DIY Pillow Sachet With Embroidered Lavender Flowers
I’m all about functional embroidery. If there’s a way to to make it useful, I will leap for that project! So today, I am sharing with you a fun and aromatic little project: an embroidered lavender pillow sachet.
This project will walk you through how to embroider lavender and then how to assemble the sachet. These sachets smell amazing and they make thoughtful gifts. Hang them in a closet, cupboard, bathroom, or anywhere you want to add the wonderful scent of lavender.
You can use a sewing machine to assemble the sachet or sew it by hand. It will be easiest to attach ribbon edging with a machine, but that is an optional addition. And don’t be intimidated if you haven’t sewn much; this project is a very beginner friendly one.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase an item.
Embroidered Lavender Pillow Sachet
Supplies Needed
- dried lavender – Amazon
- muslin, linen, or cotton fabric
- DMC stranded cotton embroidery floss
- 30
- 31
- 935
- 987
- 989
- embroidery needles – I used a size 10 crewel needle and a *size 5 milliner’s needle
- fabric pen – Amazon
- small 3 inch embroidery hoop – Amazon
- embroidery scissors
- fabric scissors
- traceable lavender design – download here
- sewing pins
- a spoon or funnel
- ribbon for hanging and/or to add to the edges (optional)
- sewing machine (optional)
*If you follow along with the lavender embroidery tutorial, it’s a lot easier to use a milliner’s needle for the bullion knots. This needle is special because it is the same width throughout the entire needle, so it makes stitches that involve wrapping the thread around the needle a whole lot easier to perform.
Prep the Fabric
Cut out 2 4 x 4 inch squares of fabric. Place one piece aside and the other piece in the embroidery hoop.
Using a fabric pen or marker, trace the design onto the fabric.
How To Embroider Lavender
Using 2 strands of green floss, make splits stitches along the stems of the lavender.
Start at the top of of one of the lavender sprigs and fill in some of the small flowers with small straight stitches using 2 strands of purple floss.
For larger flowers, make bullion knots with 2 strands of purple thread. These knots will be really small, so here is the best way to do them. Come up at the top of the flower and back down with your needle at the base of the flower.
Pull the thread through, leaving a loose loop on the surface of the fabric. Then come up with your needle at the top of the flower where your first stitch was made. Keep the needle poking out of the fabric.
Take the working thread and twist it around the needle 7 or 8 times.
Pinch the twisted thread with your thumb and forefinger and pull the needle through.
Push the base of the stitch with your thumb and pull the thread tight.
To secure the stitch, go back down with your working thread at the base of the knot.
Repeat for the rest of the flowers using the lighter and darker shades of purple. You can also add some straight stitches in for some of the flowers to mix things up.
Fill in the leaves with long and short stitches. Start at the base of the each leaf and fill in half of it with dark green long and short stitches. Then fill in the rest of the leaf with lighter green long and short stitches.
Assembling The Sachet
If you are using ribbon along the edge of the sachet, increase the stitch length as high as it will go. Then make a basting stitch along the ribbon. This will allow you to ruffle it.
It should naturally gather, but you can manually gather it to your liking as well.
Place the plain piece of fabric on a flat surface and carefully lay the ruffled ribbon on top of it. The outer edge should be facing inward. The edge you want to secure to the fabric should be facing outward.
Fold a piece of ribbon in half and place the folded edge along the top of the sachet. (with tails facing inward) Then place the embroidery face down on top of the layers. Secure with clips or pins.
Sew around the outside edge of the sachet (1/4″ seam), leaving 2 – 2.5 inches unstitched.
Trim the corners of the sachet.
Turn the fabric right side out, using an awl or a pen to push out the corners.
Using a spoon or a funnel, add the dried lavender into the sachet.
Stitch the opening closed using a small running or back stitch.
Tie the ribbon, and your lavender pillow sachet is ready to hang.
I can definitely see myself making a bunch of these as gifts for people…I can’t believe how good it smells! By the way, if you’re looking for even more ideas, check out this post for 10 more gift ideas to hand embroider.
I hope this tutorial added a stitch of happiness to your project…keep weaving love into every stitch!
Amanda is a hand embroidery artist and teacher. With over 15 years of experience in the craft industry and embroidery, she owns and runs Crewel Ghoul, sharing tutorials and patterns to help inspire fellow crafters to get inspired and creative. In addition to running this website, she teaches on Skillshare and Youtube.
