Monday 16 October 2017

Wrapping without Paper: Very Simple Furoshiki

We haven't bought a roll of wrapping paper for a long time now! Instead, we've wrapped presents in the paintings that have come home from kindy, in the pretty papers we've reused from the gifts we have received and in the printed wrapping paper we've made ourselves from recycled brown paper. From time to time, I also make drawstring gift bags out of the calico bags I sometimes buy my flours in. 

Over the weekend, we celebrated a very happy birthday with one of my son's lovely friends. With the days of kindy paintings and cookie cutter printing long gone now, and no suitable salvaged wrapping paper in our stash, we decided to wrap our gift, furoshiki style, in fabric instead. Here's how it turned out:

Ready for giving!

From the very soft cotton of an old pillowcase, that I bought at a market for small change, I cut out this piece of printed fabric. I think the dolphins are lovely!

 Repurposing the soft cotton of an old pillowcase for the furoshiki wrap.

As the instructions said to begin with a square, I then trimmed the fabric down to the required shape. I made sure the dolphins were in the centre of that square! I used pinking shears to do the cutting so the fabric will not fray and can be more easily reused by the recipient.  The excess fabric I trimmed from the edges will make great garden ties too. (No waste!)

These dolphins added a little touch of nature.

Wrapping up our gift, with a few easy folds and a finishing knot to hold it together, was very easy. I just followed the few very simple steps from this You-Tube tutorial. It wasn't tricky at all!

  Ta-dah!

There are lots of ways you can jazz up a Furoshiki wrap with trims and ribbons and such but, as we were giving a little collection of art supplies, I decided to push two graphite pencils through the knot at the top. The birthday boy will be able to use these for drawing so they tied in well with the gift inside our furoshiki wrap as well!

Have you ever tried furoshiki? 

Meg















21 comments:

  1. I have a friend who does Furoshiki and she is going to teach us how to do it at our Simple Living Group breakup in November. She is plastic free at her place so she often wraps things she buys in Furoshiki wraps. I bought a book on how to do the knots recently and just need to practise how to do them.

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    1. How lovely to have someone to show you how to do furoshiki, Chel. I didn't know there were different ways to do the knots, I just tied it like I would any other knot! Meg:)

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    2. Your group has such great workshops Nanna Chel. When are they going on tour? I think Melbourne would be a great stop. Kylie

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  2. I'm not sure if your familiar with Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial - she is right into furoshiki...

    https://figjamandlimecordial.com/?s=furoshiki


    Enjoy!

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    1. Yes, I really like Celia's blog. I will have to pop over and check out her furoshiki posts. Thanks for link. Meg:)

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  3. These are great Meg, thankyou so much for introducing me to furoshiki.
    I've purchased silk type scarves for people and wrapping gifts with those too. Just another little idea.
    Kylie

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    1. Scarves would be lovely for wrapping, Kylie. I like that they would become part of the gift too. Meg:)

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  4. That is fantastic Meg! It warms the cockles of my heart to know other people are doing what they can to reduce waste and plastic by repurposing other items.

    Love it...Love it...Love it :)

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    1. I thought it was pretty nifty and so super easy! Best thing is I still have the fabric from the reverse side of the pillowcase and that's printed with dolphins too so I will be able to make another wrap out of it. Meg:)

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  5. Lovely idea Meg. I just opened a cupboard door and part of my material stash fell out so perhaps it is a sign I should be doing this too!

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    1. At least you weren't buried under it when it fell out;) My fabric stash is slowly diminishing, one project at a time, though my pile of unfinished projects is increasing at the same time! Meg Xx

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  6. Darling Meg, I just love this idea, so special and unique.
    Fi

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    1. It was really easy, Fiona so I think I'll be doing some more furoshiki wrapping at Christmas time this year. Meg:)

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  7. That looks so pretty, Meg. Sometimes I wrap my soaps in vintage fabric, and tie a bow around it with a piece of yarn. I like the look. I bought the material second hand at a nearby church thrift store.

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    1. The way you wrap your soaps sounds gorgeous! It's lovely to be able to repurpose vintage and pretty fabrics that way. Meg:)

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  8. I love how it turned out! So pretty!

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    1. Thanks, Debbie. I think furoshiki is a great way to wrap gifts and repurpose fabrics. Meg:)

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  9. Such a thoughtful and creative way to give a gift. I love everything about it!

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    1. It's so easy too, Belinda. Just a couple of simple folds and a knot and it's done! Meg:)

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  10. Hello, Meg, I found your lovely blog recently, and have really been enjoying it! This looks like a lovely, simple way to wrap. Lately, I've been using brown paper, so that it can at least be recycled, but this is the way forward - no waste!

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    1. Thanks, Elaine. It's lovely when we discover ideas and give them a try and they work out well. We have used brown paper for wrapping too sometimes but I'm keen now to learn a bit more about furoshiki, particularly how to wrap items that are a bit more challenging in shape. I'm sure there will be a YouTube tutorial that can help! Meg:)

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