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I absolutely love presents. Giving them, getting them, even wrapping presents is something I get pumped about. Yes, I’m the weirdo in the family that creases the corners to get those sharp perfect edges. And maybe I judge the wrapping of others, but that’s besides the point—all that is changing this year. I’m jumping on the sustainable fabric gift wrap train, and I hope you’ll join me for the ride.
Fabric gift wrap is not a new thing. It’s been used for centuries in other countries, like Japan where it’s called furoshiki, Korea where it’s called bojagi, as well as in India, Turkey, and across multiple African countries and cultures. It’s so widely used I wonder why it’s not more of a popular practice in America. Using paper gift wrap can be attractive, I agree. But I have a lifetime’s worth of memories of a massive trash bag of paper wrap after every Christmas and at every child’s birthday party. It is, truly, so much waste. Additionally, as if you needed a reminder this holiday season, nice wrapping paper is inordinately expensive.
Why not pay for some beautiful and sustainable wrap, that can be easier on the environment and save you and your family money in the long run? Even if you only use it for half of your presents, that’s a big difference.
I got a set of four recently from Bee’s Wrap and fell head over heels simply on the pattern and feel. The fabric is a 100% cotton square (this set comes with two small squares, one medium, and one large), with bright patterns, and a finished, stitched edge. The fabric can be used over and over again, it’s washable, and can even be ironed if it gets wildly creased.
There’s a whole lane of artistry you can go down with using fabric wrap. You can add pleats, multiple wraps that overlap, or beautiful knots. I’ll be honest here; I haven’t tried to get fancy with it. I put a box diagonally on the square and tie the opposite ends.
Then with the other two flaps I tie a loose knot. Even though I'm definitely doing it the lazy way, it looks great!
If you have oddly shaped gifts you can take a look at this website or this one. Both have easy wrapping methods and solutions. Almost any gift can be wrapped beautifully with fabric.
The only real difficulty is in wrapping extra-large presents. Most of these cotton squares won’t fit. You might end up using paper for those, or if you’re committing to fabric, use a flat sheet from a bedding set.
If you, like my brothers, hate wrapping presents because it’s fussy and always turns out messed up, fabric gift wrap is for you. If you, like my stepfather, hate collecting everyone’s tossed, crumpled up paper balls and odd shreds of tape and ribbons, fabric gift wrap is for you. And if you, like myself, would never give up the suspense and joy of unveiling a present’s mysterious content, fabric gift wrap is for you. I can’t think of a significant downside, really. No more paper cuts, and no more running out of tape.
Fabric gift wrap actually makes a great gift, as well. It might seem weird to give sustainable gift wrap as the gift, but I’d be pretty stoked about it. I gave two people presents that were wrapped in the Bee's Wrap fabric recently, and they were both nearly more excited by the wrapping than the present itself. Once you get your whole family up to speed on fabric wrap you can even exchange wrapping with the gifts, knowing you’ll use theirs and vice versa, circulating different colors and patterns throughout the years.
Multiple vendors sell fabric gift wrap now, too, so you can explore gorgeous patterns and prints for all occasions. Happy gifting, all.
