Furoshiki, baby

Do you know about furoshiki? It's the Japanese art of using a cloth to wrap gifts or carry items. It's both pretty and eco-friendly, so I'm on board!

I'm trying to wrap our gifts this way exclusively this year, so I've been busy hemming up a storm to get enough scarves ready. I like that the wrapping material doubles as a gift itself. In the picture, the one in the front is an old silk scarf I had, and the other two are squares of old sheet I hand-hemmed. I'll be doing the rest on the machine though, because my hand-hemming takes forEVer.

If you want to try it yourself, I recommend a silky fabric - it seems to be the best weight for giving a nice, crisp result. But there's something nice and homey about the little cotton and fleece bundles too. Thrift stores usually have lots of pretty scarves, and that's where I get my sheets for fabric for all my sewing projects. That way everything is re-purposed, interesting, and a little more quality for the price.

So far I've only used the folding method shown here, but I'm going to try this one next. There are lots of different ways to fold it, depending on whether you're wrapping soft objects, boxes, wine bottles, etc. Have fun!

Love, J