Birthday wrappings

Recently I decided to try and wrap a birthday present in a way that was both practical/reusable and tied in with the actual present (a sewing book). My friend who received it (Fleur) also sews, so I was pretty sure she would appreciate the sentiment!

This year my friend and I had decided to do a sewing book "swap" from Book Depository, something that came about after discussing a book that I was hanging out to buy. This was the book I chose for Fleur from the list of possibilities she emailed me:

The great thing about doing this sort of "swap" (where you buy a present from someones book wishlist) is that the receiver gets something that they actually want and will use, PLUS you might get to look at a book you might not have considered before. A quick glance through Fleur's chosen birthday book left me quite impressed, it has a lot of techniques and finishes in it not covered in your average sewing book. I can't wait to see what Fleur does from it.

In order to hold with the "sewing" theme I wrapped the book in some vintage border print fabric that had been mellowing in my stash for quite some time:

 

Now don't get me wrong I really, really loved this fabric- so this wasn't a "passing on fugly fabric in guise of gift" present. I just knew that the colour's were better suited to Fleur's wardrobe/hair/complexion that mine and that she would actually use the fabric and make it into something- as opposed to me who has just admired it and then put it back in the box.

So Fleur no pressure but I expect freaking awesomeness/great things from this!! 
 Hopefully she will find my choice of fabric useful for an upcoming project ;)

I then used a thrifted tie (also in a colour found often in the recipients wardrobe) and some cotton tape to hold the whole package together:

 ...with some strategically placed pins on the back to keep the ends wrapped in (um yeah sorry about that Fleur- note next time find pin alternative...):

In the end I actually enjoyed picking stuff out of my stash to wrap this with and I think my friend did like the wrapping, so big tick there and maybe a potential for future gift givings.

Happy Sewing/wrapping/gift giving all!

Kate ;)