DIY: Make Your Own Sachet

Stop paying high prices for store bought sachets. You can make your own at home for a lot less, and it's fun. Here's how...

First you'll need to pick fabric. It doesn't matter what kind of fabric; almost anything will work as long as it's not one of those vinyl plastic-feeling ones. You won't need very much because sachets aren't very big. Think about the size that you want it to be, realize that you will need two pieces of fabric that size plus about an inch around the edges.

So for instance, if you want a sachet that is 4 inches by 6 inches, you need to add an inch to each dimension so it is actually 5 by 7, and then you need 2 layers of it, so you need two pieces of 5 by 7 material. They don't have to be the same, by the way. If want one kind of fabric on one side and a different pattern on the other side, that is fine. It will still work.

Once you have your fabric you'll need to pick up flavor. You can get commercial potpourri in little sacks at your local discount store (such as Walmart, Target, etc.), or you can make your own at home. If you grow flowers and you have dried flowers from your garden you can use that. If you prefer not to use any sort of dry flower, you can use fiberfill and use essential oil on the fiberfill to give it scent, and then stuff your sachet with that.

Take your two pieces of fabric and decide which side is the good side of each piece. Typically if you are not able to see the print through from both sides, then the side you see the print on is the good side (or the 'out' side). If you can see the print on both sides, check to see if one side looks a little bit fainter than the other, the brighter, more vivid side is your 'good' side.

Lay your two pieces if fabric directly over each other so the good sides are sandwiched in the middle. Stitch, (by hand or with a machine whichever you prefer), around the outside about half an inch from the edge, all the way around, leaving a gap about an inch and a half on one of the long sides. So three of your sides will be stitched completely closed, and on the last side you'll leave an inch and a half open gap.

Once you have your stitching in place turn your sachet fabric right side out by pulling it through the opening you left. Just reach in with your fingers, pinch and pull through, and then push the corners out from the inside so that it comes back out into a rectangle shape. If have trouble reaching the corners with your hands you can use the soft back end of a utensil like a spoon or a chopstick, as long as you don't use anything pointed enough that it would damage the fabric or poke through it.

Once you have your shape completely pushed out you will add your filling. Through the inch and a half opening that you left, push your dried flowers, your fiber fill with essential oils, or your potpourri until your sachet is nice and full but not stuffed so tightly that you can't pinch the opening closed. Then use a hand sewing needle to close that opening.

The stitch to close this opening simply goes from one side to other a few centimeters apart. Take a little stitch from one side, then go across and make a little stitch on the other side, so that it zig zags back and forth across that opening. Then pull your thread tight and it will pinch the opening closed. Tie off your threads, and use your needle to pull them inside so that any loose threads are hidden inside the sachet.

That's it, you are all finished! Your handmade sachet is all ready to go in a dresser drawer, in your luggage, or anywhere else you would like a little extra fragrance. It's beautiful and you did it all yourself!

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