What is Furoshiki?

If you’ve visited my Etsy shop, you know that I have a lot of options available for Furoshiki reusable gift wrap. But what exactly is it?

Furoshiki in its most general term is a Japanese wrapping cloth. There are all kinds of ways you can use it - it doesn’t have to be just for gift wrap. If you’ve ever looked it up, there are some very involved ways you can wrap very specific items: wine, watermelon, books, food… the list goes on. You can even use it to create a more traditional bag to carry in your hand or over your shoulder. They come in various sizes to meet all of these needs.

Most recently, these wraps have been embraced all over the world as an eco-friendly way to wrap gifts. It is a beautiful way to present a gift, but it is also reusable in a lot of different ways!

My first encounter with wrapping in this manner was with the store Lush. They offer fabric wraps and I fell in love with a bright pink one with stars all over it. It could be used for Christmas, but it was a really great all-year round print that could also be used for birthdays. It came with a little piece of paper detailing a lot of different ways to use it to wrap items that you would commonly find in Lush. I was overwhelmed. In fact, I didn’t really use it very much for the first year or so, worried I would make it look silly. And then, I cracked the code. For wrapping there are really on a couple of very simple steps you need to know!

First things first, you want to choose a wrap that is 2-3 times the size of your gift. If you want a really big bow, then go. even bigger. After that, it’s pretty easy to tie it up and make it beautiful!

SQUARE
If your gift is a square, place it diagonally onto the wrap. Fold the two opposite sides over. Fold over the top and bottom flaps and use that to tie a knot. Done!

The video below shows me wrapping two board books in a 16.5” wrap. Since they are (mostly) square, it doesn’t really matter which sides I start out with.

RECTANGLE
If you have something rectangular, the steps are very similar. Put it diagonally on the wrap, fold the two corners over the SHORTEST sides, and then use the corners from the longer sides to pull across and tie in a knot. This gives you the maximum amount of fabric to use for the tie and to fluff up for a bow!

The video below shows a tighter fit (a regular-sized children’s book in a 16.5” wrap), so the bow is tiny, but still adorable!

IRREGULAR SHAPE
If it is an irregular shape, like a stuffed animal, the same rules apply. Flip two opposite corners over, and use the other set to tie. You won’t have the sharp corners of a box, but it is still cute!

After being a little intimidated, furoshiki is now my favorite way to wrap gifts! I get more satisfaction from wrapping something up with these lovely fabric sheets than I do from sticking something in a bag. It still feels like you are putting in the effort to wrap it. And my absolute favorite part is that there is still excitement on the receiver’s end! Sure, you’re not ripping paper, but you are still slowly unveiling your gift in the same kind of way as you untie the knot. For that reason alone, it’s a worthy investment! If you buy a large one, it will wrap almost anything you need! Smaller items will just have a bigger bow, and larger items will have a smaller bow.

And then there is the million dollar question: Do you ask for your wrap back? Personally, I ask my close family and friends to return the wrap after I present them with the gift, because they know that it will eventually make its way back to them with another gift inside. :-) If I’m using them for people I’m not as close with (thinking primarily of birthday parties!), I will generally not ask for it back, but just mention how they could reuse it in the future. It’s all a matter of preference, and you should do whatever you feel most comfortable with.

I hope this has been a helpful introduction to furoshiki! I have a lot of different prints available on my Etsy site, from birthdays to Christmas to Hannukah! And I’ll be adding to the collection a lot more between now and Christmas!