Introduction: Butterfly Hair Clips - Origami With Fabric

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These butterfly hair clips are made out of rectangular pieces of fabric, folded into little butterflies. It's origami with fabric! This makes them quick and easy to make.

I got the idea from this website, with lots of pretty pictures of the end result and just a few of the origami process. From their pictures I sort of got how it's made, and then I added some stitches in the folding process to make life easier. In this instructable, I'll show you how to make them yourself.

To make these butterfly hair clips, you'll need
  • Fabric scraps in two colors. It's best to use some thin cotton fabric (non-stretch in any case!)
  • Thread
  • Hair clips

Step 1: The Rectangle

The first step is to make a rectangle out of the two fabrics. The butterfly can be any size you want. I made two sizes (see images in the introduction):
  • small: rectangles of 6 x 9 cm (that's 2.36 x 3.54 inch)
  • large: rectangles of 8 x 12 cm (that's 3.14 x 4.72 inch)
Cut two rectangles, one of each fabric, in the desired size.

Next, sew the two rectangles together:
  • Make sure the right sides of the fabric (the sides you'll want showing on the outside) are facing each other.
  • Stitch along three of the four edges.
  • Cut off the corners of the seams (see second image).
  • Turn inside out.
  • Fold the unfinished fourth edge in so no seams will show.
  • Stitch along all four edges to obtain a nicely finished rectangle (see third image).

Step 2: Fold and Stitch (part 1)

Take the rectangle from the previous step, and fold as follows:
  • Determine which fabric you'll want to show as the butterfly's wings (in my case this is the checkered fabric).
  • Fold the rectangle in half with the butterfly's wings' fabric on the outside.
  • Secure this with a couple of stitches from the middle of the fold down (see second image). Make sure not to stitch all the way down, because there you'll need the fabric to be able to move.

Step 3: Fold and Stitch (part 2)

  • Take the bottom right corner and fold over to the left to open a triangle as shown in the first image. Here, you'll benefit from the stitches down the middle from the previous step, as you'll fold the fabric over those stitches.
  • Secure the triangle with a pin.
  • Turn over to the other side, and fold another triangle. Secure with a pin as well.
  • Secure with a few stitches on the places marked by the pins in image 2.

Step 4: Fold Into Butterfly and Attach to Pin

At this point you'll have something as shown in the first image.
  • Lay it out down as shown in image 1, with the triangle pointing down.
  • Take the top right corner (only the top layer) and pull it down over the rectangle. Secure with a pin (see image 2).
  • Pull down the left corner and pull down. Secure with a pin (image 3).
  • Take out the pins, and pull the bottom parts of the butterfly's wings slightly away from each other.
  • Secure each wing with one or two stitches.
  • Attach the butterfly to a hair clip and you're done!