Monday, December 26, 2011

Sewn + Embroidered Closet Sachets

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Ours was very relaxing, which was just right this year, considering the lingering fatigue. Of course I still baked and cooked, but lots of time was spent in jammies, resting, reading, and knitting. This is a gift project that wasn't quite done heading into the last week before Christmas, so I finished it up in small bits. These were begun in September--I embroidered the pine cone motif on linen, then cut squares, hand sewed them, and finally, filled them with cedar shavings. Turns out there was really no shortcut for this part; it had to be done by hand, bit by bit. The shavings weren't going to fit through a funnel, and they didn't pour from a paper cup, either. When all four were filled, I sewed the filling holes shut.

They smell so nice, and they can be tucked into a drawer or hung in a closet. I gifted three of the four today. I really enjoyed making them. I didn't realize until I went looking for the first post that these were actually three months in the making. Of course it wasn't three solid months; I'd do a bit, put it aside, do the next step, and so on, in between other projects. But there's something nice about passing along, as a gift, something I've lived with for a quarter of the year. I hope they're hung in a visible part of the closet. I like to picture the recipients (my mothers-in-law, my sister-in-law, and my sister, who hasn't received hers yet but knows it's coming so this post is perfectly okay) opening the closet to grab a coat or sweater, seeing their hand-embroidered and -sewn sachet, and smiling. Because making these certainly made me happy.

5 comments:

lamina @ do a bit said...

They look gorgeous!! So glad you had a lovely holidays!! :)

Rose Red said...

They really are lovely. Glad you had a good weekend. We finally got a sunny day on Sunday, it was much appreciated!

MadMad said...

They're very cute, Amy - I'm sure they'll get a smile!

Bells said...

oh i love them! I think your embroidery is really coming along so impressively. I wonder what cedar smells like?

Olivia said...

I love those sachets, and I'm sure they smell great! I've just done some lavender ones - after the first one was really slow to fill with a funnel, I decided to keep a bigger hole in the lining bag so that I could spoon it in. It was a bit more fiddly than I imagined.