linens

Fresh, white and clean sheets with lavender scent in the vintage French Laundry Basekt

Fresh, white and clean sheets with lavender scent in the vintage French Laundry Basket

I stumbled upon some french laundry baskets this Memorial Day weekend at an antique warehouse in Forney, Texas. I have wanted one for a long, long time but hadn’t found one at the right price. As luck would have it, DeRidder Antiques was having a Spring Cleaning sale and they were very reasonably priced…so I bought three.

Few simple things bring as much pleasure as line dried bed linens washed in home made lavender laundry detergent. The smell and feel of crisp, white linens pulled taught on a freshly made bed that beckon a heavenly rest.

My laundry closet is like my house; not fancy or well appointed…but simple, straightforward and quaint. No apologies…it just is what it is.

The perfect place for home made lavender laundry detergent.

Simple Washing Powder

16 cups baking soda

12 cups borax

8 cups grated castile or glycerin soap flakes*

3 tablespoons lavender, lemon or grapefruit essential oil

Combine baking soda, borax and soap flakes. Add essential oil and mix with a wire whisk. Use 1⁄8 cup per load.

The basic items needed: Borax, Baking Soday, Soap Flakes and Essential Oil.

Soap flakes just look clean, don’t they?

A vintage enamel bowl is put to good use to mix Borax, Baking Soda, Soap Flakes and Lavender essential oil.

Vintage containers hold linen water, Borax and cleaning supplies

Vintage Mason Jars filled with old wood and wire clothes pins with a sweet home made label

Using office supply oak tags and alphabet stamps for laundry room labeling

Home Made Lavender Laundry Detergent.

Freshly dried and folded linens in the French Laundry Basket.

Lavender: Two Ways

Dried Lavender.

I love lavender. For me, it is such a relaxing and calming aromatic that I can’t get enough of it. I keep dried lavender and lavender oil around the house and try to use it in as many different ways as possible.

Making sachets with dried lavender is nothing new. These particular sachets that I made are for a friend who will be giving them out at a family birthday party. They are particularly sentimental because each one is made using her grandmother’s vintage linen napkins and handkerchiefs.

I made a point of hand sewing each one shut, once they were stuffed with the dried lavender. It would have been easier to use a sewing machine to finish up, but I really wanted them to have the handmade feel, so I finished each one up by hand.

Also, I use lavender oil and mix with water to make cold compresses for being outside on a hot summer day. I used to attend bootcamp where our instructor would freeze cold compresses and bring them to us for summer work outs. Even though it was 5:30 in the morning, here in Texas, it was still 85 degrees outside even before the sun came up.

Since our instructor worked so hard in creating the work outs, I offered to take on the cold compress duty. However, I put my spin on it by adding lavender oil to the water before I saturated the facecloths. Jackpot.

It was such a pleasant way to cool off, I started making them and keeping them in the fridge to grab throughout the summer. They are great for a day of flea marketing or antiquing, hiking, picnics, and outdoor summer celebrations. When my mother comes to visit, she sits on the front porch alot and these little compresses do the trick in cooling her off and are very relaxing. On occasion, I use them as a compress over my eyes to go to sleep. The lavender smells so lovely and the coolness of the face cloth is very soothing.

The trick, I learned, is to wring out the wash cloth until it is just a smidge beyond damp. Roll them up and put in zip lock bags and put in the fridge to grab for use. If you are going out for a day long outing, put them in the freezer overnight, then put them in an insulated bag for use throughout the day. Just a few drops of lavender oil to a bathroom sink full of water and you will yield about 12 or so cloths. If you prefer a stronger scent of lavender, just add more drops of oil.

Try it…you will be glad you did!

xoxo,

Cindy

Post Publish Update: I got an email this evening and according to LocalHarvest.org, it is lavender month this month. Here is a recipe (from them) for Lavender Lemonade and some relevant links for lavender products:

Links:

Lavender Products

Lavender Lemonade:

Herbal Lemonade Boil 2 cups of water and pour over a 2″ sprig of rosemary OR 1 heaping tablespoon of lavender flowers. Steep for 5-8 minutes and then remove herbs. Add 1/3 c. sugar or honey and stir to dissolve. Pour into a 1 quart jar and add 1/4 c. lemon juice. Fill the rest of the way with cold water. Chill and taste, adjusting lemon and sweetness to taste. Serve over ice, with a small fresh sprig of rosemary or lavender if you like.