Wrap it Up #4: DIY Gift wrap ideas with old clothes

It’s the 2nd day of the Wrap It Up series! Did you see the dish towel gift wrap, DIY fabric stamped gift wrap, and wrapping with a pillow case ideas? We’ve got bazillions of DIY gift wrap ideas for ya with this series!This afternoon, we’ve got Carmel who claims she doesn’t like wrapping gifts! Either way, she’s good at it! 

Hi C.R.A.F.T. -ers! I’m Carmel from Our Fifth House (we’ve moved a lot and I’m clearly a blog-naming genius). When Jamie invited me to join in the wrapping fun I almost declined. The truth is – I really don’t like wrapping presents. I know right? As a diy blogger am I even allowed to say that?! It’s true though. I love Christmas – and I love decorating – and I love buying or hand making something special for my loved ones, but I don’t like the present wrapping.

I either raid my kids closets in search of old worn out items that no longer fit or I hit up the men’s clothing department at Goodwill (the men’s department is typically flooded with good Christmas-y looking items).  It’s a whole lot less expensive than going to the fabric store and it gives your presents the appearance of  – wow, what a lovely package – instead of  – she just threw this together in 2 seconds (which is actually what I did).  Win-win!

(*You don’t need a lot of clothing because you’re not going to wrap the whole present.  You’re just going to use the fabric to embellish.)

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I’m a big fan of plain brown paper.  I bought a roll at the hardware store years ago, and I don’t think I’ll be done with it until 2025.  As you can see my basic approach is  – brown paper – then layer a fabric scrap over the middle and use baker’s twine to tie on a tag – easy breezy.  I have a little crush on those evergreen pipe cleaners.  You can buy them at any craft store.  I love using them to add a little monogrammed personalization to a package.

(*My best tip for wrapping presents with brown paper and fabric scraps is to use packing tape instead of regular scotch tape – trust me on this.)

My other favorite way to use old clothes to dress up a package is to make cute little bow ties.

These little bow ties are so fun, preppy and sweet that I often skip the wrapping part all-together and just tie them on an unwrapped plain box with some twine.  Again with the easy breezy – and PS if you have elementary school aged kids they can whip these bow ties up for you in no time flat – even easier!!

I love these bow ties so much!  They look great on gift boxes, tied to a bottle of wine or on your kids or pets!