Christmas Furoshiki (Japanese Fabric Wrapping)

I don’t think there’s anyone who doesn’t like to receive a prettily wrapped gift. And for me, there’s nothing more fun than watching everyone open their gifts on Christmas morning.

But then afterwards, there’s always a garbage bag full of gift wrap that needs to be thrown away, most of which can’t be recycled.

In an effort to reduce the amount that ends up in the landfill, why not reduce paper waste this holiday season by wrapping your packages in pretty reusable Christmas Furoshiki (Japanese Fabric Wrapping.)

Over the past several years, I’ve had an ongoing project to make reusable fabric gift bags and furoshiki.

What are furoshikI? They are a type of traditional Japanese wrapping cloth and are used to transport clothes, gifts and other items.

They are super simple to make!

Cut a square or rectangle of fabric, hem it and then use it to wrap your gifts. I like to make mine with mitered corners using the same method I make napkins with mitered corners.

If the gift is for someone who sews, you wouldn’t even need to hem it as the fabric will become part of the gift. Though in that case, I would cut it out using a pinking sheers to keep the edges from fraying..

There are all sorts of different furoshiki wrapping methods. I’m going to share three of them with you today.

Welcome to Day 9 of the Fourth Annual 12 Days of Christmas Series!

We have teamed up with 50 plus bloggers to bring you a oodles of DIY Ideas and Recipes to make your holiday season merrier. There are 12 different posts in the series and we have spread them out over a four week period with three posts per week. Now is the time to subscribe!

GO HERE for the complete list of Dates and Topics plus a collection of most popular holiday ideas including ornaments, games, recipes and more from all 50 plus talented bloggers!

If you haven’t had a chance to check out all the DIY Christmas Ideas I’ve shared click the links below:

Day 1: How to Make a Christmas Wreath Kit featuring an adorable Hedgehog Wreath

Day 2: Quilted Hourglass Candle Mat Tutorial

Day 3: Ring in the Holly Days Advent Calendar Tutorial

Day 4: Christmas Button Lace Ornament Tutorial

Day 5: Delicious Mini Puff Pastry Cone Appetizers

Day 6: Dresden Charm Ornament Tutorial

Day 7: How to Make a Christmas Floral Arrangment

Day 8: How to Make a Mason Jar Embroidery Kit

Day 9: You’re here!

Day 10: Poke and Push Fabric Christmas Trees Tutorial

Day 11: Mini Spiced Orange Buttercream Bundt Cakes

Day 12: DIY Christmas Stocking Stuffer Ideas

It’s Day 9 and we are sharing Pretty Gift Wrapping Ideas!

Three Christmas Furoshiki Wrapping Methods

First I want to thank our oldest daughter for creating the graphics for today’s post. I love them!

Using those graphics, I’m going to demonstrate three furoshiki wrapping techniques.

First, we’ll be wrapping a box.

Then I’ll show you how to wrap two wine bottles. Since both Christmas and New Years are coming up, you might like to take your party host or hostess two bottles of wine. I’m sure they’d appreciate such a generous gift.

And because our family all loves to read, there’s a super cute way to wrap two books in one neat little package.

How to Wrap a Box

Place the furoshiki right side down on a flat surface.

Add the box to be wrapped to the center of the fabric.

Draw up two opposite ends of the furoshiki and tie a half knot.

Bring the other two ends under the half knot.

Use those ends to tie a knot around the half knot.

Simple and elegant!

How to Wrap Two Bottles

Place the bottles end to end on the fabric about 3 to 4 inches apart.

Fold one point over the bottles as shown below.

Roll the bottles to form a fabric tube.

Make sure to have the end point facing up before performing the next step… that way the end gets trapped and held securely between the two bottles.

Lift the bottles so that they are sitting upright.

Tie a knot in the two ends. This holds the bottles together and also provides a carrying handle.

How to Wrap Two Books

Place one book close to the corner of the furoshiki. Then place the other book on the opposite corner.

Tuck the corners underneath the books. Then roll the books towards the center of the fabric.

Draw the ends over the books in the opposite direction.

Draw those ends into the space between the books, flip the books over and tie a knot.

Isn’t that just the coolest way to wrap a pair of books!

These three Christmas Furoshiki wrapped gifts are ready to pop under the tree or take to give to friends and family.

Edited to add: The finished size of each of the furoshiki was as follows:

The blue fabric with the silver swirls used to wrap the box was 33″ square.

The green and blue Christmas baubles fabric that wrapped the wine bottles was 40″ square.

And the joy fabric to wrap the books was 36″ square.

Several more furoshiki wrapping methods can be found on the One Million Women blog.

I hope you’ll wrap some of your gifts in Christmas Furoshiki this year. They’re something that can be used year after year and passed around within your circle of family and friends. Over time, you’ll build up a good selection of different prints of fabric and sizes for wrapping all sorts of gifts.

If you do decided to wrap gifts in this traditional Japanese fabric wrapping, please do post about it somewhere online and tag me so I can come see. I’m @supermomnocape on Instragram, @1SuperMomNoCape on Twitter and @1SuperMomNoCape on Facebook.

Please feel free to follow me on any or all of the above social media.

And if this has got you thinking that you want to make more reusable gift wrapping, be sure to check out my other tutorials:

Grommet Bow Gift Bag

How to Make Two Drawstring Gift Bags from Two Fat Quarters

These are the pretty Drawstring Gift Bags with Divider that I made during the Sew Early for Christmas Blog Hop in July. Pam from Threading My Way provided the tutorial for those. In my post, I provide some helpful hints for making them and also lots of ideas for gifts you can fill the bags with.

Scroll down for many more Pretty Gift Wrapping Ideas!

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