Learn how to create beautiful fabric wraps for gifts and more with these projects inspired by an ancient Japanese art. Take your gift, your potluck dish, or even your daily essentials, and wrap it all up furoshiki-style. This ancient, elegant Japanese art of enfolding objects in fabric is demonstrated with step-by-step instructions and a beautiful gallery of photos. What a great reason to dive into your fabric stash! Creative ideas for applying surface design techniques to make your own unique wraps are also included. • Learn to make 18 different wraps for 5 primary shapes: bag, box, flat, bottle, and basket • Present your gifts to family and friends with style and originality

Wrap anything from a wine bottle to a yoga mat with this practical Japanese fabric-wrapping book. Long before today's eco-friendly philosophy of "reduce, reuse, recycle" entered America's collective consciousness, furoshiki--the Japanese method of wrapping things with fabric--flourished as a time-honored and practical art form. In Wrapping With Fabric, Etsuko Yamada--born into a long-line of furoshiki makers in Kyoto--explains the "one cloth, many uses" ideology behind the craft, the etiquette of color and the craft's fascinating history. From there, she shares the myriad ways in which a few basic techniques can transform a simple square of cloth into an elegant wrapper. Use your folded fabrics to: Gift-wrap anything from books to flowers Bundle up a picnic Tote items around Use as a handbag or backpack Make into a pillow covering Create decorative coverings for vases, tissue boxes, and more A quiet reminder that opportunities for artistry are everywhere around you, Wrapping With Fabric is the craft book that makes it easy to bring a touch of grace and ingenuity to everyday life--and help preserve the environment, too.

Embrace zero waste living with this collection of sustainable gift wrap solutions including furoshiki, the traditional Japanese technique of fabric knotting. What could be nicer than receiving a present AND the beautiful scarf it's wrapped in! Whether you use a vintage silk scarf or create your own fabric with patchwork, piecing and dyeing techniques, or reuse unwanted items to make quirky gift wraps - this collection is packed full of ideas for reducing waste. Other ideas include how to make present toppers made from unwanted fabric and yarn scraps to finish off your gift wrapping with a flourish.

Wrapping Culture examines problems of intercultural communication and the possibilities for misinterpretation of the familiar in an unfamiliar context. Starting with an examination of Japanese gift-wrapping, Joy Hendry demonstrates how our expectations are often influenced by cultural factors which may blind us to an appreciation of underlying intent. She extends this approach to the study of polite language as the wrapping of thoughts and intentions, garments as body wrappings, constructions and gardens as wrapping of space. Hendry shows how this extends even to the ways in which people may be wrapped in seating arrangements, or meetings and drinking customs may be constrained by temporal versions of wrapping. Throughout the book, Hendry considers ways in which groups of people use such symbolic forms to impress and manipulate one another, and points out a Western tendency to underestimate such nonverbal communication, or reject it as mere decoration. She presents ideas that should be valid in any intercultural encounter and demonstrates that Japanese culture, so often thought of as a special case, can supply a model through which we can formulate general theories about human behavior.

Clear written instructions, easy-to-follow diagrams, and beautiful photos of the finished wraps make it easy to wrap expertly the first time. Shows the basic techniques for every shape, and presents twenty-five stunning wraps, complete with decorative embellishments for every occasion, from weddings to birthdays. Also included are innovative ideas for using wrapagami every day (carry your lunch, and then use the wrap as a picnic blanket) and reusing the wraps (to wrap again, or repurpose in a multitude of ways).

Learn the art of furoshiki bag making, gift wrapping and clothing wraps in clear and simple steps. Furoshiki is a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth, and it is used for may purposes: to wrap gifts, to knot into different types of bags, to carry items from one place to another and even to knot into clothing. Furoshiki has a place not only in traditional Japanese-style living, but also in modern, Western-style living. The ties in furoshiki represent the ties between people and using them to wrap things is a way of wrapping up and presenting our feelings, making furoshiki a fantastic communication tool. Here, the author shows us how to make beautiful bags, cushion covers, halter-neck tops, a bottle carrier, a laptop bag, and even how to wrap a guitar. Once you learn the basic methods of tying, you can tie furoshiki in different ways to suit the size and shape of the contents within.

Tips and techniques for spectacular and sustainable gift wrapping From simple bows and neat corners to Japanese fabric wrapping, this book shows how to wow friends and family with beautifully wrapped gifts while minimising waste. You will learn how to master the art of wrapping through easy step-by-step instructions of key techniques. There are ideas for creating both simple and intricate designs, all made using materials that are recyclable, reusable and sustainable. Techniques include wrapping with pleats and pockets, using paper bags and how to wrap unusual shaped gifts, such as bottles. A section on Furoshiki, fabric wrapping, shows how to create gift wraps from tea towels and beautiful pieces of fabric. There's also guidance on ribbons, bows, string, wool and using plants and flowers to create the perfect gift. Bursting with ideas, this innovative book offers a mindful creative outlet that will both delight friends and family and help save the planet by reducing waste.