Making Reusable Fabric Gift Wrap

I'm doing something different for the holidays this year. I'm wrapping all my holiday gifts using fabric. It's a practical and useful handmade gift which doubles as a gift wrap. How great is that? And it's very quick to make.

In my early year of marriage, I knitted a very scratchy sweater for my husband. Not having made a gauge swatch, the finished sweater was big enough to fit a bear. Yes, it was handmade, and took me a really long time to make it. All heart, but totally impractical. I've learned my lesson since and now am more mindful of the gifts that I make or buy. To that end, I'm making different size fabric panels to wrap gifts with. It's super easy to make, and it has all kinds of uses.

Do you know Furoshiki? It's a Japanese way of using a square piece of cloth to wrap a gift. Depending on the size, a Furoshiki cloth can be used for a napkin, a picnic hamper, a tablecloth, a scarf or bandana, or wrapping clothes when travelling.

Here's a great post about Furoshiki: The Art of Japanese Fabric Wrapping. It shows you 12 ways to wrap a gift using Furoshiki cloth, as well as a brief history of its origin.

For this post, I've used a beautiful lightweight woven cotton: Boro Wovens, by Debbie Maddy in Flax Diamond for Moda. The size is 18" x 18".

You can finish the raw edges using a sewing machine, serger, pinking shear, or by folding it under twice towards the wrong side and stitching it by hand (see step 2). Adding some fresh greens at the knot makes the gift look more festive, I think.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Wishing you peace, love, kindness, and gentleness.

Warmly,

Darae

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