Oh lavender! Who doesn’t love the fresh, calming aroma of this beautiful purple perennial? What I love about this flower, is that it can be enjoyed equally fresh in the garden or dried for later use. One of my favorite things to do with lavender is to make lavender wands.
If you are lucky enough to have a lavender plant growing in your garden, this is a great time to cut it and preserve it for later use.
Yes, I know it’s hard to cut down those beautiful purple, sweet-smelling buds from your garden, but if you don’t they will just get old and start to turn brown, and then you will wish you would have cut them when their colors were brighter and stronger smelling. There is about a two-week window to cut the blossoms when they will be at their best.
Items you will need to make lavender wands
- Fresh Cut Lavender (cut the stems as long as possible, just above where the long stems come out of the leafy area of the plant).
- Ribbon (you will need approximately 1 1/2 yards) per wand. Any width of ribbon will work.
- Scissors (for cutting ribbon and to trim the stems)
This is a very relaxing and rewarding project. So gather some friends or family around and do a little weaving. Making these lavender wands will give you some time to SLOW down, do a little chatting and enjoy some aromatherapy as well. Your house will smell fabulous!
Let’s get started!
How to make lavender wands
- Choose 17 or 19 stems. It doesn’t really matter how many, you will just need an ODD NUMBER of stems. Use your fingers to slide down the stem to strip all the leaves off of each stem.
- Arrange the stems so the bottom of the blossoms are even. Take the ribbon and tie around at the base of the flowers. (Leave about a 12 inch tail).
- Pull the ribbon tight and knot.
- Carefully fold the stems down over the flowers, evenly disbursing the stems all the way around.
- Take the ribbon tail (the shorter end of the ribbon) and fold it down, tucking it in the middle of the flowers. You will pick it up after you are finished weaving to use to make a bow.
- Take the long ribbon and start weaving over one stem and under the next. Over and under. (The first few rounds will take the longest, until you get your pattern going).
- Leave a little space between the rows of ribbon. You can experiment to get it to look like you want.
- Don’t pull it real tight, but it shouldn’t be real loose either. The flowers will dry better if they are not squeezed too tight.
- Keep weaving over and under. If you get messed up and weave over two instead of one, just continue, you won’t even notice.
- This is supposed to be relaxing!!!! Continue to weave until you have covered the flowers.
- Locate the ribbon tail you tucked inside and pull it out.
- Wrap the ribbon around few times and tie a tight bow. Cut off the excess stems and ta dah, there you have it!
- It will become addicting, you will want to make another one using a different color of ribbon, before you know it you will have a handful.
What do you do with these colorful, sweet smelling beauties?
- Attach to a gift, or make it a gift in itself with a thoughtful note attached
- Tuck them in drawers to keep linen, and clothes smelling fresh
- Hang in the closet
- My son made one for his car and one for his rock climbing shoes. LOL!
- Use as a bug and moth repellent in fabric and WOOL SWEATER BINS.
I keep a stash of lavender wands in a zip bag or plastic shoe box for gifts all throughout the year. They stay beautiful and keep their fragrance for years!
If the smell starts to fade, just give the wand a good squeeze, and the fragrance will come out again.
Don’t waste any lavender
Save the lavender you do not use to make sachets and other things.
Let the stems dry out a few days and then get a big bowl and strip all the blossoms off by sliding your fingers down the stems. The blossoms will fall off into the bowl. Place the blossoms in a tightly closed jar until you are ready to make other projects.
Here are some other LAVENDER posts that you may be interested in.
If you don’t have any lavender growing in your garden, I think it’s time you do! You won’t regret it!
Have fun weaving green and purple goodness!
Jan Howell
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Whether it’s a new recipe, a fun craft, or some handy tips for your garden and home, I hope to empower and inspire you with skills that you can use to create joy, improved health, and to do it in a simple way.
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