Tropical Origami Shirt Paper Banner

Good morning! Today I’m excited to share this fun tropical origami shirt paper banner with you. It was so fun to create and it turned out so cute. I have been experimenting with origami paper projects recently. Last month I made bowling shirt treat boxes for Father’s Day and couldn’t resist making a few more origami shirt crafts.

The tropical shirt is made in a similar way to the bowling shirts, except it is kept flat and not turned into a treat box. I found a wonderful mini 6″ paper stack at Michaels called “Tropical Life” with patterns that reminded me so much of vintage shirts that I couldn’t wait to create some! Mini paper stacks are perfect for these mini shirts since the papers feature smaller prints.  

Below is the tutorial for making this tropical shirt banner! It is a quick DIY, and once you get the first shirt made, the rest is just repeating! I chose to hang my shirts on a “clothing line” with mini gold clothespins. 

Supplies Needed

• Decorative paper in tropical prints – each shirt uses a 4″ x 6″ sheet of paper
  • I used the Tropical Life Paper Pad 6″ x 6.5″ by Recollections I bought at Michaels Crafts Store
• Mini buttons
• String or bakers twine
• Mini clothespins

Start with a sheet of paper that measures 4″ x 6″. I used a stack of paper that measured 6″ x 6.5″, so I cut each piece down to size.

*One of the nice things about using a mini stack of paper is that the patterns are smaller, which works well for these mini shirts!

Fold it in half lengthwise. Then open it back up and fold the left and right sides into the middle.

Turn it over to the back and score at 5/8″ and at 3 5/8″ from the top. The back is the side that doesn’t open up.

*You can definitely make these origami shirts without measuring and marking. I measure because I want each shirt to look the same since they will be strung all together.

Fold the top down along the 5/8″ score line towards the back.

Turn to the right side to create the sleeves. Mark a tiny dot 1 5/8″ up from the bottom on the center line. Fold on the diagonal from the dot you just marked out to each corner as shown below.

To create the collar, mark 5/8″ down from the top on the center line. Fold both of the top corners to this line.

Now bring the bottom of the shirt up, folding along the 3 5/8″ fold line you made at the beginning, and tuck it underneath the collar points. The shirt is finished! The collar will hold everything in place.

I added three little buttons to the front of the shirt, but you can also leave them as is.

Clip them to a long piece of yarn, twine or ribbon using mini clothespins. They look so cute hanging in a line!

I have always loved palm trees, but since I don’t live anywhere warm enough to have them outside, I love having tropical things indoors.