Furoshiki!

For one of the swaps I have participated in, I learned the Japanese art of Furoshiki! It's a way of folding a large square for carrying items...basically, "creating" a shopping bag. Typically, it's a large scarf that can be tied in a number of ways to create a "gift wrapped" package or a mechanism for carrying groceries or your lunch in a reusable fabric "parcel". You can even make a "purse" using this mechanism.

I had a lot of fun and "wrapped" the package for my partner in one square of fabric that I hand-hemmed.



Then, I put the "wrapped" package inside a bandana that I used to create a "purse" for carrying the package.

You can find some basic instructions on this technique here: Furoshiki or Furoshiki Tutorial. It's a beautiful and "green" way to carry your groceries and other parcels.