These sweet little sachets take such a tiny bit of fabric, you could easily make a basket of them from just a couple eighth yard cuts of fabric. Or, dip into your scrap stash for a few of your favorite little leftovers. Our samples are filled with epsom salts scented with essential oil. Fast, easy and economical all around. And, of course, they are also pretty as a picture… especially with a decorative ribbon hanger. Is that the sweet smell of gift-giving success?!

There are certainly other filler options, but we went for scented bath salts since the ingredients are readily available and it’s very quick to make. Simply place the epsom salts into a bowl, add your essential oil fragrance, and mix well. A little goes a long way. We used just a couple drops of the oil in about two cups of salts and that was plenty for our three samples. When mixed, if you feel your salts are not as dry as you’d like, you can bake them. Cover a baking sheet (one with a bit of a lip is better than a flat cookie sheet) with aluminum foil. Spread the salts evenly over the sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes at 200˚, stirring occasionally.

The length of time the scent lasts will depend on a number of variables, including how much essential oil you added to start with. In general, they should remain fragrant for about 6 months to a year.

For Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, birthdays, and more, sachets make wonderful little gifts. They’d also be perfect as favors for bridal showers since you can make so many from just a small batch of supplies. Our half-and-half design lets you customize them in wedding colors.

The completely sealed sachet is meant to be replaced with a new beauty when the scent finally fades. But if you love it just the way it is, you could also set the sachet on end, gently shake the salts down towards the top (the ribbon end), then carefully open the bottom seam with a seam ripper. Dump out the salts and add more scent or discard the used salts and fill the sachet with a new mixture.

Each sachet finishes at approximately 4¼” high x 2½” wide with a 5” ribbon loop.

Sewing Tools You Need

• Sewing Machine and standard presser foot
• Quarter Inch Seam foot; optional

Fabric and Other Supplies

NOTE: Supplies shown are for a set of three sachets.

• 2 cups of epsom salts or similar plain salts
• I small bottle of essential oil: we chose a Fresh Linen scent
• Spoon and bowl to mix up bath salts and essential oil
• Scraps, charm square pre-cuts or a ⅛ yard cut of fabric; to match our look select one solid and one print for each sachet
  NOTE: You only need two 3″ x 5″ cuts for each sachet; with clever fussy cutting, we cut all three of our print pieces from just one piece of fabric!
• All purpose thread to match fabric
• See-through ruler
• Fabric pen or pencil
• Iron and ironing board
• Scissors
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Seam gauge
• Seam ripper

Getting Started

1. For each sachet, cut one 3″ wide x 5″ high rectangle from your solid fabric. Then, carefully fussy cut a matching 3″ wide x 5″ high rectangle from your print fabric.
   NOTE: The trick to the fussy cutting is to remember you will press the print fabric in half, so center your design evenly across the 5″ width.
2. Cut your ribbon into approximate 10½” lengths, one length for each sachet.
   NOTE: We tested this loop length on both a standard hanger as well as a standard doorknob. To be sure it’s right for you, test your loop length on the item from which you plan to hang the sachet.
3. Prepare your salts as explained above.

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

1. Place one solid piece and one print piece right sides together, aligning all raw edges.
   
2. Using a ¼” seam allowance, stitch along both 5″ sides, forming a small tube open on both ends.
3. Press both seams open and flat, then roll the tube until the two seams match up back-to-back. Press again.
4. Loop your length of ribbon so the raw edges match. If you use a ribbon with a definite front and back, as we did, make sure your loop is not twisted.
   
5. Holding firmly to the raw ends, drop the ribbon into the sewn tube, placing the right sides of the ribbon against what you want to be the front right side of the fabric with the ribbon right at the seams. You may not care which is front and which is back of your sachets or your ribbon, which is totally fine.
   NOTE: If you find it hard to hold onto the ends of the the ribbon, hand or machine baste the ends together.
   
6. Pin the ribbon in place, allowing the raw ends of the ribbon to extend beyond the fabric. This gives a little extra length, and therefore stability, to the ribbon loop.
   
   NOTE: If you are using a directional print, as we did, you need to remember which side is up. As you see in the photo above, start with your print fabric running the right way and your ribbon loop facing down. Drop the loop inside, keeping this same configuration (in our sample, the fans are running up and the ribbon is hanging down) and pin in place. Then, when you turn the sachet right side out, your loop pulls up to the top and your pattern is still going the right way. 
7. Using a ¼” seam allowance stitch the horizontal top seam.
8. Clip the corners and trim the seam to ⅛” but do NOT trim the ribbon ends. Again, this is for stability of the loop.
9. Fold back the opposite raw end of the sachet ½” all around and press well.
   
10. Turn right side out, pull out ribbon, push out corners so they are nice and sharp. A long blunt tool, such as a chopstick, knitting needle or point turner works well for this. Press again.
    
11. Fill with bath salts. You want the sachet to be full, especially at the corners, but remember you need to be able to shift it all down far enough to allow you to edgestitch the bottom closed. We left about ½” – ¾” to work with.
    
12. Horizontally pin along the very edge of the salts so they don’t slide down into your stitching area. Your folded bottom edges should be flush.
13. Carefully slide the sachet under the presser foot. It helps to hold the sachet up, kind of making an “L”, so the empty fabric is as flat as possible.
    
14. Edgestitch the bottom closed. You can use a straight stitch as we did or fancy things up a bit with a zig zag or decorative stitch.
    

Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation: Liz Johnson