Corset, girdle, cumberbun... whatever you want to call it, this is one of my favorite elements to add to a package. And best of all, you can use just about any kind of medium to make them...
quilter's cotton embellished with yarn embroidery and buttons,
paper lunch bags and staples (plus a paper sack flower),
t-shirt fabric and sewing machine adorned with sequins, buttons, and a fluff of fabric. Look familiar? I used this one for the banner and badges for our party.
What better way to wrap up this gift wrap party than by doing a gift wrap corset tutorial. Here's how to make them...
Cut your fabric: Measure the perimeter of your box and add about a foot (more if you want tons of pleats). This will be the length. Then decide on the width that works for your box.
My box was 6 x 6 x 6 inches. Perimeter 24 inches + 12 inches = 36 inch length. I used a width of 4 inches. I cut my fabric 36 x 4 inches.
Make your pleats: Starting a hand's width from the middle of your fabric, pinch up about a half inch. If you want smaller pleats, pinch up less.
Fold to one side and pin pleat in place.
Right next to the pinned pleat, pinch up another half inch. Fold to same side as before and pin in place.
Repeat until you have the amount of pleats that you want.
You should now have one long strip of fabric with pinned pleats in the middle.
Now take it to your sewing machine and sew your pleats in place with three or four lines of stitching. If you don't have a sewing machine, you can tack them down with a running stitch by hand. If you're using paper, use glue or staples.
Wrap your box: Place the pleated part of your fabric in the center of the top of your box.
Flip your box over, wrap one end of your fabric to the bottom and cut it about an inch away from the edge of the box.
Wrap the other end of the fabric to the bottom. Overlapping the first side by several inches, cut the extra fabric off. Now you can either tape, staple, or glue the end.
I added some yarn, hemp, and a small charm to this version.
And there we go! A nice finish for our gift wrap party. The {PRESENT}ing flickr pool will still be around, so please share some gift wrap inspiration anytime. Every now and then, I'll be featuring pictures from it here on the blog. You know... after it has a few more pictures from someone other than myself. So get to wrapping and add your pictures!
The holidays are just around the corner, so you have the perfect chance to try out some new gift wrap techniques. I really had a lot of fun putting this together and hope that you've been inspired to wrap beautifully. Cheers!
**The Gilded Bee Giveaway is still going on, so sign up soon! It ends on Friday.
