There are many different furoshiki wrapping techniques, but I only seem to use three on a regular basis – two for carrying goods and one to BYO wine to restaurants.
It’s great fun to have an instruction book open and practise the fancier folds, but when I’m out and about, it’s only the basic ones I can remember. Along with the simple bag (tutorial here), this library bag is my other go-to wrap.
It’s perfect for books, tablets, laptops, slabs of focaccia or boxes of Lego – anything with a roughly rectangular shape. You only need to know how to tie a square knot, which is definitely worth mastering, as it’s strong and won’t slip undone (instructions below from the excellent Pixieladies’ Furoshiki Fabric Wraps)…
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Start by laying a large furoshiki face down in a diamond shape. Place your book with the spine at the halfway mark…
Fold the bottom corner up to enclose the book…
Fold the two side corners in and tie a square (reef) knot…
Now tie a square (reef) knot at the top and your bag is finished!
It has a much more elegant look than the simple bag and sits comfortably in your hand or on your elbow…
I use a smaller square to wrap loaves of sourdough for delivery to the neighbours. If they’re not home, the bag sits flat on a doorknob…
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Here’s a quick way to make a furoshiki by sewing two tea towels together. The ones from Daiso (called Tenugui) are cute, made in Japan and cheap ($2.80 each)…
It takes just minutes to machine two together, then to trim and hem one edge to form a square…
The smaller size is ideal for my iPad, or for wrapping up loaves of sourdough or plates of food…
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I’m having enormous fun with this new hobby! If you’d like to know more about furoshiki and the ancient art of Japanese fabric wrapping, you might enjoy this earlier post, or our tutorial on how to tie a simple shopping bag.
With the large supermarkets phasing out single-use plastic bags from June next year, there’s never been a better time to get knotting!
They are so cute and very useful too. I wish I had read this article as child carrying school books.
Looking forward to practicing these wraps when I get home Celia. In te meantime, I bought some Hmong hill tribe antique scraps in Chiang Mai, and now thinking about how they might be re-purposed.
Very inventive. Will be trying this later in the week to take back my library books though not sure if I’ll be able to replicate it in the library to bring more home. Can the next tutorial be for one to be used rucksack style please?
I have ordered a book on the technique and hope to become proficient at doing those knots eventually. Thanks so much for the tutorials, Celia.
Wonderful idea. Since many places are eliminating plastic bags, maybe libraries should start investing in fabric squares so people have something to carry their library books home with.
Loving this and looking forward to finding out how to do the bottle wrap one!
such fun, thank you
Glad you are spreading the word! er, the wrap :)
We phased out plastic bags last November and I’ve been struggling with bags. This is a good solution! Thanks, Maz. (And LOVE Daiso.)
We gave our first furoshiki wrapped birthday present on the weekend and the little sister of the birthday girl had a wonderful time playing with the cloth afterwards! Thank you for this lovely tutorial. I will try the wrap next time I gift a loaf of sourdough.
Do you just have a stock of fabric that comes and goes?
You know me too well…that’s exactly right hahaha