Make Your Own Fragrance Sachet

I was given a couple of fragrance sachets for Christmas, and it reminded me that this item used to be a staple I always had on standby in case I needed a donation for our local school or church charity sale.

They are extremely simple to make, and you can even make your own fragrance insert! Or you can buy potpourri or dried herbs from your local craft shop.

Suitable Fabrics & Notions

The best fabric is something that can breathe, so the heavenly scent can escape and fragrance whatever it is near. Pure fabrics like cottons are great, but you can even use muslin or cheesecloth. And as each sachet is fairly small, you can even raid your own leftover fabric pile, or check out the remnants bin at your fabric store for some great buys.

I think a nice size for a sachet is 12cm or 5" square (when finished), so for each sachet you will need 2 pieces of fabric measuring 6" square, which allows for a half inch seam all around (in metric, your squares should be 15cm which allows for a 1.5cm seam all around).

For the filling, you can either buy pre-prepared dried scented herbs or potpourri, or make your own.  You can make your own by drying fragrant herbs and flowers such as rose, lavender, thyme, etc, and just pep them up with a little essential oil.

A method I have used successfully is sawdust or fine softwood. In Australia, one brand of kitty litter is actually sawdust, and I have used this (clean of course!) with a few drops of essential oil mixed and crumbled through. Allow it to dry for a few hours before placing in your sachet. A nice cheap alternative if you don't have fragrant flowers in your garden or it is winter!

To Make Up

It couldn't be simpler. Sew most of the way around your square, leaving only a large enough gap so you can insert the dry fragrant filler. Turn the right way around and iron. Then just insert your filler and hand sew the open seam closed.

Decorating Your Sachet

If your fabric is a little plain, it is easy to jazz up your sachet so it looks more expensive. Why not try one of these ideas:

• Tie a matching (or contrasting) ribbon around it as if you were wrapping a Christmas gift
• When sewing the seams together, insert some piping between the seam and stitch in place
• Sew or glue on some appliqués or sparkly bits (such as sequins)
• If you only have tiny scraps of fabric available, why not make a patchwork sachet
• If you are very clever (or your sewing machine is), you could embroider some words such as the person's name or "Mom" on the fabric before sewing together
• You could insert a loop of fabric at one of the corners before sewing the sachet together so that the sachet can be hung over a coathanger and used to scent a closet space.

The options are endless, and limited only by your own imagination. So why not have a try today!

Diane Ellis is the owner of www.Sewing4Dummies.com. Learn more about her on our About Us page.