Wrapping it Up!

I refuse to buy wrapping paper. It has such a short lifespan and I already have so much paper around, so I always dig something out of the recycling or my paper stash.


Idea #1: Make the gift wrap part of the gift!
Is there some type of fabric item your gift recipient would use? My dad usually carries around a bandana as a hanky, and we happen to make these great bandanas at the shop I work at. Depending on the size of your gift it could be a handkerchief or a scarf. Or maybe your giftee likes to sew, quilt or craft with fabric in some other way. Pick up some lovely fabric for their stash!

Fabric could also be a great wrapping solution for those you live with. If you save it, you can have a dedicated stash of gift wrapping fabric for years to come.

Idea #2: Recycled Pages
Just because most of the paper we recycle isn't big enough to cover large gifts doesn't mean hope is lost. Choose multiple pages to tape, sew, or glue together into a large piece of gift wrap.

This gift is wrapped with a recycled festival program. I taped the pages together with gaffer's tape (I'm obsessed with the stuff. It's classy, it looks like fabric.) I made the bow from cut strips of a brown paper bag and a single staple, taped over the point where my four pages intersect.

This one is made from magazine pages. I taped the pages together from the inside, so there would be no showing tape.

This one is made of book pages. I've done a number of projects with the covers of old books (like this hand-bound notebook), which leaves me with a a ton of old book pages I don't know what to do with. I sewed them all together with my sewing machine (it's really fun sewing things that aren't fabric!) These pages are from a 1969 edition of Reader' Digest Condensed Books. Flipping through, I was drawn to the illustrations for this one, The Day the World Ended, and today seemed like the most appropriate day imaginable for apocalyptic wrapping paper, being the last day of the Mayan calendar and all.

Idea #3: A Map
Looking for big paper? Maps are big pieces of paper! And they look super hip. This map was an outdated NYC bike map I found in my drawer. Score. You can get a bike map for free at any NYC bike shop. If you don't have any maps around that you're ready to chuck, public transportation authorities usually give out bus and train maps for free, or perhaps there is a map you could buy that your giftee would use.

Idea #6 Artist Paper
If you're looking for something a little cleaner and simpler, this is a lovely way to go. As an artist, and especially as a former art student, I have all sorts of art papers. I've got so many they're coming out my ears! In all different sizes, some quite large. In a range of neutral colors: white, black, shades of grey and brown. Many with subtly luxurious textures. This is a lovely black paper given to me by a German student, emptying his stash before moving back to Germany. I'm not even sure what it's for, but it's a smooth, rich black with a linen-like weave. Perfect for manly wrapping.

Idea #5 Grocery Bag
Remember covering your textbooks in recycled brown paper bags? Simply slice a seam, cut off the bottom and you've got a nice big piece of wrapping paper! Tie it up with string and you've got one of Maria's Favorite Things! For my tag here, I glued a pressed leaf to the paper and wrote on it with a gold pen.

For more on pressing, my pressed leaf was leftover from this project:

Happy Wrapping! 

Medicine Bag: For the Hippy in Your Life

When I was 10 years old or so, my summer camp secret buddy made me a suede medicine bag. It was pretty cool. Then when I was a college freshman in fashion school, I rediscovered that medicine bag. I still thought it was awesome and started wearing it regularly. But in a room full of fashion majors, not without light-hearted ridicule. Someone even bought me crystals as a gag gift! I put them in my medicine bag and kept on wearing it.

This year, I came into lots of suede. And suddenly Native American paraphernalia is super hip. I thought about making medicine bags, and then mine broke! So it seems I was destined to share my medicine bag with you.

If you want to embroider or bead a design on your medicine bag, this is best done before cutting. I simply drew my design on with black and red sharpie, which can be done at any point!

1. Mark holes around the edge, about a quarter inch apart, on the inside. Puncture these markings through both pieces of suede with the awl.

2. Thread needle, knot a double strand. Start with your knot on the inside and sew back through the top holes again, creating a straight tack.

3. With the two pieces of suede on top of each other, right sides facing out, sew around the edge, passing the needle straight through your awl holes, front to back. This should create diagonal stitches.

4. Snip two vertical holes in the back, and six in the front.

5. Lace the long, skinny neck piece through these holes.

6. Tie, fill with crystals, and wear for good energy and hippy/Native American chic style!

DIY Gift Guide

For those of you looking for holiday gift inspiration, I thought I'd post a collection of my past DIYs that could make great gifts for your loved ones.

For the beauty in your life.

For the snuggle bunny in your life.

For the writer and doodler in your life.

For the elegant woman in your life.

For the stylishly farsighted in your life.

For the one who deserves pampering in your life.

For the stylishly funky in your life.

For the snow bunny in your life.

For the cook in your life.

For the technophile in your life.

For the gardener in your life.

For the animal lover in your life.

For the coffee or tea lover in your life.

Go forth and good luck!

Knitting in Progress: Baby Smock Dress

I am seriously behind on my knitting. I've been working on this smock dress for my cousin's new baby since July. I intended to give it to newborn Eva. Now I'm just hoping I can get it to 6 month old Eva for Christmas. Good thing I knit it in the biggest size!


This is the pattern, from Debbie Bliss...

Excruciatingly adorable, right?

I altered it slightly, using a different smocking stitch...

This is my new favorite stitch pattern. It's much easier to keep track of than the cabled version that Debbie Bliss provides. It requires practically no counting at all!

Ribbed Smock Stitch
Knit over a multiple of 8 sts + 2 sts.

Row 1: *p2, k2 to last 2 sts, p2.
Row 2: *k2, p2 to last 2 sts, k2.
Row 3: rep row 1
Row 4: rep row 2
Row 5: *p2, wrap 6 sts, k2tog, k1, p2, k2 to last 2 sts, p2.
Row 6: rep row 2
Repeat rows 1 - 4
Row 11: p2, k2, *p2, wrap 6 sts, k2tog, k1, p2, k2 to last 2 sts, p2
Row 12: rep row 2

To clarify rows 5 and 11:
To wrap 6 sts, insert your right needle between the sixth and seventh stitch on your left needle. Wrap your yarn around your right needle as if knitting normally. Pull this yarn back through and place the loop back on your left needle. After wrapping stitches, you will always k2tog, knitting this extra loop you've created in with the next proper stitch, so as not to add stitches. This is the stitch that creates the smock effect. Otherwise, this stitch pattern is nothing but a 2x2 rib, plain and simple!

With love,