Lavender Sachets
I used to think that sachets were kind of silly and useless, along the lines of crocheted toilet paper covers. Turns out, I was wrong; sachets are cool and practical too! They’re not only pretty and wonderfully tactile, but they also make your clothes and drawers smell great! (Now could someone please explain to me what a toilet paper cover is for?)
My sachet change of heart was made possible by a remarkable new product, the Dutch Chintz Garden Roll. Like sachets, chintz sometimes has a reputation for being unstylish (or “chintzy”), but these Garden Rolls quickly dispel such a notion. Each Roll includes a whole world of historically accurate and totally beautiful fabrics that truly spark the imagination. Comprised of fifteen 4-inch by 60-inch strips of fabric, each strip is divided into three different reproduction prints. Plus, there are five tone-on-tone strips. And so, swept away by this rainbow of jewel tones and extraordinary prints (whose actual dimensions are so well suited for a hand-sized project), I decided to give sachets a try, despite my original skepticism.
I quickly became a sachet convert. They were so simple and fun to make, especially in an assembly line, and they made my whole house smell like lavender! I loved picking out my favorite chintz prints and matching them with others to create fresh smelling stacks of sachets.
Materials
To make twenty sachets:
- A Dutch Chintz Garden Roll (This particular product is no longer available, but our Liberty Mini Rainbow Bundle would be a great alternative!)
- 1/2- yard Organic Canvas in Natural
- 100% cotton thread in color 1240
- Hand Quilting thread in color 829
- A 1 pound bag of dried lavender (This site also has a lot of other great smelling herbs that would work well if you wanted to try something besides lavender.)
Size
Each sachet is 3 1/2-inch square
Pattern
Cutting
Pick out the fabrics you’d like to use from the roll of fabrics. In the example I am making a set of 12. If you’re going to give them or use them as a set make sure you like the way they look all together.
Cut each of the chintz fabrics into a 4-inch square.
Cut 12 (or however many sachets you’re making) 4-inch squares from the canvas, one for each of the chintz squares.
Sewing
Press one side of each of the cut squares 1/4-inch towards the wrong side.
Pin each chintz square to a canvas square, right sides together, with their folded sides lined up. Do not pin the folded sides.
Using the cotton sewing thread and a 1/4-inch seam allowance sew around the three pinned sides. Make sure to sew down the sides of the folds.
Turn sewn piece right sides out.
Filling and Finishing
Fill each sewn pocket with 10 heaping teaspoons of lavender and pin it closed. Make sure that the folded edges are flush with one another and that no raw seams or stray threads are popping out past the pinned edge.
Using the hand quilting thread sew the sachet closed with a blind stitch: Start with the knot on the inside of the fold. Pull the needle through along the fold of the chintz side and exit 1/4-inch from the edge.
Push the needle through the opposite side’s fold (on the canvas side) directly across from the first exit point.
Go back and forth like this, sewing through the folds, until you reach the end of the open side. Tie a knot at the end.
Pull the thread through to the front of the sachet and snip it at the exit point to hide the end.
Thread an 18-inch length of the hand quilting thread and do not tie a knot. Starting from the canvas side of the sachet take a small horizontal tacking stitch through the sachet. Leave a 4-inch tail. Re-stitch over this stitch a few times and pull the stitch tight so that the sachet puckers towards the center, as shown above.
Double knot the working end of the thread to the tail on the canvas side, making sure to pull the knot tight to secure it. Hide the ends of the thread inside of the sachet as you did in the previous step and you’re all done!
Update 2024: You can explore our current collection of beautiful fabrics and supplies on our page of Sewing Tools + Notions!
Great! I thought I recognized the fabric. Is it from the Netherlands?
I really love these. Thanks for the tutorial. I reblogged and linked back to you. Hope it's okay!
Love this idea. Perfect in time for Mother's Day! Would any quilting cotton fabric work or do you think they'd be too thick?Thanks.
So simple and sweet and what a nice little gift “just because”! Can you tell me how many bags you were able to fill with 1 lb. of lavender? I want to order enough for my project. Thanks so much.
Linda
Hi Linda-
You could make 30 with a 1 lb bag.
Thank you for your question!
Molly
Hi Emilee-
Quilting cotton would work too!
Thank you for your question.
Molly
Hi Simone-
It is from the Netherlands. The fabric is “Dutch Chintz” and are reproductions of 17th and 18th century Dutch Quilting fabric. You can see it here:
https://www.purlsoho.com/purl/products/item/8566-Dutch-Chintz-Company-Dutch-Chintz-Garden-Roll
Thank you!
Molly
Lovely post, gorgeous lavender saches 🙂
I really like these, colors are beautiful and this idea is good for mother's day!
Do you know a Macaroon Pouch?
This is very small pouch, shaped like a macaroon.
It is popular to make this in Japan. 🙂
http://nunotoiro.exblog.jp/i14/
yummy-it snowed here today and I needed to see these-just the thought of lavender and pretty fabric….may even get me to clean out and reorganize my dresser drawers
I love for my drawers and cabinets to smell good but I don't love lavender. Does anyone have any thoughts on other herbs that might work as well?
sweet woodruff works nicely. It has the scent of new mown grass or hay when dried, and lasts a long time.
Hi Maggie-
Some other good herbs would be:
Eucalyptus, orange peel, peppermint, rose buds, rose hips, lemon peel, and lemon verbena. Another good option, if you want to keep moths away, is cedar chips.
Thank you for your question!
Molly
Is it OK to use quilting cotton instead of canvas? I want to get started right away!
Hi Veronica-
You can use any fabric you like! Good luck with the project!
Molly
Thank you for this tutorial and the inspiration. I made a bunch of these up and blogged them. I thought you might like to see. Thanks so much for the fun project!
http://peasinapod.typepad.com/peas-in-a-pod/2012/07/using-lucys-beach-bag-scraps-lavender-sachets.html
Hi Molly;
Just wanted to say thank you so much for this beautifully written and very informative article. I have had a collection of beautiful lavender and purple chintzes stashed away along with lavender buds I picked last summer. Your canvas idea on the bottoms is the perfect accent that will take these beyond the ordinary. Thank you so very much for sharing. ~ Marjorie
My favourite scent! Thanks for a great how to – and so well laid out that even my tragic sewing skills may be enough to get me through it (first attempts may need to go to the back of the sock drawer…hehe) I have shared your link at http://creativityunmasked.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/six-for-saturday-or-sunday_28.html 🙂
Simple and beautiful, as always !
These are really beautiful! I prefer to make my sachets in a pillowcase fashion, backed with lace so that I can refill them when the scent starts to fade. I've written up a sort of overview tutorial here: http://byov.blogspot.com/2011/02/quick-project-lavender-sachet.html
I've even turned a miniature bear's paw quilt block into a lavender sachet! Tiny 6″x6″ quilt blocks are perfect for this!
Thanks so much for this great tutorial and inspiration! I love these, so pretty and still pratical. Today I posted about the version I made (inspired by yours) and linked to you as the original source, right here: http://paintingsunny.com/2013/05/03/before-the-blog-pinterest-inspired-projects-part-iii/
I received a Coffee Basket and it included four coasters filled with cloves. Every time I use them there's a wonderful aroma. I am thinking about making another set with cinnamon and one with nutmeg.
Oh, Molly, the TP covers, they are to make sure it's easily accessible to guests without an awkward moment and even more important it makes it less accessible to our four legged family and friends.
Molly thank you for this simple yet elegant idea.
Geri is right about the toilet tissue covers. Matching the covers to a sachet and putting it into the main bath is a sweet smelling idea.
Geri's idea about the coffee basket and and coaster sized sachets is one I will be making for a friend and using Coco's Easter basket for the basket…Thank you.
Thanks for posting this tutorial! I just ordered some lavender from this lovely Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/FlowerfulBotanicals) and can’t wait to make a bunch of these as Christmas presents. What a great, budget-friendly project/gift idea. 🙂
Wonderful! So many good ideas from the other comments. I do sew and have become addicted in sachets. It all started when I went to make sachets for my daughter’s wedding party. It started with hearts, added a circle, a bunny and now I’m looking for an easy cat design. I have made some of my own rice fillers that I got from pinterest. I’m going to try the cloves and I can hardly wait to get started. Thank you, Suzanne
I wanted to know how you can make the sachet smell like clean linen, what do you need to mix to have that scent? Also, another one I would like to know is maybe some Christmas scents?
Hi Jeannine-
I’m afraid I don’t have much experience creating scents from herbs but you might want to get in touch directly with the Monterey Spice Co and ask them. They are really lovely: http://www.herbco.com/
Thank you for getting in touch and please let us know if you have any more questions!
Molly
I love your lavender sachets, really clear instructions for making them, sewing is something I aim to learn, this would is a perfect starter project for me to try.
PS I also love my rainbow toilet paper cover because it’s just as pretty!
🙂
As a child, I always thought sachets were so silly and something only my grandma had. Now, as a woman in my 40’s using dryer sheets in my dresser and linen closet… I realize EXACTLY why they’re so useful :). Thank you for your great tutorial; I’m going to practice my sewing skills and make some of these.
Thanks for the tutorial. I love sachets. They are the perfect little gift to give at a quilt retreat.
The photo with the sachets in a circle made me think of a wreath. I am going to make a wreath with your sachet pattern.
I think I’ll try xmas prints.
Thanks for the tutorial.
They are darling! Just wondering how to hide the tails from the knot (at the end) in the sachet?
Thanks so much!
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for writing in! To hide the ends, you will follow the process as shown in the photo directly above where it says “Pull the thread through to the front of the sachet and snip it at the exit point to hide the end.”
I hope this helps, happy crafting!
Gianna