Betz White's son shows off a gift wrapped in a second hand shirt.
I am so excited to have the awesomely crafty Betz White stop by here on her blog tour to tell us all about the art of furoshiki. What in the world is that, you ask? Well Betz is going to tell you! Take it away Betz...
Furoshiki and Beyond: Creative and eco-friendly ways to wrap a gift without using giftwrap.
Fur-o-what-y?
Furoshiki is the word for the traditional wrapping cloths that the Japanese originally used to tie up and carry clothing and other goods. Today furoshiki is gaining popularity as a beautiful, unique, and reusable way to wrap gifts. Furoshiki can be made out of a rectangle of a variety of fabrics (such as cotton, silk, rayon, nylon, etc) as long as the cloth is not too stiff to tie. You can use repurpose items you might pick up while thrifting, like a scarf, napkin, or bandana as well as make one from your fabric stash. There are many different furoshiki folding methods to suit a variety of shapes from wine bottles to watermelons. In fact, the Japanese Ministry of the Environment has drawn up a useful guide of various ways of tying the furoshiki.
No square to spare?
Beyond fabrics, many other items are fair game when it comes to wrapping gifts creatively.
• Try wrapping a gift inside a folded or rolled T-shirt or blouse and secure with a ribbon.
• A wine bottle fits nicely inside the sleeve of a repurposed dress shirt (Cut off the sleeve and sew raw edges shut for the bottom of the bag. Slide the bottle in and tie with a ribbon below the cuff.)
• Do you ever cut off jeans to make shorts? Save the pant leg to use for wrapping a long gift. Tie off each end (like an old fashioned “cracker”) with ribbon.
Non-fabric wrapping ideas using stuff around the house
• Use the Sunday funnies to wrap birthday gifts
• Excess bubble-wrap laying around? Wrap the gift in a layer of colorful tissue inside a layer of bubble-wrap for a translucent effect.
• Print on brown paper grocery bags with rubber stamps
• Create a gift bag out of an envelope. Here's another option too!
or
• Create a gift box out of an empty facial tissue box. They have such pretty designs on them now! Just tear away the plastic film at the top, place your small gift inside, then tape a piece of paper over the opening.
Thanks so much Betz for all your great wrapping tips! Stay tuned later this week for a giveaway of her awesome book, Sewing Green!
