Customer Reviews

Gift Wrapping with Textiles: Stylish Ideas from Japan

5 star:		(7)
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3 star:		(2)
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This is a great book, beautiful pictures, clear instructions. Your skills at wrapping with fabric will look so beautiful, the gift inside might pale with comparison! Of course, the author has gorgeous Japanese furoshiki fabrics and her combinations are artistic, and we can only hope to achieve the same breathtaking results as we fold, tie, and present our gifts to our friends and loved ones.

Enhanced throughout with visually stunning full color photography, Gift Wrapping With Textiles: Stylish Ideas From Japan by Chizuko Morita is a fun and informative introduction to the creative art of gift wrapping for all items and gifts of every size with the designer innovation of textiles and cloth materials. Expansively guiding readers through the Japanese-based ideas for stunning gift-wrap presentations for wine, books, CDs, pictures, posters, balls, and boxed items, Gift Wrapping With Textiles bases its techniques on century-old Japanese traditional roots, along with additional items to freshen up everyday items such as pillows, baskets, dinner tables, flower pots and bouquets, and much more. A simply beautiful book, Gift Wrapping With Textiles is very highly recommended for discerning readers searching for a new and stylistic approaches to impressively wrapping their gifts for friends, family, and associates.

I'm a fairly talented crafter and will probably be able to make some beautiful presentations with this book. But I was disappointed with the pictures. They are too small. And since they are black and white, did not offer the definition I find helpful. Line drawings or larger, colored pictures would be wonderful. I'd buy the book again, even at a higher cost, if such an offering were made. I feel that strongly.

I am also a quilter, and plan to use my scraps to create two-sided fabric squares. I'll work my way thru the directions.

Okay, I'll be honest, I ordered two books on furoshiki to compare them before I decided which one I wanted to order for myself, my Mom, my sister and my sister-in-law for Christmas. We're consistently trying be more 'green' and, before I learned about furoshiki, we were sewing cloth bags for presents, wrapping in craft paper that the kids of the family could color on after, wrapping in the funny papers, wrapping in towels or tablecloths or... you get the point.

I compared this book to "Wrapagami: The Art of Fabric Gift Wraps" by Jennifer Playford. I picked these two books to compare based on the current reviews. In comparison:

-Both books have a lot of ideas for wrapping different packages. Aside from wrapping standard packages, this book has more ideas on different types of knots to tie, as well as wrapping cloth around packages to look like animals. ...this wasn't for me. Wrapagami seemed to have more sophisticated wrapping ideas. I could care less about tying a faux rose or to make a wrap look like a goose or puppy. Not my style. But, maybe that's for you?

-Someone mentioned that the images in this book are small and printed in black and white. Yes, they are...my 24-year old eyes were squinting and unhappy. Wrapagami, on the other hand, had larger images printed in color. I also think the directions given in Wrapagami are clearer -- even though they are much more succinct.

-Wrapagami also gave ideas of what to wrap what way, and what type of fabric to use based on the object and the occasion. I consider myself to be a fairly creative person but since I'm just learning furoshiki I like the fact that these ideas are presented -- it might help make learning the craft easier and more enjoyable, as I will be making fewer "beginner blunders." This book did not have those ideas -- or if it did, it wasn't obvious where they were!

Thus, my final conclusion: This book isn't bad by any means, but I think Wrapagami is far superior. Wrapagami has clearer, succinct directions, more modern, sophisticated wrapping designs (which better suits my tastes), and helpful hints that aren't included in this book. It is for that reason that I'm returning this book to Amazon -- I feel like I simply found something better.

Happy shopping! Happy furoshiki!

I like gift wrapping but it always seems like such a waste of money; you spend real money on pretty paper and ribbons, only to rip it up and turn it into trash? The idea of wrapping presents with fabric appeals to me both because it's greener and because, hey, any friend with a sewing machine could actually USE the fabric!

And I confess that even if I don't actually use this book to wrap gifts (tho darnit I intend to!) it's a fun and different way to use the unusual fabric in my quilting stash. The 30-40 wrapping designs illustrated made me say, "Oh COOL!" several times. Traditionally, however, the Japanese wrapping is done using furoshiki "bundling cloth" which appears to be a heavier-weight cotton that doesn't have an obvious "right side" and "wrong side," or sometimes lightweight rayon or silk. That's fine, but I don't have those on-hand, which means my bright idea of using fat quarters from my quilting stash won't always work. I'm not troubled by this -- in fact, I'm planning a trip to the closeout counter at the local craft-and-sewing store just to get "try it out" pieces -- but you might want to know about the fabric requirements ahead of time.

As you can tell, I'm cheerfully impressed by this book. The results are so pretty! And the instructions are straightforward and easy-to-follow, even for me (I am easily confused by such things). Most of the how-to illustrations show 4-6 steps, and they cover everything from wrapping a CD (you'll need a 20" square of fabric) to a "carnation wrap" for a small book (that requires two pieces of rayon crepe, 18" square) to wine-bottle covers to the adorable "perky puppy dog wrap" suitable for a coffee mug. Nor is this only for giving stuff away; the author includes instructions for such prosaic items as a tissue-box cover or a trash basket cover.

What a fun, creative book. Recommended.

This book has been an excellent guide to earth friendly gifts. It lets me enjoy a task I usually hate and use fabrics which can be re-used.

The explanations are clear and easy to follow. I recommend this book to all fabric lovers and ecologically minded gift givers.

Gift Wrapping with Textiles: Stylish Ideas from Japan

This book is exceptional in that there are instructions, not just beautiful pictures, of how to wrap different kinds of packages, and measurements of fabrics are included. This is very helpful so that one does not have too much or too little material to work with. This is a keeper. Forget paper.

This is a great book; lots of very beautiful and unusual ways to wrap gifts with fabric. This book will appeal to both the artist and the eco minded. I found the pictures very helpful and the designs easy to execute. This book would make a great gift.

This is the perfect foil for recycling. Two gifts in one, fabric does wonders! Use old clothing, either your own or from a thrift shop!