It’s that time of summer, when the lavender is ready to harvest in most zones. I love the look and smell of lavender. Throughout the years, here at The WON, we have published cool crafts that you can do with this herb. Here’s a lavender round up that includes flax bags, soaps, linen spray and sachet bags.
Probably every day of every year, someone in my extended family is using a flax bag made by Mom or one of my sisters. Our family has been making flax bags for at least two decades. We give them as gifts, and often, you might hear someone asking someone else if she has a flax bag to spare. We seem to whip them up in our spare time and they make perfect gifts for all occasions, or … for no occasion at all. Even the men folk appreciate having these to tuck around an achy arthritic joint, and we know that the bags have found their ways into hoodie front pockets during that special time of the month for the girls and ladies. These bags also contain a bit of dried lavender (or sage). I love the smell of lavender, especially when the bag heats up in the microwave.
If you want to make flax bags, check out this helpful post.
Be honest. Have you ever sniffed soap? It seems to be the follow-on activity for former candle sniffers. So many artisans are now whipping up lovely scented soaps in all shapes and sizes. Although I take the easy route (with melt-and-pour goatmilk soap from Amazon), I love to use my dried lavender (handpicked, of course) in the soap. I also add a touch of lavender essential oil to the mix. When I’m looking for the perfect little hostess gift, or just as a pick-me-up for a friend, I like to tuck a couple of bars in my bag and head out to meet someone.
If you’re game to try this craft, check out this post.
After an annual visit to a local lavender farm, I decided to try to make lavender linen spray. When I use it, the scent reminds me of a high-end bed and breakfast or hotel, and the extra touches they administer to make guests feel special. Besides that reason, lavender also is a wonderful herb for comfort, especially around bedtime. I also like the way my bed linens give off a slight scent of lavender when I crawl into them at night. My husband doesn’t like lavender at all, so I don’t spritz his side of the king-sized bed and he has never complained about my side giving him a headache, or that he can even smell it. But I can, and that’s what I like about it.
You’ll need to order a few things to make this project, but you can find the links and instructions here.
These are so, so easy to whip up and give (again) as little hostess gifts or just to a dear friend or family member. After all, it’s probably going to go into an underwear drawer. These lavender sachet bags are easy to make because the pocket is an actual pocket excised from a Western-style shirt. The little muslin sack inside also comes together easily to hold dried lavender that hopefully you picked earlier in the summer, like I did.
Check out the instructions.
If you’re looking for more ways to work with lavender, check Pinterest.
Publisher/Editor Barbara Baird is a freelance writer in hunting, shooting and outdoor markets. Her bylines are found at several top hunting and shooting publications. She also is a travel writer, and you can follow her at https://www.ozarkian.com. View all posts by Barbara Baird
