WRAPPERS

Make Your Own Wrapping - Tsutsumi - the art of wrapping

Wrapping ideas shown on paper that was wrapped around a book from Japan on   Tenugui designs from the Edo Period (1603 - 1868).

The short length of cloth - a tenugui - is uniquely Japanese. Textile designs from the Edo period had continuous patterns to signify never ending, some with symbols representing luck, the seasons or the Chinese zodiac. 

 

 

 

Left: Wrappers iPad sleeves imported Japanese canvas. Scroll down for: Make Your Own Laptop Sleeve, Make Your Own Games, Make Your Own Diamond Jubilee Souvenir.

Father's Day Kindle Sleeve

  Kindle Sleeve
Father's Day theme
525 stiches
Cotton check

Make Your Own Diamond Jubilee Souvenir

Make your own silk postcards to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee 1952 - 2012.

Silk postcards were popular during WW1 as souvenirs bought by soldiers serving on the Western Front. Sadly many of the soldiers who sent postcards home did not return.

Silk is more difficult to embroider than heavier weight fabrics and requires a fixative that non woven fabric doesn't but given its history I wanted to use it for my Diamond Jubilee postcards.

Guidelines for using Royal Devices requires the use of quality materials of a permanent kind for souvenirs. Certain Royal Devices can be used but not images of the Queen herself.

You will need an embroidery machine with a good font selection or download my PES file (© Wrappers non commercial use only Download Cypher (2) plus: Silk, postcard/card, embroidery iron on backing, fabric iron on adhesive, chalk, metal ruler, stanley knife.

Draw around a postcard on the reverse side of your fabric with chalk. Cut a piece of silk a little larger than the size of the postcard. Fold silk in half twice to find the centre of your fabric and mark centre with chalk on the right side of your silk.

Iron silk onto embroidery backing keeping the fabric tight to prevent it wrinkling. I find two sheets of iron on backing gives better results.

Using the centre mark on your silk, centre fabric in embroidery hoop

Select your embroidery pattern

Sew embroidery pattern

Iron on fabric adhesive backing to seal the silk and prevent edges fraying.

Using your chalk outline, position postcard/card on the reverse adhesive side and iron onto silk. Cut fabric edges with a metal ruler and stanley knife to finish your postcard.

Guidelines on how Royal marks can be used on souvenirs for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee

Make Your Own Games (2)

Two players each have four counters and take it in turns to place them on any vacant point where the lines cross.

When all eight counters are on the grid, each player in turn moves one of his counters along a line to a vacant point in an attempt to get three in a row. The first player to do so is the winner.

Make Your Own Games

Make a square grid of 28 matches. The object of the game is to see how many words can be formed by removing matches. Can you make any words by removing less than five or more than 11?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lay out 15 matches in a row. Each player in turn picks up one, two or three matches. The winner is the player who forces his opponent to pick up the last match.

Make your own artist's canvas MacBook sleeve

Make your own MacBook sleeve (pictured above) using fabrics available from all good fabric shops. You will need:

A piece of artist's canvas measuring 76cms x 28cms (30inches x 11inches). Cut your piece so the grain of the fabric runs straight. It may help to make a template from newspaper, pin this to your fabric and cut around it.

 

A piece of quilted lining measuring 78cms x 28cms (31inches x 11inches). The polyester filling should be around 2oz in weight - you don't want it too bulky.

If you prefer, go for quilted lining with a waterproof finish.

Start with your piece of canvas. (If you are making this sleeve for yourself you have the choice of decorating the canvas before or after making it up). Sew all around the canvas with a wide zig-zag stitch to secure the edges.

Fold your canvas in half, right sides together, carefully lining up the edges. Pin along both long sides.

Using a small, straight stitch, sew a 1 cm (3/8inch) seam down both of the long sides.

 

As you are sewing the second seam, check that the width between your seams stays at 26cms (10 1/4 inches).

 

Cut off the corners making sure to miss your seams.

Press open the seams with an iron or your fingers. Turn the canvas right side out. Put your hands inside the sleeve and stretch all the sides, use an implement or your finger to push the corners out.

Cut your quilted lining in half (so you have two pieces sized 39cms x 28cms), put the two pieces right sides together and pin along the long sides. Sew a 1cm (3/8inch) seam along the two long sides (as you did with your canvas) so you have a tube.

 

Slide your canvas sleeve inside the tube of lining and align so the top of the two fabrics meet.

Pin the tops of the fabrics together making sure to align the seams on the canvas and quilted lining.

 

With canvas side up sew a 1cm (3/8inch) seam with a small, straight stitch right the way around the top of your sleeve.

Pull the lining up over the canvas so you have a very long tube.   

For a neat finish, sew a narrow seam around the open end of the lining.

Push the lining into your sleeve, use your fingers to push the lining into the corners of the sleeve and overlap it at the bottom of the sleeve.

If you are decorating your sleeve after it's been made up, push a piece of stiff card down into the sleeve to stretch the canvas and create a flat, hard surface to work on.

 

Depending on how you decorate your sleeve, and how permanent you want your image to be, you may want to prime canvas first.

For ready made sleeves see MacBook Pro 13 inch / MacBook Air 11 & 13 inch