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How to fold an origami princess dress

A big square folds into a wide skirt with a white ruffle, a smaller square into a fitted top with a white neckline and sash, a strip into two puff sleeves, and a gold scrap into the bow.

You need: A 15 cm square, an 8 cm square and a 10 × 3 cm strip of the same colour, a 3 × 2 cm gold scrap, scissors and a glue stick. Medium, 13 steps, about 15 minutes.

Steps

  1. Skirt: the ruffle. Start with the big square, coloured side up. Fold a strip at the bottom up to show a white band: the ruffle at the hem.
  2. Skirt: flare it out. Keep the middle third of the top edge. Fold each side behind on a long slant from there to the side edge, a quarter of the way up from the bottom.
  3. Sleeves: new sheet. Set the skirt aside. Take the strip, coloured side up, long edges at the top and bottom.
  4. Sleeves: round the ends. Fold all four corners a little way behind, so both ends of the strip turn round and puffy.
  5. Top: new sheet. Set the sleeves aside. Take the 8 cm square, coloured side up.
  6. Top: neckline and sash. Fold a thin strip at the top down and a slightly wider strip at the bottom up, so two white bands show: the neckline and the sash.
  7. Top: fold the sides behind. Fold each side behind on a slant, a little more at the bottom than at the top, so the top is wide at the shoulders and slim at the waist.
  8. Top: trim the points. Snip off the two little points of the side flaps that peek out above the neckline.
  9. Bow: new sheet. Set the top aside. Take the little gold scrap, gold side up, long edges at the top and bottom.
  10. Bow: fold in half. Fold the left edge over onto the right edge.
  11. Bow: snip a V. Hold the folded edge. Snip a slanted corner off at the top and at the bottom of the fold, both layers at once.
  12. Bow: open it. Open it out again: a little gold bow with a narrow knot in the middle.
  13. Dress her up. Glue the top over the waist of the skirt and the sleeve strip behind its shoulders, ends poking out. Glue the bow on the sash.

Fit for a ball!

Draw sparkles on the skirt with a white pen. Make a whole royal wardrobe in different colours, or dress up a paper doll for the ball.

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