New #41: Furoshiki

Furo-what? Yeah, that's what I said when I stumbled upon a video about this unpronounceable idea. However, I soon learned that actually trying out the craft is much more simple than its funny foreign name. Basically, furoshiki is a style of square cloth that ancient Japanese people used in a time before plastic bags to wrap up anything they needed to take with them. While I have no idea what the verb may be for this craft, just think of it as origami, only using fabric instead of paper. And the results are way more practical than a paper crane.

The video I found was demonstrating a few different variations of furoshiki wrapping. Apparently regular wrapping paper is so last year, because now people are bundling up gifts in funky (and reusable) cloths. I thought that was kinda neat, until I saw that you can easy make a cute little bag with just a few knots. Cool! Now that's the kind of furoshiki I'm talking about.

In the video, the tutor makes it all look so easy, moving her hands over the fabric like an Asian Vanna White, gracefully tying knots and magically making a purse. While anything that looks "really easy" usually isn't the first time around, this was actually pretty painless - even for me.

I'd bought a gaudy square of fabric to make into my purse (I didn't know how big it needed to be, so I just asked the lady for a large square. She said it's about a yard and a half). The first step was to fold the fabric in half, with the bottom of the fabric facing outward. This actually ended up being the hardest part of the project. Seriously. It was hard to make the corners match just-so like that bag-making-master did in the video. But oh well, I got it close enough.

My unfolded fabric before the project began.

Next I had to tie a knot on the two bottom corners of the triangle. My picture kind of shows how this is done - although I would definitely recommend watching the video for a real explanation.

With the two knots tied, I turned the bag right-side-out. I tied together the two corners on top and Viola! I made a bag! It took me literally about five minutes. And I'm a slow worker.

At first, the completed purse wasn't really fooling anyone. It just looked like a yard-and-a-half of fabric tied together, like something a hobo might carry on the end of a stick. But after putting a few heavy books in it, and tying two little bows on the straps to give it more shape, the bag really did start to come together.


So maybe it's not going to be my new daily purse, but it will be perfect as a beach bag, grocery bag or party trick.