack. To add a brad to your completed shirt and tie place the piece on a mouse pad, poke a hole with a push pin, and then insert the mini brad. Open the brad prongs on the back of the shirt and you are all done.