Every January, I feel the sudden need to “Purge All the Things” from our house! But this is what always happens- I fill up the car with items to donate to Goodwill, but I end up going inside the shop after I’ve gone through the donation line. And of COURSE I don’t leave empty-handed…does this happen to anyone else, too?

ANYWAY, that’s what happened the other day…while they were sorting my donations in the back, I was wheeling my cart through the linens section, looking for treasures. That’s when a lonely, plain beige curtain caught my eye. The fabric reminded me of a vintage French grain sack- softer than burlap, rougher than linen.

The sunlight had faded the curtain fabric in one corner, so it was a perfect candidate for repurposing. I couldn’t shake the image of a classic grain sack from my mind- both the faded print kind and the red and blue striped kind. So, I decided to recreate those looks with the curtain and create DIY lavender sachets for our dresser drawers.

First, I gathered some additional crafty materials: French-y rubber stamps, fabric ink, painter’s tape, and small paint brushes.

After cutting out pairs of 4” and 4½” squares of curtain fabric, I brushed black fabric ink on the rubber stamps and pressed them carefully onto squares of fabric. I also cut thin strips of painter’s tape and pressed them onto my cut squares so that I could lightly brush red and blue fabric ink between them.

Once the fabric ink had dried sufficiently, I heat-set my squares using a hot, dry iron and this is what I ended up with!

Now it was time to transform each square pair into sachets. Using my sewing machine, I stitched each pair together along all four edges, leaving both a generous margin and a 1” opening.

Once each pair was stitched together, I filled them with dried lavender blossoms.

After I had stuffed them with lavender, I carefully stitched the openings closed and used my pinking shears on the raw edges. Ta-da, lavender sachets!

Not only do they smell delightful, but they’re just as cute as can be…and all from that lonely, plain curtain.

Craft on!