This is the second part of the post I did last week about clearing out your closet and upcycling t-shirts (and other fabrics) into lavender sachets. For part one, click here.
As we talked about last week, the fastest way to make a lavender sachet is to gather it at the top and tie it closed. This method is great for fabric with an overall pattern, and not a single featured graphic, because the gathers will distort a graphic. To learn how to make a lavender sachet from an old t-shirt, where there is a graphic you want to preserve, check out part one, here.
Hopefully you had a good, or at least successful, time clearing out your closet and now have a nice pile of fabrics to convert into lavender sachets. Perhaps it’s a rather large pile? Don’t worry, this method is really quick and easy, and you can always make the sachets now, store them flat, then fill them to give as gifts later!
Here’s how to make a lavender sachet with a gathered top:
First, fold your fabric in half inside-out. The folded edge will be the bottom of the sachet. Starting at the bottom, pin the sides seams with 1/4″ seam allowance (outside the pins) as wide as you want your sachet to be, and up to about 1″ – 1 1/2″ taller/past the length you want.
Next, cut the folded fabric 1/4″ wider than your pins (the seam allowance), and straight across the top:
Sew the sides together all the way up, and turn it right side out.
Note: I had to switch to a lighter-colored fabric here to show the next step because it was too difficult to photograph the inside of the black lavender sachet clearly. Of course (because sometimes things are challenging) the lighter sachet was my test project, so it was already finished when it came time to photograph the steps and I realized this. Thanks for your patience and hopefully this won’t cause too much confusion.
Once the sachet is right-side out, fill it with lavender blossoms up to about 2 1/2″ from the top, then fold about 1″-1 1/2″ of fabric down from the top into the sachet (that’s why you made it taller):
Last, gather the top together, and tie it shut very tightly with a decorative ribbon:
Tip: be sure that the ribbon is about 1/2″ – 3/4″ from the top of the sachet so that it holds the fabric that was folded inside the sachet in place, too.
What you will need:
- Fabric to upcycle
- Scissors
- Tape measure (or just estimate)
- Needle
- Thread
- Straight pins
- Dried lavender blossoms, about 1 cup for every 3″ x 4″ sachet (see ‘tips and tricks’ for sourcing)
- Ribbon
Tips and tricks (in case you missed them last week):
- Eatwell Farm is a great place to get dried lavender blossoms. They’re organic, smell amazing, and you can order them online.
- To remove lavender blossoms from the stems, hold a bunch vertically over a large bowl, blossoms down, and roll the blossoms between your palms:
This won’t remove all of the blossoms, but it will get most of them. Of course you can save some time by purchasing blossoms that have already been removed from the stems. - If your sewing skills are a little lacking, don’t worry: lavender sachets are very forgiving. Think of it as good practice that also lets you clear out your closet and upcycle!
- Squeezing the lavender sachets will release more of the oils and increase the fragrance. After a few years, when they’re less fragrant, you can just open the sachets and replace the blossoms.
- Do lavender sachets really work, or is it just a myth? Well, I did a bit of research on the efficacy of lavender in deterring moths, and it turns out it actually does help. It won’t kill moths or stop an existing infestation, but it does deter them. If you want to learn more about the scientific evidence supporting lavender sachets, this article is quite useful.
I hope you enjoy upcycling your old, well-loved textiles into useful lavender sachets. Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question and don’t forget to follow Creatorvox (subscribe to the right) on Facebook, and on Twitter for more tips and tricks between posts. Thanks for reading, and happy making!