day ninety nine: reusable fabric wrapping sacks

present one wrapped and ready to send :)

day ninety nine and i took a second to wonder whether it was too early to think about christmas wrapping ... then realised NO it's never to early to think about christmas or the wrapping that will need to be done :)  if you are not a christmas addict, i am really sorry for bringing christmas into your year so early.

the other week my sweet mum and i went and did some early christmas shopping.  i try and spread mine christmas shopping out over the last half of the year to ease the financial pressure of my spending!  i thought i would also start my christmas wrapping early as well because i have found some much wonderful wrapping inspiration on pinterest and i want to make sure i have time to give lots of it a go.  i know if i leave it all until december the wrapping will take backstage due to time running out :)  all the wrapping ideas including today's are pinned to my gift wrapping and gift ideas board on pinterest.

today's christmas wrapping idea comes from keana who was a guest writer on the kanu hawaii website.  keana is an eco graphic designer and has written about ways to use less paper and more reusable wrapping ideas when it comes to christmas.  if you like the sound on fabric wrapping and don't have access to a sewing machine you can buy ready made reusable wrapping from here at lucky crow.

if you do have a sewing machine, i think its worth a go and that's just what i did today!  first i gathered my material, you need two co-ordinating fabric's for each gift sack. the next step is to measure the height of the present and the circumference.  once you have these measurements add 4" to the circumference and 6" to the height of the present, these new measurements give you the dimensions you need to cut out for the main fabric of your sack.  the second fabric is to line the top of the bag with so it adds some interest to the wrapping sack!  this piece needs to be the same width of the first fabric but only 6" in depth. some simple steps for creating these bags are below with photos :)

the two pieces of fabric cut and ready to sew

with right sides facing each other, pin and sew along what
is the top of the sack

iron this seam flat

with wrong sides facing iron the seam flat from this side now

now moving to the side of the sack pin together the side
seam with the right sides facing out to you (we are going
to do a french seam :) ... then sew with a 1/4" seam

now turn the sack so it is inside out and iron it flat, then
sew down the same side seam but with a 1/2" seam. turn
sack so it is now right side out ... isn't that a cool seam,
i love how it hides all the mess!

now turn to the the bottom of your sack and pin the end
closed then sew along this seam with a 1/4" seam (we are
also going to close the bottom with a french seam!)
then turn the sack inside out and sew along the bottom
seam again this time with a 1/2" seam.

turn the sack in the right way and its ready..

fill with the presents you measured earlier ....

tie the top with a ribbon and you can consider the present
wrapped!

i just need one of jen's awesome cards to adorn my package now ... hint hint ;)

outcome:  such a great idea ... i absolutely love that one of my sister's children will receive this gift for christmas and she will be able to use the wrapping the following year!  i plan to do some for my peeps gifts and will just stash the reusable wrapping in with the xmas decorations for next year ... COOL! they are really easy to make and don't take that long to finish ... pleased that i have started this early with my wrapping though, as i can't imagine taking this much care on christmas eve with everything else going on!

my thanks today goes to keana who has enlightened me in terms of reusable packing, it doesn't just need to be newspaper to make wrapping environmentally friendly ... get the sewing machine out and start making some gift sacks that can carry on giving long after the gift has been exchanged :)