Embedded Files
Registration now open for fall classes!
Making Lavender Sachets in Provence
Making Lavender Sachets in Provence
August 28, 2026
One of the highlights of our summer was visiting our former exchange student Eugénie and her family in France. She stayed with us during the 2024-2025 school year, and being together again as a famille de coeur was wonderful. Her dad cut and dried some lavender from his garden this year, and one afternoon we separated the dried buds from the stems and sewed lavender sachets together. The smell was so strong we had to take a few breaks outside!
Even though it wasn't strictly necessary, I wanted to avoid raw edges on the inside of the bags, and I decided to teach everyone French seams since they are quick. I wondered what they were called in French, and it turns out they are coutures anglaises - English seams! After a little digging, it sounds like the practice of this double-sewn seam came about with the advent of the sewing machine. Makers needed a way to enclose raw edges without the need for hand finishing, but my sense is that the new-fangled technique caused traditionalists in both cultures to quietly assign the invention to the other. :)
Eugénie's grandmother's sewing machine was a little temperamental but it was a treat to figure out together.
Of course I bought some fabric while I was in France! I used a little bit for the sachets, and the rest will become a dress or skirt now that I'm back home.
The Work-Box
The Work-Box
April 9, 2026
My youngest child, who is nearly three, has discovered my handwork box. He used my sharp scissors to snip into (at least) two balls of yarn and some thread. He previously did not show any interest in my box at all, but lately has begun to remove its contents and spread them around my work area. *sigh*
This, of course, is nothing new to the countless generations of makers before me. I have been reading Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 1, which is an absolute delight, and it contains an excerpt on page 62 from The Ladies’ Hand-book of Plain Needlework (1842), in the collection of The British Museum:
"...a neat work-box well supplied with all the implements required, (such as scissors, knifes of at least three sizes, needles and pins in sufficient variety, bodkins, thimbles, thread and cotton, bobbins, marking silks, black lead pencils, etc.) should be provided and be furnished with a lock and key, to prevent the contents being thrown into confusion by children or unauthorized intruders."
I laughed and laughed, and then I went to go look for a lock. :)
My Box
My Box
This box was a gift to me from my mother-in-law. It belonged to her grandmother and great-grandmother, who were both tailors. Notice the spool holders, small nails for holding scissors, and the thimble storage.
Now it locks!
Now it locks!
This will not defeat the most determined of unauthorized intruders, but it will buy me enough time to intervene in between "it's too quiet in here" and the contents being scattered by an inquisitive preschooler.
I'm reading Patterns of Fashion 1 to help me decide what I want to sew next. I'm currently working on an Elizabethan kirtle and shift, but when I finish that, I think I might like to make a pair of 18th century stays, since I already have a petticoat and pair of pockets that I made when I began my historical handsewing journey. We shall see!
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse