DIY Lavender Sachets To Make Your Sock Drawer Smell Like Heaven

Handmade, sweet-smelling sachets are just the thing to spruce up your unmentionables drawer and air out stuffy closets. Prevent stale odors in storage boxes just by tucking them in alongside last season's clothes, or secure a stack of them with a ribbon for a gift—it's like giving pouches filled with spring.

This DIY is a breezy assembly-line craft, utilizing a mere yard of fabric (which makes about 10 sachets), dried lavender petals, and little else. It's a great project for using up scrap fabric, or a little lavender leftover from a batch of shortbread. After extended use (about 3 months), massage sachets to release essential oils and ensure a longer-lasting smell. 

What You'll Need:

Dried lavender
Rice
Fabric of your choice (anything breatheable)
Needle and thread
Scissors   

How to Make Fragrant Sachets:

1. Prep your stuffing. In a bowl, combine two parts lavender with one part rice; this is your sachet filling. The rice offsets the sometimes too-strong smell of the lavender and gives your sachets a little heft. 

2. Prepare squares. Cut two 3 1/2-inch squares of fabric and align them with the sides you like facing inward. (You'll be sewing the the sachets inside out before finishing.) I used a soft paisley and denim, allowing the finished selvage edge to remain as a little flourish on the fourth side.

3. Hand sew the squares. Use a simple running stitch to hand sew around three of the four sides of your sachet square, about 1/4-inch in from the edge of the fabric. You can even sew most of the fourth side, leaving a few inches open to fit the width of a spoon. Work carefully to ensure the finished pillows are even shapes (you can also pin them in place before beginning).

  

4. Fill them up. Once you're finished sewing, snip the pointed corners to avoid bunching. Turn the pouch inside out so you're left with an empty, nearly fully sewn sachet, and then use a spoon or your palm to stuff the sachet with filling.

6. Sew them up. Fold unsewn fabric sides inward and finish sewing with a blind stitch, or keep the raw edge of the final side exposed like I did—a simple running stitch with a knot will do, in that case. Toss the finished sachets in your sock drawer for a much more refreshing scent when you crack it open in the morning.

This post originally ran last spring, but we figured your sock drawer could use re-freshening.

Photos by James Ransom