Wrapping Your Hand Knit Gift

Some people are absolutely amazing when it comes to wrapping their beautiful hand knit presents. They are inventive and creative. Wonderful papercraft artists.

I do not profess to be one of these tallented people. But, having said that, it is worthwhile making an effort when wrapping a handmade gift, to make the experience of giving and receiving extra special.

Collect your Materials Together

As knitters and crafters, most of us have lots of interesting and pretty things stored away. Like magpies we collect lovely papers. Pretty boxes we have been given. Bags of colourful bows. It is great when a we are able to use some of our stored supplies.

• A hand knit gift
• Tissue Paper
• A box – dimensions 20cm (8″) wide, 13.5cm (5 1/4″) high, 6.5cm (2 1/2″) deep. The lid is 2.5cm (1″) deep.
• Rulers
• Scissors
• Ribbon – wider blue ribbon, narrower silver ribbon
• Bow – to match the ribbon
• Sellotape
• Double sided tape

The Gift

I chose tissue paper that enhanced the colours in the scarf. This scarf is the Honeycomb Scarf knit using one 50g ball of Mini Mochi Neptune’s Rainbow.

When you’ve taken the time to knit a beautiful gift for someone it is nice to take the time to wrap it and make the experience of receiving the gift a joy.

Adding the Ribbon

I measured the box lid and marked the inside of the lid 1/3 of the distance from the edge both vertically and horizontally (for my box it was 4.5 cm from the top edge and 6.6 cm from the side edge). I measured across the top, down both sides, and added 3 cm for turn under the edge. Then I cut the ribbon to the correct length. (For my box I cut two lengths of ribbon (one blue and one silver) 27.5 cm long and two lengths 21.5 cm long.

Using a piece of double-sided tape I stuck the wider blue ribbon in position making sure to keep the ribbon taught. Then using a narrower piece of double-sided tape I stuck the silver ribbon into place centrally positioned on the wider blue ribbon.

I overlapped the ribbons each time. I used a silver ribbon for the narrow one to match the silver box. For this present, I wanted to create an elegant look. It would be fun to use colourful contrasting colours or to decoupage the box, or collage it using colourful papers. For a larger gift, a shoe box could be covered with a nice piece of wrapping paper.

Have Fun with Tissue Paper

I chose the order in which to place the tissue paper inside the box. I wanted to create a rumpled layered finish. I placed the dark blue, then silver, and finally the pale aqua tissue paper.

I folded the lovely Honeycomb Scarf and placed it into the box. Then folded the tissue paper layers over the scarf in layers taking care not to tear the tissue. If you are wrapping a pale-coloured gift it would be wise to have the palest colour of tissue next to the knitted gift to prevent any possible staining.

Add a Personal Touch

Add a handmade gift card. I used an image from a Hubble space craft book to create the envelope.

Finally

Put on the lid and stick a lovely bow in the corner.

A gift that anyone would love to receive.