Married to the Empire

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Lavender Sachets

Almost a year ago, I promised a tutorial on making these lavender sachets. Although all of my readers have probably long forgotten, I actually haven't. I just got lazy. But I finally pulled all my materials out again and have been busy making sachets. Here's how I do it.

First, lay out fabric (doubled over) and trace out squares. I made mine 5"x5".



Cut out the squares. I used pinking shears, as I'm lazy and didn't want to deal with turning the sachets and then slip stitching them closed. Pinking shears can give a semi-finished edge with minimal work. Remember, I'm not an experienced, or good, seamstress. I like shortcuts and easiness.



Let the cat have his moment to pose with the squares.



Sigh with sadness because that picture was taken almost a year ago (yes, I'm that behind on this), and the cat, while skinny in the photo, looks almost fat in comparison to today.

Get out the sewing machine and thread that matches the fabric. Match up 2 fabric squares and sew around 3 sides. (Please pardon the bad lighting/photos. We all know I don't actually know what I'm doing with my camera.)




Open the 4th side to reveal a pocket. Fill the pocket with dried lavender.




Cut a piece of ribbon and pin it inside the opening of the 4th side. Sew across the top of it to close the sachet.




It's basically done at this point, and can be hung somewhere. But it's a little boring, so I like to add a bow. I do this by cutting another piece of ribbon, tying it into a bow, then hand sewing it onto the sachet.





Another variation, if you don't need a loop for hanging it, yet don't want it to be completely plain, is to stamp it with something. I used a bible verse stamp for mine. Just be sure to stamp the fabric before you fill the sachet with lavender.




These make nice gifts. In fact, I gave some away this past weekend. They were very well received.

4 comments:

P. said...

Very very niceee!!!

Molly said...

Oh I love it! Very cute!!!

Jen said...

Very nice! I made some a few years ago, but this might be a nice little Christmas idea.

Allison said...

Pretty! Those would look nice fixed to a wrapped gift, too.