Monthly Meeting - How to Make a Special Gift Unique
Tuesday 9 December
Anne Artis extended a warm welcome on a chilly night, but from our cosy homes we are all safe and well. She briefly reminded us of upcoming events – Fintry Amateur Dramatic society Christmas Caper on Friday 3 December, and the SC&WP Federation November Business Meeting on Saturday 27 November (Liz can take competition entries of Childs DK mitts, Christmas card in calligraphy and needle felted animal if anyone is entering) – the Federation are also looking for a treasurer and will welcome applications. Our Christmas night out is on 14 December and all are welcome to join us at Briarlands Farm (£23.50 for the meal, and please bring a Secret Santa present and a gift to donate to the Salvation Army). Helen Little also reported as treasurer thanking welcoming one more new member and thanking everyone who has already paid their Christmas meal.
Our speaker Jane Means joined the meeting to inspire us to create beautiful wrappings for our gifts for special people this year. Jane started her gift wrapping business when she noticed that stores in the UK either did not offer anything, or wrapped very poorly! She shared her tips and trick for perfect wrapping and how to do this sustainably and in an eco friendly way. Her biggest helpers are double sided tape (folded over to a tab to make it easy to peel off), sharp scissors and patience! When wrapping regular boxes pick the smallest amount of paper that you can, and wrap ‘away from you so you cannot see what you are doing, to make sure that you feel sharp creases and perfect folds. When measuring and cutting the right length of ribbon to tie the perfect bow – Jane recommends only wrapping ribbon around the single shortest edge to use the least amount of ribbon and maxmise your roll!
When wrapping awkward tall shapes such as wine bottles, vases or teddy bears then a soft material like tissue works better to mould around the item – one printed sheet combined with a plain sheet is a great economy. A single sheet of tissue is perfect for a single bottle of wine .. a paper tablecloth is ideal for extra large items and easily available in supermarkets – for example wrapping a plant or planter where a fabric or paper table cloth is more substantial than tissue which disintegrates when wet. Pre-measure your ribbon before starting to wrap awkward shapes. When storing ribbons make sure you pin in the side of the ribbon to disguise any holes the pins make!
When wrapping bottles then start with the shortest edge and use the longer sides of the tissue paper to swirl round and cover the short edge, making sure there is tension when you pull the paper into neat pleats before changing hands and repeating with the other side – by stopping before the final corner and pulling the short edge in then you get a neat finish before tying your bow to secure it. If you have cut the ribbon too short then it can be remedied by adding a second short piece of ribbon in a figure 8 loop to tie in and make it look like a proper bow … or even adding 2-3 loops for a really special and dramatic gift making use of remnants of ribbon.
When wrapping a flat item such as a gift voucher or scarf then making an envelope or gift pouch is best, with a piece of paper three times the required length (with a little extra on each side which is folded over to make neat straight edges with a point at the top … before joining the sides together to make a pouch …. Trust me this is easier done than described! The pouch can then be decorated – Jane suggested using a single punch to make a hole to tie a bow through using very little ribbon and perhaps a bit of artificial garland or fresh foliage – even writing on holly leaves with a gold pen as a gift tag!
Jane’s suggestion for recycling brown paper is to scrunch it tight and then flatten it again to get a great crinkle effect. It could be personalised with sharpies and writing names or poems, or adding photographs too! She showed us how to wrap a round tin measuring a perfect sized piece of paper and wrapping it tightly round the edge of the tin before sticking with tape which is the same height as the tin so the edges of the paper can be pulled in to the centre as you roll the tin to make a small pleated effect into the centre. Brown paper is great for this as you can keep good tension on the paper before cutting off the excess to tidy up, before sticking with tape. Raffia is great with brown paper but needs something to make it more interesting like pine cones, berries or cinnamon sticks to give a pop of colour and cover any mistakes in the pleating!
Anne Artis closed out the meeting promising to send Jane a photograph of our Secret Santa wrapped presents at Christmas before Sheena Gibson was drawn as the winner of the raffle.
The demo was recorded and a private link/password can be shared if you were not able to join us and are interested to catch up.
