Making cards: How to Make Your Own Iris Folding Patterns from Scratch

How to Make Your Own Iris Folding Patterns from Scratch

This tutorial will show you step-by-step how the pattern for this iris folded stawberry was made from scratch.


As you can see by illustration A you don't need to be great at drawing to make your own patterns for iris folding. It just takes a little practice and patience. To get started, we looked at a strawberry and sketched it's shape.
Illustration A:


We wanted the leaves on the strawberry to be fluffier, so we sketched it again.
Illustration B:


Using a tracing table, we traced our sketch above making adjustments to make it look more like the shape of a strawberry.
Illustration C:


We decided the strawberry wasn't fat enough, so traced it one more time, this time adjusting it to make the strawberry more plump.
Illustration D:


Realizing that the leaves would need to be cut separately from card stock for this pattern, we traced our drawing one more time so the leaves met with the top sides of the stawberry. This is the final drawing we decided to use.
Illustration E:


Since the leaves won't be part of this pattern, after making a copy of the drawing, we erased the leaves with wite-out.
Illustration F:


Here is where we started making the pattern. Iris folding patterns are just sets of shapes, one inside the other and rotated slightly. First we picked a basic shape to use for the strawberry. We decided it looked like a triangle. So, we made the first lines for the pattern by using a ruler to draw a triangle as shown below. These will be the first set of lines and can be numbered 1 through 3.
Illustration G:


The next step is to draw little dots where the next triangle will be drawn. We decided to rotate our pattern to the right by 1/2 inch. You can rotate to the right or left in any size increment you'd like. Rotate less for more lines, rotate more for less lines. We measured 1/2 inch from the corners of the previous triangle and marked the positions with dots.
Illustration H:


Now we simply used a ruler to connect the dots. The next set of lines can be numbered 4 through 6.
Illustration I:


Now, as Illustration H shows above, we measured 1/2 inch to the right from the corners of our previous triangle and drew more dots. We then used a ruler to connect the dots again creating more lines that can be numbered 7 through 9.
Illustration J:


Now just keep repeating what was done in illustrations H and I until there is no room left to continue adding triangles. The center area will be the iris. Erase any extra lines that go outside your design, finish numbering it, and you've got a ready to use iris folding pattern. Have fun making your own patterns!
Illustration K: