Lavender dryer bags are a natural way to freshen laundry and a good use for dried lavender harvested from your garden. Lavender is a lightly floral but clean-smelling fragrance that adds a little lift to your laundry.
Four years ago I swapped out chemical-laden dryer sheets for sachets of lavender and I’m so much happier with how my clothes feel and smell.
Of course, the best option is to line-dry your laundry in the sunshine and let the garden perfume it that way. There is no better way to remove odours from laundry than to dry the fabric in the sun!
Unfortunately, you can’t line dry outdoors all year in many places. In rainy Vancouver, I would have to wait for months for my clothes to dry. In those winter months, I turn to the dryer but bring some of the garden into the laundry room with me.
Dryer bags can be filled with the dried flower buds and used many times over before needing to be replaced. Adding in a few essential oils will give your laundry a fresh and natural garden scent that makes you feel wonderful as you cozy into your freshly washed bed clothes or pull on a sweet-smelling shirt.
Here’s how I use them!
Lavender Dryer Bags to Freshen Your Laundry
Making your own lavender dryer bags takes just seconds to make. You can also customize these dryer bags with other scented flowers and essential oils.
Materials
- Dried lavender
- Drawstring muslin bags
- Lavender essential oil (optional)
Make It!
Lavender dryer bags are made simply from lavender scooped into small drawstring muslin bags like these. These bags are typically sold as bouquet garni bags for adding herbs to soups, stocks, or stews. If you don’t grow your own lavender, you can purchase it in bulk online.
When you have filled the bag with lavender, tie it tightly in a few knots and then wrap the string around the top and tie again. This will ensure that it will not come apart in the dryer. Toss a bag in with the laundry to add a light fragrance. Each dryer bag will last for ten loads in the dryer.
To add more fragrance to your fabrics, you can also add a few drops of essential oils to the muslin before each cycle in the dryer. Of course, you will want to add some lavender essential oil, but you can also add some cheery sweet orange essential oil, bright and earthy lemongrass essential oil, or deodorizing rosemary essential oil.
Lavender dryer bags will also make a great gift! Present a set of 6 bags in a vintage jar wrapped with ribbon. The sealed jar will help keep the bags fresh when you store them in your laundry room.
FAQ About Lavender Dryer Bags
Dryer sheets are used to help add fragrance and reduce static, but they do have quite a long list of chemicals. While all of them are generally recognized as safe by the FDA, I try to avoid unnecessary chemicals when I can. And these dryer bags are an easy addition for fragrance, as well as vinegar for static (see FAQ below).
One of the main concerns for dryer sheets is artificial fragrances. Many chemical fragrances can cause irritations to the skin, eyes, and lungs of people, as well as are known to cause migraines.
I add my lavender dryer bags at the same time that I add the laundry. I leave them in for the whole time. One lavender sachet should last you about ten loads in the dryer.
If you choose to hang dry your clothes and linens, I recommend using my lavender linen water spray. I spray this on all my linens when they need some freshening up, including clothes, the couch, pillows, and sheets.
I recommend using dried lavender to make these dryer bags.
These dryer bags are designed just to provide a nice light lavender fragrance. To get rid of static, I’ll add vinegar into my wash cycle. To do this, I fill up the fabric softener cup with vinegar and add a few drops of either rosemary or grapefruit essential oils.
More Natural Cleaning Ideas With Lavender
