Folding Window Blind Fabric

Fabric sample before folding

Folded traditional crane

One non-standard folding material I tested was fabric used for roller-style window blinds. I received some small samples, which I used to fold a traditional crane and a box lid. Compared to fabric used for e.g. clothes, this one is thicker and stiffer, so I expected that it would be useless for folding. Surprisingly, while it certainly is thicker than most fabric or papers, and has worse memory (trying to unfold), its folding properties exceeded my expectation. Even with the small ca 10×10 cm sheet I was able to fold what I had planned. While you can see that the corners are not sharp and the fabric flows more than it folds, both models kept their shape and neither collapsed nor unfolded. I did not need to use anything like glue or pins to hold the folds in place. This may be due to the fabric being stiffened: it’s made for rolling rather than for being worn. On top of that, the fabric has an interesting texture which I think looks beautiful and gives the models a unique appearance. While this is certainly not a replacement for paper, the fabric was surprisingly good to fold, and if I get a chance to try a larger sheet, I will want to try creating some more complex model out of it.