Wrap Your Holiday Presents With Fabric
Green Christmas Wrap - Try Eco-Friendly Fabric Wrapping Paper
Nov 28, 2008
We've all cringed while throwing out all that beautiful, used Christmas wrapping paper after the holidays are over. Aside from the expense, what about the waste? With our heightened consciousness about conservation and the environment, there's an inexpensive solution to the paper Christmas wrap dilemma, and it doesn't involve using the funny papers as wrapping. In order to save money, time, and all that flocked and foiled paper that ends up in the nearest landfill, use fabric to wrap your gifts.
Using Fabric Wrap Is Easy - Even If You're Not a Crafty Person
If you're not a sewing person, this can seem odd, but consider the advantages. Cotton fabric is easy to fold and manipulate. It's easy to cut into custom shapes that are great for bottles and shrink wrapped gifts. It can be protected from raveling by using a simple pair of specialty shears, and it's available in many Christmas patterns and at very reasonable prices. The best part, you can use it year after year.
Most fabric bolts come in widths of 42" to 45" and at any length you desire. With some creative overlapping, you can make fabric wrap as wide as you want it to be. Need some good ribbon for that fabric wrapped package? Use more fabric in a contrasting color.
After the holidays, fold the fabric you used for your family's gifts, and store it with your holiday decorations for next year. What about the presents you gave away to friends? The fabric wrap becomes part of the gift.
Make Gifts Special With Fabric
If you are thinking about a way to make your gift giving special, this is it. In Japan, the wrap is very important, almost as important as the gift itself. When you start seeing fabric as a means of putting your individual stamp on your gift giving, a stamp that says you're environmentally conscious, creative, and have a flair for the unusual, working with fabric becomes part of the fun.
What You'll Need to Wrap Gifts With Fabric
The only really essential tool for using fabric as wrapping is a good pair of scissors; a pair of pinking shears, specialty scissors, would be the best. Pinking shears cut fabric with a saw-toothed edge that eliminates most raveling. They are available in any sewing shop or notions department, are as easy to use as regular scissors, and give a more finished look than a straight edge cut. No one expects you to hem the edges of the fabric wrap, but a nice pinked finish will allow the recipient to easily use the fabric for their own projects. Cotton fabric can be recycled into place mats, potholders, curtains, tablecloths quilts, and more.
To make the job easier, a long ruler, chalk marker, and some double-sided tape would round out the tools you'll need.
Wrapping With Fabric
When you're wrapping with fabric, it'll be easier to go around the edges of boxes if you press the edges of the folds with your ruler to crease them, this will give your seams a crisp appearance. Hold the fabric in place with double-sided tape and tie the finished package with leftover strips of fabric. If you want something more sophisticated, go all out and buy wired ribbon to finish off your package. Actually, you can use that year after year too.
This year, don't throw your money away on wrapping paper. Choose a more permanent solution to the challenge of wrapping all those presents. Don't be surprised if your children and grandchildren develop favorite fabrics and ask for their presents to be wrapped in them. Start a new tradition at your house this Christmas and personalize your packages with fabric.
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