What to do with old magazines?
Well, when I was single, I kept them (yes, I am a hoarder but I would like to think that I am being sentimental). Since I got married, hubby has limited my books and periodic storage space, in order to keep my yearbooks, novels and old notes from school… I have since learned to sacrifice my magazines. Usually the would lay around the house for a month or so before it hits the recycle bin. Today however, I’ve decided to give my Style Magazine a second life before sending it off to the bin.
Here’s what we did with it – we made a paper skirt!
Pretty, yeah? I was super happy with it and so were my kids. Here’s Jiejie dancing away in it. LOL! It’s perfect for Hawaiian dance as it makes a good substitute for straw skirts.
It was a pity I left my Stitch stuff toy at my mom’s house, otherwise, we could reenact some scenes in Lilo and Stitch… maybe I should bring it home when I visit my mom next week.
If you like our pretty paper skirt, here’s a simple step-by-step for your reference.
What you’ll need:
- pages from old magazine
- paper tape
- scissors
- stapler (optional) I did without it as I was worried it might prick the kids. However, it’s easier to work with stapler for some parts.
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| Plait paper. Giving it about 1cm gap per fold. Repeat the same for 16 pages (for kids). If you are making this for an adult, you will need about double the number of pages. |
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| Join pages together by slotting in the last fold of each page. |
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| Place pages on the tape. |
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| Join 2 or 3 pages together then cut a length of tap using the width of the pages as an estimate |
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| Flatten the plaits. |
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| Fold down the tape. Repeat the same until you have tape up all the plaited pages in stripes of 3 or 2 pages. |
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| Join sections together with tape. For kids, join about 6 pages (2 sections of 3 pages) into 1 row and 7 pages (1 section of 3 pages and 2 sections of 2 pages) into another another row. |
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| Overlap the 2 rows. You may adjust the length of the skirt by moving the 2nd row higher up or lower down. |
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| Once you are comfortable with the length, secure the 2nd row onto the first row with tap. |
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| Cut off the excess from the other end. |
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| Now that we’ve got the plaited section ready, let’s work on the waist band. |
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| Fold paper into half and then into quarter. |
Enclose the top band of the skirt in the fold and secure with glue.
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| Ta-dahh! now the skirt is ready. Simply wrap it round the waist and tap the 2 ends together with tap. |
Now, turn on the music and swing to the tune!
