Some of you may remember a blog I wrote about my love of bringing in fresh gardenias from my garden... since the gardenias are not currently in bloom, I wanted to find another light scent I could have in the house. Enter the lavender pillows.
Knowing what I wanted to make, I delved into my fabric stash and found some pretty lightweight fabric pieces leftover from another project. To make one pillow sachet, you will need two pieces of fabric that are 5 1/2 by 7 1/2 inch rectangles. If you plan to make a bunch, set up an assembly line to iron, sew, fill and top stitch all the sachets.I sewed each one with a tiny 3/8" single seam leaving a 1 1/2" gap on one of the short ends to turn and fill the pillows with. (See pins on left of photo for turning gap.)
With a chopstick (a sewing tool fave of mine), I got the corners nice and pointy and grabbed a few quick items to help me fill the pillows. I found the lavender buds at my local health food store (organic and non-organic buds are also available online) and bought about 5 ounces to make 6 pillows. I also purchased some dried organic rosebuds to put in another set as a gift.
For the lavender, I was able to use a kitchen funnel. I spooned the rosebuds in with a tablespoon being careful not to crush them. Each pillow has about 2/3 - 3/4 of a cup inside.
Once filled, I closed each pillow with a blind stitch (tutorial) and got them ready for the last step.I top stitched 1/2" all the way around, maneuvering the lavender so it would not get in the way... for mostly flat little pillows, this was actually the hardest step! You could hand sew a top stitch or leave them as-is, but I liked the look, so I went with it.
These pillows are in my bathroom, bedroom and living room and will give off just enough scent to last with me through the winter of closed doors and windows. Lightly jostling them brings the scent right back, but you can also microwave them for about 10-15 seconds to revive them if you wish.
If decide to you make yourself a set and would prefer another scent, there are many other choices besides lavender and rosebuds... lemon peel, cedar, sage and myrrh to name a few. Please let me know if you have any other suggestions and I'll add them to the list.
Happy Crafting!
