Did you know lavender, a purple flowering herb has long been associated with cleanliness? Its name is derived from a Latin word, lavare, which means "to wash!" The ancient Romans used lavender in their baths.
My neighbor recently gave me some dried lavender from her garden. She first took me to the area where the lavender is growing. As soon as I came close to the lavender, I could smell the wonderful fragrance of the plants! Lavender has a floral scent - one that's light and fresh! Just take a look at the lavender in her garden:
That got me to thinking. We are all familiar with lavender sachets and how wonderful they smell - to scent drawers, chests and closets, etc. - but did you know the delightful smells of lavender can also be used to naturally add fresh fragrance to laundry? One way is to make lavender bags for the dryer that would make our clothes smell fresh and heavenly! And the best part - you can toss out your chemical laden dryer sheets for easy to make fresh smelling lavender dryer bags! And making lavender dryer bags happens to be a cool project for this month's Sustainable Craft Challenge Blog Hop hosted by Julie @ Sum of Their Stories.
This challenge is all about sustainable crafting! Each month is themed and all projects must have some sort of a sustainable element to them. This could be an upcycling or recycling element, or something that reduces waste, uses leftovers, etc. The theme for June is - have you guessed it already - FRESH! And I'm sharing how I made lavender bags for the dryer - a better than expected "fresh" alternative to dryer sheets!Materials Used:
- Dried lavender buds
- Small glass container (Oui jar)
- Small cloth bags (all cotton)
I believe this is one of the easiest DIY projects I've done! As I mentioned before, my neighbor gave me some dried lavender buds in a ziplock bag, plus a few dried out decorative stems! If you don't have a generous neighbor like I do, you can order fresh smelling lavender buds online. Plus, I already had some small all cotton bags in my stash which makes this craft free for me to create!
First, I need to let you know that my measurements for this project are all guesstimates, lol! To begin, it was easier for me to use a clean, empty Oui yogurt jar that I placed the open cotton bag in to fill with lavender buds.
I didn't want the bag to bulge with lavender buds, so I filled it half way and flatten it, spreading the buds around in the bag. Then I tied the bag as tight as I could, and double knotted it and . . .wrapped the excess drawstring around the top of the bag several times, tying in a double knot again. You definitely don't want the bag to open while in the dryer. I can't believe how easy these lavender dryer bags were to make!Now, you're ready to toss the lavender bags into the dryer when drying a load of laundry. The lavender dryer bags will last about five to eight cycles depending on the size of the dryer loads before losing their fresh scent. You can gently squeeze the bags to refresh before re-using. They can also be refreshed using lavender essential oils. Or you can crush the used buds and sprinkle on your carpets before vacuuming for a fresh, natural room deodorizer. So many cool, fresh uses!Be sure to check out all of the "Fresh" Sustainable Crafts projects listed below:
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What a lovely natural way to freshen your laundry. I'm not a fan of dryer sheets when I found how effective they are at cleaning oven shelves (you just soak them overnight in the bath together) I can't imagine what chemicals are in them! And a great idea to use them afterwards too, waste not want not!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Julie! I didn't realize how wonderful real lavender smells. I might look into growing some myself!
DeleteI love this idea! I'm always looking for ways to freshen up everything, especially laundry. I love lavender, and I think there's some growing in my backyard. I know for a fact I have rosemary in my backyard, and it smells soooooo good. I wonder if this would be a good use for rosemary, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, T'onna! And yes, rosemary is probably a good herb to use in dryer bags, too! You can never go wrong with natural substitutes for anything they make these days!
DeleteI have lavender buds just waiting for a project like this one, Gail! Growing lavender is pretty easy - I have it in pots now.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ann! That's great! I need to get a lavender plant or get a cutting from my neighbor and try to propagate it. Don't know if I will - I'm always asking her for cuttings that never seems to grow for me.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it, Gail! I love it, it's natural and I'm sure it smells fantastic.
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