How to repurpose the scarves you no longer wear (and bring joy to others)

If you have more scarves than you use (and speaking to friends, that seems to be many of us), why not repurpose those that you no longer wear and turning them into beautiful gift wrapping? 

It's a brilliantly sustainable way to recycle, and is environmentally friendly too as you don't need any tape.

Using a scarf you no longer wear as a gift wrap means you are giving two presents, and the recipient can either choose to wear the scarf or pass it on as a wrapping to someone else.

The art of wrapping objects in fabric is actually based an ancient Japanese tradition called furoshiki (which originated when people wrapped their clothes in a distinctive large square cloth when visiting a public bath so they could easily identify their belongings).

Furoshiki is now a popular way of wrapping gifts - there are specialist stores where you can buy beautiful furoshiki cloth, which is traditionally square, but any shape of fabric will do, even very long scarves.

To get started, take a look at some websites with furoshiki-wrapping instructions (there are loads), and unlike paper wrap (which is unrecyclable if it contains glitter or has a metallic effect), you can try it several times until you're happy with the finished result.

Of course, you may end up with your scarf being re-gifted back to you - but it's probably a risk worth taking!

At College Green I use a collection of beautiful vintage silk scarves as optional gift box wrapping. Each one has been hand picked by be to be unique and totally gorgeous! 

Gift sets include:

  • Luxury bath sets with a natural soap, aromatherapy bath soak, wooden soap dish, soy wax candle and floral facial steam
  • Natural soaps with a selection of palm oil free, handmade soaps.
  • Wax melt gift boxes with a ceramic wax warmer and selection of flower-infused wax melts
  • Luxury facial sets with a gentle soap, floral facial steam, gua sha facial massager and konjac sponge.

I always have a selection at Stroud Farmers' Market where I have a stall on the fourth Saturday of every month - my next market is 22 April, and they are all available on my website.