Handkerchief Sachets Mother’s Day Gift Idea

I have a few vintage hankies saved from my grandmother and decided to turn them into useful handkerchief sachets. These fragrant sachets also make the sweetest Mother’s Day Gifts.

Wrap up your handmade gift in the prettiest way possible. With a cute floral Happy Mother’s Day label and matching ribbon, you will have a gift that will wow your mom. She’ll think it’s the sweetest gift ever!

In times past, ladies carried a beautiful hand embroidered or designed handkerchief. During those time periods, things were made to last. Now we can take what once was a handkerchief and make something new out of it, like this sachet or vintage ladies’ handkerchief apron.

What is a handkerchief sachet?

A sachet is a small sewn cloth packet filled with an aromatic or potpourri used to scent clothes. Many people also use them as air fresheners. For this craft project, I chose to use antique handkerchiefs, thus creating a handkerchief sachet.

Since I love the delicate scent of lavender I chose it as my aromatic. With its calming effects and flowery scent, lavender is such a timeless classic for such a novelty. For me, it made my vintage hanky sachets as timeless as my memories of grandma.

Here’s what you need to make a sachets

Make these easy to sew handkerchief sachets with the following supplies. (This section contains affiliate links.)

• Vintage aka antique ladies’ handkerchiefs
• matching thread
• dried lavender
• sewing machine
• scissors
• iron
• funnel

No worries if you don’t have antique handkerchiefs from your grandma. Antique stores usually have a great selection of vintage handkerchiefs for about .50 cents to $2.00 each. You can also find hankie collectibles online from shops like Etsy.

You can use small or larger hankies for this sewing project. So handkerchief size does not matter. It’s more important you choose the ones you like.

Tip: Do you have extra pieces of fabric you want to use up? You can make lavender sachets out of them just as easily. When you use fabric you will need to cut your fabric to make a 3-1/2 to 4-inch finished sachet.

How to make a vintage Handkerchief Sachets

To start, take one handkerchief and lay it out flat.

Fold the handkerchief in half and then half again. Line up all edges and press with an iron.

You can cut the handkerchief, but I just couldn’t bear to cut into the hankies. I also liked the sachets thicker and didn’t want to have to finish raw edges.

Machine stitch around the handkerchief about a 1/2 inch from the edge (on larger hankies I sewed 1 inch from the edge). Leave a one-inch opening on a side that can be filled. I left the opening on the first fold adjacent to the last fold (see picture).

Fill the handkerchief with dried lavender (I found mine at Save On Crafts). A funnel makes this go quickly.  If you don’t have a small plastic funnel a piece of paper rolled into a cone works also. Don’t overfill as it will make it harder to sew sachet closed.

Close opening by finishing stitching line with a straight stitch or you can do it by hand with a running stitch. You can also embellish the stitching line with hand-stitched embroidery. Your handkerchief sachets are now complete and ready to gift.

How sweet are these handmade handkerchief sachets?

I would love to hear in the comments if you made these and shared them with the mothers in your life. Also, if you have more creative crafty ideas that use handkerchiefs please share. They really do make timeless pretties to gift to others.

More Easy To Sew Gifts

Seeking more easy to sew useful gifts? Here’s a few that would make great Mother’s Day gifts:

• This simple tote bag is great for any on the go mom!
• For those needing a catch-all, this zipper pouch is awesome for all small things.
• If you making a spa or personal care gift homemade rice heating pads to soothe aches away would be a great addition.
• Mom’s who are on the go taking care of booboos are sure to love this useful, but cute first aid zipper pouch. I know I do!

What’s best about all of these ideas is that they will be made with love and so very useful!

Happy Mother’s Day All!!