How to Wrap Clothes in Wrapping Paper

Clothes always make for a wonderful gift, but if you’re planning on wrapping that gift in wrapping paper, it’s important to know how to wrap clothing properly so that the gift looks nice and neat. Wrapping garments is a bit trickier than wrapping a box with defined edges, but only slightly so. This method below is foolproof, and even ensures a gift that’s perfectly tidy in appearance.

Step #1: Fold the Garment 

First off, fold the garment into a rectangle or a square. If it’s an item that has sleeves, you’ll want to fold the two sleeves across one another toward the center of the garment, before folding the garment about 1/3 inward on each side, and then doing a final fold horizontally. If the gift doesn’t have sleeves, you can skip the first step. If the gift is a bulky item like a thick wool sweater, you may need to skip the step of folding the two sides a third of the way inward.

Step #2: Cut Your Wrapping Paper

Unroll your wrapping paper, design-side down, with the edge of the paper closest to you. Unroll a good amount and place your garment in the center of the paper. Before cutting, try folding both horizontal sides toward one another to see if they meet in the center with an inch overlap. Once you achieve that, cut across the roll.

Step #3: Fold Horizontally 

Make sure the garment is in the middle of your cut sheet of paper, and bring the two horizontal edges together, overlapping by about an inch. Secure the seam with tape.

Step #4: Move onto the Edges

Now you’ll have two edges on either side of the garment. Try folding each edge up to see if it covers about ¾ of the garment. If you have more than that, trim the sides. Now, press down one side of the paper with your hand, smoothing it out. Take one corner of the end and fold it upward toward the center to make a triangle fold, and do the same with the other edge. Bring the two triangle folds together with your hand, as this creates a single fold at the center, which you’ll bring upward and secure with tape. Do the same to the other side.

Step #5: Decorate 

Now that the garment is properly wrapped, you can go ahead and embellish the gift with ribbons, bows or any other decorative touches that create a visually beautiful gift that you’ll be proud to present to the recipient.  

Gift-Wrapping Clothing Items Doesn’t Have to Be Hard 

If you want to ditch the box this year, you can wrap clothing items directly in paper using the method above, which guarantees a gorgeously and neatly wrapped gift that any recipient will be happy to feast their eyes on. At Waterleaf Paper, you can find all kinds of wrapping paper designs that will give that gift an extra special visual touch.