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How to fold an origami sewing machine

Fold one long strip thick, pleat a needle plate into it, then reverse-fold and bend it into a C: base, pillar, arm and needle head. Add a folded silver hand wheel.

You need: Teal paper 33 × 9 cm, a 6 cm silver square, a 2.5 cm red square and glue. Hard, 16 steps, about 30 minutes.

Steps

  1. Edges to the middle. Start white side up. Fold the top and bottom edges in to meet along the middle.
  2. Fold in half. Mountain-fold it in half along the middle, so the top half goes behind. Now it is a long thick strip, teal on both sides.
  3. Needle plate: fold over. Near the left end, fold the end over to the right, front and back layers together.
  4. Needle plate: fold back. Fold it straight back a little further on, leaving a thin pleat. That's the plate under the needle.
  5. Pillar. Outside-reverse-fold the long right end straight up, on a 45° crease from the bottom edge, about a third of the way along.
  6. Arm. Bend the top of the pillar over to the left on a 45° crease, so it runs back above the base as the arm.
  7. Needle head. Bend the end of the arm straight down on a 45° crease, stopping just above the base. That's the head that holds the needle.
  8. Needle. Fold both bottom corners of the head behind on slants, so it ends in a sharp point. That's the needle.
  9. Hand wheel: new sheet. Set the machine aside. Take the silver square, white side up.
  10. Hand wheel: corners in. Fold all four corners in to meet in the middle.
  11. Hand wheel: centre. Fold each point back out a little, for the hub.
  12. Hand wheel: round it. Fold the four points of the square a little way behind, so the wheel is round.
  13. Spool: new sheet. Set the wheel aside. Take the small red square, red side up.
  14. Spool: slim it. Fold the left and right edges behind so they overlap, leaving a strip a quarter as wide as the square.
  15. Spool: rims. Fold a thin strip at the top down and one at the bottom up, in front, so white rims show. That's a spool of red thread.
  16. Wheel and spool. Glue the hand wheel on the right end of the arm, half sticking out past the pillar, and stand the spool on top of the arm.

Stitch stitch!

Slide a scrap of paper under the needle and turn the wheel. Sew a tiny flag for your dolls!

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