Following up on Wednesday’s gift guide, the wrapping guide. In my errant youth, I was second nanny for an aristocratic family in a stately home. The butler taught me how to make a four-poster bed with hospital corners; he had to teach me, it takes two. This gave me both a talent in and a respect for neatness. Not in all things, but definitely in folding and tucking.

Good training indeed for my ongoing obsession with fabric wrapping. The most wonderful sustainable option because lovely fabric is so useful for so many other things. Give members of the same family the same fabric (or tones that match at least) and they will have a full set of new napkins. A single gift means a head scarf. A face cloth. A camera lens polishing rag.

The trick is to get the right fabric. Silk is traditionally used because it is quite light and fine (so easy to knot) but doesn’t stretch or distort when you knot it. I don’t know about you, but I don’t keep that much silk around the place. I do have linen though, and plenty of hemp. Have a look through your scrap pile and find anything that isn’t so thick that you can’t knot it easily or so thin that you can see straight through it. Because where’s the fun in a present that isn’t a surprise? Yes, you can cheat by using a cardboard box. Of course you can.

Oh, and it will need to be square and quite a bit bigger than the things that you are wrapping. If you want to use something not square, such as a tea towel,  then go for option two below.

 There are a few different ways to wrap with fabric and if you want to dig a bit deeper, I strongly recommend researching furoshiki. However, I have found that these two fabric options cover almost everything, and there is a bit on paper wrapping in case you aren’t feeling adventurous.

 Otsukai Tsutsumi or the basic wrap

Make the square a diamond and place your present in the centre. Pull the corners up to check that it is central.

Pull one corner over the gift and, if it reaches, tuck it underneath. Take the corner opposite, and pull that one over too.

The next bit makes all the difference, and was almost impossible to photograph. You can just pick up the remaining two corners, which will look rather like tails, and knot them on top of the gift. But, if you are careful to really tuck in the fabric that will be inside the fold before lifting the tails up and over, everything will look neater.

I told you bed-making experience was helpful.

 Pretend it is paper

It’s late. You are tired. There’s a fair amount of panic involved in preparing for the big day. You have not got the headspace to do anything clever. Or, you’ve tried, and the fabric doesn’t seem to be playing ball. Be kind to yourself. Just wrap it like its paper. It still works, although it works best (and you don’t have to use pins) if you wrap diagonally.

Start as you did before with your gift in the middle. But then just fold the corners over one by one, going round in turn. You will need to use one hand to hold it in place and one to fold. Once all four corners are in, slide ribbon, or string, underneath the parcel (left to right), cross them over and pull them at 90 degrees so they stretch top to bottom, turn over and knot.

The fabric will be a little loose until you have tied it together. I do think that a ribbon can be better than string for this one because of how much more support the width gives it.

The big benefit of this one is that, if you are willing to have a few goes, you can use rectangles other than squares and so Aunty Sarah can get a tea towel as well as a box of chocolates.

 Really use paper

I get through loads of brown paper. I wrap with it, pack with it, make lists on it. I buy it by the kilometre. It pairs beautifully with string, twine and ribbon, but I think the absolute ultimate is pairing it with some greenery. Or something dried. Or a feather. Subtle, but elegant.

One of my favourites this year has been some rather fun bay leaf stars. Just an old star punch I found in one of those drawers that seems to hold everything and nothing, and some leaves plucked from the bay tree in the kitchen garden.

Top tip, if you are finding it difficult to get full stars out of the leaf, cut the leaf down the centre and go from the straight edge. Works with beech, oak, and bay, and probably lots of other broad leaves too.

If you are going for super elegant rather than botanical, you absolutely cannot go wrong with a bit of silk ribbon. There are so many people dyeing ribbon in luscious and glorious shades. If you are in the USA, I envy you, because you have Silk and Willow. In the UK, I would obviously direct you to The Natural Dyeworks but she seems to be sold out of almost everything. Lancaster & Cornish then. Just glorious.

Whatever you do and however you wrap, make it an event. It is first thing in the morning so it is tea, and mince pie and carols. But I strongly recommend putting aside a little time to do this bit mindfully and blissfully. Champagne if you fancy it. Your favourite tea if you don’t.

And yes, even if the present is for you.