Weaving with Paper: Swedish Stars
Some weaving projects require no loom at all! Swedish stars are woven from strips of paper and make a beautiful addition to holiday décor.
Paper opens a whole new world of weaving. These Swedish stars are made using a traditional Scandinavian paper weaving technique. You can choose to work with the most ubiquitous of papers — newspaper, brown craft paper, maps, sheet music, or even pages from used books. On the other hand, it’s also a pleasure to explore specialty papers with lovely textures and colorful patterns. White is elegant and classic, but I’ve also used a variety of colors as well as printed origami paper. You can make these stars in a wide variety of sizes, depending on the length of the paper strips you use.
![Photo of two Swedish stars (one blue and one white) made of strips of paper hanging from a small tree branch on a blue background.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/SQUARE-Swedish-Stars.png)
Swedish Star
You will need:
- 21 paper strips, each 7″ x ½”
- Glue stick
For the Swedish star featured below, I used Magicoo Star Origami Paper, available in precut strips, 1 cm x 24 cm (about ½” x 9½”). I cut these strips into 7″ lengths.
Weaving the Stars (make 2)
Step 1. With the first paper strip laid vertically on your work surface, find its center and put a dab of glue on it. Find the center of a second strip and place it on top of the first strip and at a right angle to it, gluing it in place.
![Photo of two paper strips laid in a cross.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-1.png)
Step 2. Lay down two more vertical strips, one on each side of and parallel to the first, positioning them over the first horizontal strip. Glue them in place. Take care to butt the corner joins exactly.
![Photo of four strips of colored paper woven in a cross.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-2.png)
Step 3. Weave and glue a strip above and below the first horizontal, keeping edges butted tightly as before. Note that these will each go over the two outer vertical strips and under the center one. Add a dab of glue to the center verticals as well.
![Photo of several strips of colored paper woven together with the middle piece folded upward.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-3.png)
Step 4. Weave in four more strips in the same way, one on each side of the three verticals and one on each side of the three horizontals.
![Photo of eight pieces of colored paper strips woven together in the middle to create a large cross.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-4.png)
Step 5. Working at a corner, roll one strip from each side of the corner to the back, and overlap the ends of the strips at right angles as shown. Use a dab of glue to hold the ends in place.
![Photo of two strips of colored paper folded and connected at the end.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-5.png)
Step 6. Repeat step 5 using the next two strips at the same corner.
![Photo of someone folding the ends of a woven paper cross together.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-6.png)
Step 7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 at each corner.
![Photo of a partially completed paper star made out of colored paper.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-7.png)
Joining the Two Stars
Step 8. With wrong sides facing, position the two stars so that the center squares are offset.
Step 9. Draw each remaining strip (the center strips) through to the tip of the other star, and glue it to both layers of corner strips.
![Photo of a hand holding a partially completed woven paper star.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Steps-8-and-9.png)
Step 10. Trim each tip to make a point.
![Photo of hands using scissors to cut the ends of a paper star's points.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-10.png)
Step 11: To create a hanger, glue the remaining strip into a loop and glue that inside one of the star points.
![Photo of a hand holding a colored paper strip loop a the top of the star to create a hanger.](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Step-11.png)
Text and photos excerpted from The Weaving Explorer © 2019 by Deborah Jarchow and Gwen W. Steege. Step-by-step photos by Mars Vilaubi. All rights reserved.