Small Good Things

Have you prepared something special for Mother’s Day yet? I already ordered nice flowers to be sent at both my mum’s and my mother-in-law’s in Japan. But being a crafter, I also wanted to make something – the problem was that my mum-in-law was gazillion times better at most crafts than me… Oh, the pressure!

So, after a long thought I decided to make something useful, and something she wouldn’t think of making herself (or so I’m hoping!). Sachets with cute peyote bezels, here they come!

You’ll Need:

• 4 pieces of fabric (2 for the outer, and 2 for the inner bag), 8.5 x 16cm each
• 2 cord/trim, 23 cm each
• beading thread and needle
• seed beads
• 1 cabochon
• glue

* The final size of the sachet is 6.5x 14cm. You can adjust the size (and the length of the frill on top) accordingly.

Instructions:

1) Let’s start by making a peyote bezel. Mark a piece of fabric with a pen (for the front piece) where you want the bezel to be, and adhere a cabochon with glue. I’m using a piece of felt only for the tutorial, by the way.

2) Thread a needle and tie a knot in the end. From the bottom of the cabochon, pass needle up through the fabric, right next to the edge of the cabochon.

3) Pick up 4 seed beads.

4) And pass needle back through the fabric at the edge of the fourth bead.

5) Pull the thread tightly.

6) Pass needle back up through the fabric, between the second and the third bead. Pass the needle through the third and fourth bead.

7) Pull the thread. Now the beads are attached firmly to the fabric.

8) Repeat the step 3 to 7 until the cabochon is surrounded by beads.

9) Now, continue the backstitch all around the cabochon again, but this time passing through the beads that aren’t sawn on to the fabric.

10) Next, pass the needle through the first bead.

11) Pick up one bead, skip the next bead and pass needle through the next bead.

12) It looks like this now. I’m using a different coloured bead for the tutorial, but you can continue using the bead you used for the first row.

13) Continue to add beads following the step 11 and 12 until you complete the second row.

It looks like this from the side.

14) Pass the needle through the first bead of the second row.

15) Pick up one bead, and pass needle through the next bead.

16) Repeat the step 15 all the way around. Add more rows if your cabochon is taller. Pass needle through all the beads again, weave back down through the fabric, and tie a knot.

17) Now now, let’s move on to making a sachet (phew!). Fold each top edge down 1cm and press. With right sides together (for both outer and inner bags), stitch sides and bottom together using a 1cm seam. For the outer bag, leave 1cm gaps below the 1cm fold (the blue parts). The gaps are where the draw stings will be. Oh, and trim the corners so that they’ll turn out nicely.

18) Turn the outer bag inside out and press. For the inner bag, press the seams open.

19) Place the inner bag inside the outer bag. I wanted to show a bit of inner bag at the top, so I pinned it leaving about 2mm edge.

20) Stitch all the way around closed to the top edge, 1cm from the top and 2cm from the top. Sadly, the sachet was too small for my sewing machine so that I had to use my very poor hand stitch technique.

21) Thread your cords, and you’re done!

I should have used smaller beads for the floral sachet, but I couldn’t wait until the beads arrived (Mother’s Day won’t wait for me, after all).

So, what are the sachets for? I made them to fit omamori (Japanese amulets). Japanese people usually buy omamori each year from temples and shrines for luck, general blessings and protection, and carry them around in bags or cars.

I keep mines in my daily bag, but… I hate to say this, but I got bored of the design, the similar look year after year… I love how the sachets turned out, and hope my mums are going to feel well protected with these cuties :)

But of course, you could use them for anything you’d like. I’m planning to make another one in much bigger size, but these peyote bezels look so cute on small sachets… Oh, the dilemma!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the (lengthy, I know) tutorial :)