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Today I thought I’d share a craft that is so easy and useful, you will be amazed! One of the homemade Christmas gifts I made for my family this year were lavender sachets. You’ve probably seen those little pillows filled with lavender that you put in your unmentionables drawer. Lavender is great for keeping away moths from clothes and other fabrics, similar to cedar. Plus, it smells great, and is useful – two of my favorite qualities in a gift!

Aren't they pretty?

The initial instructions that I followed, by good ol’ Martha Stewart can be found on her site.

Materials

• Lavender – I found mine at an herbal store. Also sold online.
• Fabric – Cotton, or anything with a looser weave, works best
• Scissors
• Thread – in colors that coordinate with the fabric
• Needle
• Straight Pins
• Funnel – if you don’t have one, you can make one out of stiff paper
• Sewing Machine – not necessary, but really speeds it up
• Ribbon

Time

About five hours to make 18 sachets. Most of the time was hand-sewing them closed (I’m a slow sewer!)

Difficulty

Easy if you’ve sewn before, Intermediate if you haven’t

Details

1. Measure and cut your fabric.

After ironing out your fabric, lay on a hard surface. Use marking chalk or a pen to mark your fabric into 4-inch by 4-inch squares. Any size will work, just remember that it gets smaller as you sew and stuff it, so I wouldn’t recommend using fabric squares smaller than 4 inches.

2. Line up your fabric

After cutting all of your squares, pair them up with the “good side” of the fabric facing towards each other. Put a few straight pins in to hold them together

3. Sew your fabric

If you have a sewing machine this part will go MUCH faster. Sew about 3 1/3 sides of the squares together. I suggest sewing all four corners, and leave the open pocket along one side. This will make it easier to sew closed at the end.

Sew around all four corners and remember to leave an opening!

Once all the squares are sewn, turn them right-side-out making sure the corners are poked out all the way. I used a pencil to help with the corners.

4. Stuffing

This step smells great! Well, unless you don’t like the smell of lavender… and why would you bring a big bag of lavender into your house if you didn’t like it? This step can also get messy if you are not careful. It works best if you use a funnel.

Funneling in the lavender

• Place the fabric pouch in a plastic container or bowl, with the funnel in the open pocket.
• Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, gently scoop the lavender into the funnel.
• Shake pouch as necessary to make sure lavender is getting into all the nooks and crannies. I used the eraser end of the pencil to push lavender in those corners
• Fill pouch until full, leaving room to still close the pocket.
• Fold raw fabric edges of pocket inside and pin pouch closed. Set aside
• Continue to stuff the rest of your pouches

5. Closing

Ok, may hand stitching skills could use some work. But really, it's just going into a drawer.

Once all of your pouches are stuffed and pinned closed it’s time for my LEAST favorite part, sewing the pocket closed. Using a needle and thread, either straight stitch (what I did) or whip stitch the pocket closed, making sure not to leave any escape for those little pieces of lavender

6. Packaging

I used coordinating fabrics so I could make sets of sachets for my Aunts. Once the sewing was complete, I used ribbon to tie three sachets together (actually, my sister helped with this part). These would also be great in a gift basket. Of course I also made some extra for myself… got to keep those clothes fresh!

Now the question is, what will I do with all my extra lavender? I’m officially on the hunt for another lavender craft!