Making Lavender Pillows
The world needs more lavender to promote calmness and wellness, don’t you think? I love sachets, but the larger lavender pillows are getting my attention lately. However, is it me or do they seem expensive? $49.95 for a 7″ square lavender pillow? So what better way to get a lavender pillow than make them yourself.
Finding the Right Lavender
Naturally I am seeking a highly fragrant, good quality lavender. Though I have lavender growing around our property, it isn’t all that fragrant after I dry the buds. To see a previous post on lavender, click here.
On Etsy, I found lavender buds (Lavandula Augustifolia) that are bulk wholesale, mostly used for weddings from StressTamerSpa. The reviews are excellent, plus you have the option to order 1/4 lb. up to 10 lbs.
The minute I received the 2 lb. package in the mail I knew what is was because of the heavenly scent. Lavender doesn’t weigh all that much so two pounds is quite a good quantity.
Picking Fabric
Over the years I have collected lots of fabrics. But there are many things you could use~old vintage napkins or handkerchiefs. I even have a old embroidered tablecloth that has seen better days. Taking cuts of fabric from it might just be lovely.
For a 7″ square pillow, cut two pieces fabric 8″ x 8″ (allowing for 1/2″ seam on all four sides). You can mix or match patterns or keep both sides the same. Or you could just fold one piece of fabric 8 x 16″. To make this easy, I put blue tape on the counter as a measurement guide.
Put the same side fabric together and pin if necessary.
Once the fabric is cut, I machine-stitched the seam 1/2″ from the fabric edge, leaving a small un-stitched section. If you don’t have a sewing machine, these pillows are small enough to slip stitch the edge. If you decide to do that, just adjust the overall measurements without the 1/2″ seam.
I always like to clip the corners so they are crisp and not rounded. Turn the pillow where the front of the fabric is facing out.
Filling the Pillow
Well, I tried this two ways and the second attempt is the way to go. Using a large measuring cup, I put the pillow in the bottom with the hole at the top. This way, if I spill any lavender it will be collected vs. all over the kitchen.
At first I used an orange, rubber funnel with a relatively narrow spout. The lavender buds slowly went into the pillow. This took some time……too much time in my opinion. However, I filled the pillow with approximately 6 oz. of lavender buds.
I slip stitched the hole closed. Sorry I failed to take a photo as I was talking on the phone at the same time. The downsides to multi-tasking!
The next pillow, I made the hole bigger and rolled up a piece of copy paper to use as a funnel. This way I could pour a larger quantity of lavender in much faster. The paper allowed the buds to slip right in.
So here is how the first two came out! Honestly, being around this much lavender makes you a bit loopy and mellow! I felt like I needed fresh air as the scent is so strong! But aren’t they cute?
I am so lucky to have some friends in my life that have helped with recently, and I will give these lavender pillows as gifts.
The hope is that the two pound bag of lavender will fill 5-6 pillows. At $39.99 for the bag, that’s $6.67 to $8.00 per pillow. Sure beats spending $49.95 per pillow! I didn’t time how long it took me to make one, but it wasn’t that long. And inhaling all this lavender has made this afternoon so relaxing!
Happy Saturday to you! We had a huge monsoon storm the other night and finally a bit of rain. The yard is a mess with all the plant debris so this weekend will be filled with clean-up chores. Hope you have a fun weekend planned! See you next week.
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Yeah, I like this idea because I love the scent of lavender. I think it’s pretty neat to fill an entire pillow with lavender, would have never thought to create a large pillow and fill it entirely with lavender. I have two black velvet pillows sitting on my settee in my bedroom and I just might take the inserts out and fill them with lavender. I love this idea! Thanks for sharing!
I need to finish making them. The scent was so strong, I could only make a few pillows at a time. It was a very relaxing project! Ha!
Thank you for participating in our linky party!
Thank you for participating in our linky party!
What a great addition to our linky party! We are so happy to have you!
We are so excited that you participated! Thank you for sharing your creativity! This is so cute!
These lavender pillows are so fabulous, Mary! I love this idea so much and I can’t wait to make some of my own. Thank you for the easy to follow instructions too. My Mom and sisters are going to love them! Hugs, CoCo
They smell SO good and I think everyone could benefit from them. Have fun making them and send pictures when you are finished!
Thanks for sharing. I’ve made small eye pillows and Sachets, but never pillows. I just love lavender and will have to give this a try. Thanks for sharing.
Love this idea- Mary! We collected fresh lavender in Michigan from a farm This summer and it is dried now hanging from a wall – love the smell so I have had lavender on my mind This looks so easy! Will have to try.
Oh my gosh – no wonder you wanted a lavender pillow! Sorry about your tree! But the pillows themselves are darling! Thanks for the great tutorial and tips too – I like the copy paper funnel! 🙂
Yard cleanup aside, I hope you have a lovely Saturday!
I have always wanted to do this & yteae are adorable! As a pandemic project I replaced front lawn grass with interesting xeriscape & pea gravel. Lavender will be the final addition come cooler fall weather, when I will plant a type of lavender called “Phenomenal”. Supposedly it can bear Texas heat, so I hope to make my own oillows & soaps some day. Also have a fig tree, so I appreciate your fig post earlier.
Andrea, Let me know how your Phenomenal lavender grows (and smells). Ours does pretty well here, but when I dried them, was a bit disappointed that the fragrance was rather dead. This batch I bought from Etsy is really, really strong. I think I can only make 2 pillows at a time! And I love that you have a fig tree….nothing better than pulling off a fig warmed by the sun. Sounds really lovely. Will you be writing a blog post about it?
As you might already know…from my Instagram posts…I love lavender! Living here, I am surrounded by lavender farms and in regular years (def not 2020) there is the Oregon Lavender Association’s Lavender Festival. Many farms open their fields for picking each season — sadly, I can’t take part in the fete as I am allergic to honey bee venom. But…there is the cutest tiny shop, Little Lavender Farm, nestled in an alley in the interesting historic part of Newberg, that sells lavender from…you guessed it,..their little lavender farm in Dundee. I visited them several months ago and left with a jar of lavender honey, lavender chocolate caramels from Honest Chocolate, a linen spray and the most intoxicating lavender wreath ever! The wreath is made with one of the most fragrant varieties and it holds it’s deep purple color when it dries. You can only imagine how lovely my drive home was! Thanks for sharing your idea of these bigger pillows — you can place them around your house easily. And, love your fabric. Thinking I may make another trip over to Newberg and grab a bag full of dried lavender. My lavender plant pooped out this year…after 10 or so years of producing…so while I am in Newberg I might pick up a few plants and stick them in the ground. You should put a little label on the pillows you make that says “Caution…lavender can be intoxicating!”
Tanya – sounds like you might be from my area! I live in Portland and go down to Newberg and Dundee all the time! (Well, DID.) When this is all over, we should meet up at that little lavender shop – it sounds wonderful! 🙂
Lavender honey, lavender chocolate caramels, oh my! I think I need to come and visit and you, Barbara and I can get together and visit the Little Lavender Farm. Wouldn’t that be fun???
Great idea! And economical :o)
Yes, I especially like the economical part!