Lei Lady Crafts


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To create one of these beautiful lei's you will need~
  • 1 1/2-yds. of heavy weight satin (Bridal Satin) lighter weight will work but it is not as full and soft.
  • Needle
  • Heavy quilting thread, you don't want your lei to break on you :-(
  • A measuring guide
  • Scissors


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To cut the first strip of your lei, make a small cut in the selvage edge about 1/4 in. from cut edge of fabric.

With a needle or pin,and with back side of fabric facing you pick one or two threads at the notch, and pull the thread to opposeite selvage.

If the thread breaks use your needle to get it started again.

When you have pulled the thread from selvage to selvage, you can then use this line as a cutting line to get a perfectly straight edge.

With your measuring guide, along top selvage make a notch every 1", 1 1/2", or 2" in. depending on how wide you would like the lei.

The lei at the top of the page was made with 1 1/2" wide strips.


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This picture is an example of a 1 1/2" in. strip, 45"in. long, and the thread being pulled from the center to create the stitching line.

On the very heavy satin I pull four threads from the center of the strips, it eliminates excess bulk and makes the strip easier to twist.


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After you have the threads pulled from the center of the strips, use your needle to fray away the threads at one end of the strip, to within 1/4" in. of the center line.

If you are using lighter weight material that frays easily, it is better not to go quite as close to the center line. After all of this work you don't want your lei to fall apart!

This is also when an extra pair of hands will be appreciated, but if you can't find someone to help :-) go to the hubbys work shop and borrow his vice, use a scrap piece of material around the end of your strip of material so that you don't get it dirty, and place it into the vice and secure it!

Now you will have the tension that you need , if you pull the strip taught, the threads will pull away much easier>


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This is what the strips should look like after the center threads have been pulled and both edges have been frayed.


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To assemble the lei, cut the desired length of thread, adding about 12", and then double that.

Example: You would like your lei to be 45" long when cmpleted. 45" + 12" = 57". Now double that, making a piece of thread 114"long.

Thread your needle, bring loose ends of thread together and tie in a knot, now fold the knotted end down about 5", and tie all 4 strands of thread into a slip knot. This forms a loop. If you don't have an extra pair of hands , or a husband with a vice :-) you can put the loop of thread over a door knob. Starting at one end of a strip sew a 1/4" in. basting stitch down the center of the strip.

After sewing the entire length of the strip, tie the looped end of thread to somethig or someone. You will have a lot of thread,so push the strip to the looped end of thread, when you get to about 5" of the end, take the strip between your thumb and index finger, and push and twist the material around and around the thread, as shown in picture above,repeat with remaining strips, aproxametly 15 strips , depending on the weight of the material, each strip makes about 4" of lei. And before you know it you will have a beautiful lei. It took me about 25 hours to make my first lei, but the more you make the faster you will get. Have fun :-)

Please :-)

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