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!

white handkerchief sachet with embroidered flowers and lace corner

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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.)

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.

floral printed vintage hankie

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.

floral hankie folded in quarters showing the final fold

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).

white handkerchief with flower and lace corner folded in quarters with a half inch straight stick all the way around exceot for a one inch opening for filling to be added

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.

two completed handkerchief sachets, one is white with fower embroidery and lace on a corner, the other has a floral printed pattern on it

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!!

I would love to keep you fully stocked with creative ideas, yummy recipes, fun crafts, and loads of free printables. Subscribe to Skip to my Lou to get new ideas delivered to your inbox. Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram for all my latest updates.


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Comments

  1. Thank you for these great directions…I have hankies, grow lavender, and am in a “pay it forward 2012” group for which I needed something I could make myself for gifts…this is perfect!!!

  2. I love this idea with the hankies. I have many very old hankies I have been questioning what to do with them. Thank you now I know.

  3. You have solved my problem! I am 75 years old and I have many handkerchiefs that belonged to my Great Grandmother! I also have many Granddaughters! What a wonderful gift to them! Something personal that belonged to their GGG Grandmother that they can actually use! I also have two little new Great Granddaughters! Something of their GGGG Grandmothers!
    Thank you so much. I have have been wanting to give them to my girls but wanted it to be in a keepsake form.

  4. Thanks for these beautiful gift ideas…….I had a little twist with tea for mine. Thanks for sharing.

  5. I made some of these, and any hankie that was stained I just tea stained it to cover the mess. Super nice and vintage/primitive. Filled them with the lavender, but I like the idea of rice and essential oil. Love this site too….I find Im not as creative as I used to be so I come here to get my thoughts flowing again. Hugs & Kisses…..Cathie

  6. Just wonderful, thanks a lot for this simple and lovely idea.
    I collect old Hankies, have quiet a lot and as you say, it’s not possible to cut them, but with your idea it’s not neccessairy and the hankie could be opended again one day.
    Just great !!!
    Have a wonderful day, Hello from Switzerland, Kathrin

  7. I can’t bear to cut them either…. don’t know if I can sew them though either…. At least they’d get used and seen more. I’ll think about it 🙂

  8. Ok I have ALOT of old, pretty hankies! This is so cute. I had to TWEET about it! Thanks!

  9. “I have a few hankies saved from my grandmother and decided to turn them into something useful”

    Um, handkerchiefs aren’t useful?

  10. What an incredible idea! It won’t cost me a ton to ship either!! Love it!! Thanks!!

  11. These are so sweet and simple!! I love it…

    Isn’t funny — I have a variety of crafts that I do with hankies but I always, always avoid cutting them – isn’t that funny!!

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