A new scheme for fabricating microtapered long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) and helical LPFGs is proposed and demonstrated successfully by periodically tapering and twisting a standard single-mode fiber, respectively, using a CO2 laser fusion splicer as heater. In comparison to previous fabrication methods, our scheme can significantly improve the quality of the microtapered and helical LPFGs. Considering the simple and flexible fabrication process as well as the high quality of fabricated gratings, we believe that this may offer a simpler and alternative choice to current filters or sensing applications.