Wrap Your Gifts with Fabric
Fabric is a great reuse wrapping material that can be used again and again. Make it part of your gift. Wrap your presents with a bandanna or tea towel for zero waste packaging. The art of Furoshiki, Japanese fabric wrapping, uses folding and knotting to create beautiful packages. No tape is required for this incredible technique. There are many different ways to fold and knot fabric, a google search will show you lots of tutorials and methods, but here are three of our favorites!
Here’s the first one! Take a piece of rectangular or square-shaped piece of fabric. Place your item in the center. Be sure to use a large enough piece of fabric, that way you can wrap irregular items more easily. Take one side of the fabric and wrap it around the gift, then wrap the opposite side across- much like if you were using paper to wrap. Instead of folding up the open edges, twist each edge making sure your gift is covered and secure. Once each is fairly twisted, bring them to the center of your gift and tie a knot! This looks beautiful and elegant!
The next method works best with a square piece of fabric. Center your gift in your fabric. Then take two adjacent edges and tie them across the gift. Now you should have a knot in the center of your gift and two open edges. Take the two edges up and around the gift and tie in a double knot over your first knot. If your piece of fabric is much larger than your gift you will have two long tails from the first knot. You can choose to tie these around the gift for a more decorative knot. For a gift bag effect twist the long edges and bring them up and around and tie them together.
Lastly, you can bring the edges to cover your package then twist them. Take any scrap yarn, ribbon, twine, or fabric and tie it around the twisted edges to secure. This method is great to wrap gifts that are more circular or irregular in shape.
We hope this inspires you to try some fabric wrapping this season!
Josh was born and raised in Santa Barbara, where his passion and curiosity for the environment began and has continued to grow. During his undergraduate studies, Josh pursued this interest at the University of California at Santa Cruz, receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Studies.
Melissa Dodos developed her passion for creative reuse as a mother of four and elementary educator over the past 25 years. She loves to inspire creativity by connecting people with resources and ideas.
Veronica grew up in San Diego and spent four years in San Luis Obispo studying Animal Science at Cal Poly. As an undergrad she learned lots about livestock, agriculture, and wildlife.
Stephanie began her journey as an educator over twenty years ago working as a preschool teacher in Washington state for a cooperative preschool program affiliated with Whatcom Community College. She loved observing the wonder and curiosity of the children and bringing them out into nature to explore the natural world. She continued her love for learning and got her teaching license and then her Montessori certification and worked as an elementary teacher in Tribal, Public, and Montessori schools. She collaborated to create a school garden and her students loved it so much that it became a special place where they could garden, read, explore, play, and it provided a safe sanctuary for students to calm down and reset when they were having difficult moments.
Morgan’s mermaid soul is always seeking adventure—swimming a relay across the Santa Barbara Channel and taking the first photo of a newborn orca off Anacapa Island being standout experiences close to home.
Lindsay Johnson
