Keep Clothes Smelling Nice With Rose Petal Sachets

Are you weary of all the chemicals already in your house? If so, you may not want to introduce more of them into your wardrobes in the guise of creating a pleasant smell there. Rose petal-filled sachets can make your wardrobe fresh smelling, no divine smelling – and best of all, no chemicals.

And with roses embroidered on them with ribbon embroidery, they make the prettiest gifts.

Roses, when dried, do not smell as heady as when they are fresh; but still, the smell is good, quite good. When kept in a wardrobe in your sachet, it can leave a subtle, pleasent smell.

How to make the rose petal sachets

Step 1. Get those roses

Do you know that not all roses smell the same – I thought so. Seems like it is not so. Some even smell better dried than fresh. But if you have no choice, make do with what you have.

It is said that homegrown roses smell the best. What to do? I am no gardener. The most neglectable of all plants die under my gardener-ship (is that a word?); The only thing I am able to grow is aloe vera – it continues living under gross neglect.

If you have garden roses (Even in your neighbour’s garden) gather them (somehow)

Otherwise, do as I do. I sneaked it from a function – the person who got it chose to leave it there. I brought it home and dried it. You can, ofcourse, buy them.

(You can also buy dried rose petals from shops)

Remove the petals from the roses; sort out and remove the worn, browned, wilted petals. The best dried rose petals are those from freshly bloomed flowers.

Spread the petals on a net like material which is stretched on a frame (like a window screen) The air circulation helps in even drying.

Step 2. Dry the petals

You can dry the petals in the shade; spread them out on a tray in 3-4 days. The time taken depends on a lot of things – how big the petals are, the climate in your area, the humidity there, etc.

Ensure that it dries crisp – if there is even a drop of moisture in your petals it will mold in your sachet. It SHOULD be fully crisply dried.

Store in a glass container till you have decided to make your sachet. If you like a potpourri smell include some other spices to the jar like cinnamon (dried sticks).

Step 3. Cut the fabric pieces

For making the sachet, you need an open weave or thin sheer fabric which will spread the fragrance outside.

Organza, and organdy (in natural fibers) are good options. Soft muslin, and thin fine linen are other choices.

Cut out 2 thin fabric pieces of this dimension – 9 inches by 5.5 inches

Step 4. Do the rose embroidery

You can make woven rose embroidery stitches or simple rose embroidery on the sachet. Mark circles where you want to stitch the roses.

Make five straight stitches starting from the centre of the each circle.

Weave the ribbon through these straight stitches.

For this first thread your needle with ribbon.

Turn and pierce the end of the ribbon with the needle.

Pull it tight – this is your ribbon embroidery threading.

Bring up the ribbon from the back of the fabric at the center of your circle. (The picture below has more straight stiches because it is made with embroidery floss; with ribbon you can make the rose embroidery with 5 straight stitches)

come up from the middle of the fabric through the middle of the circle

Start weaving through the straight stitches. You have to go round and round along the circle and the stitches to make the rose petals in a weaving pattern – skipping over one stitch and going under the next one and so on.

Go under one stitch.