How can I make a biscornu smelly?

[Sarah Gixxer]

Obviously I want it to smell NICE!

I will be stitching a purplework biscornu at Christmas on dyed lilac fabric with deep purple threads and I thought it might be nice if it smelled of lavender. Any ideas? Do you think stuffing it with pot pourri would work or should I get lavender bags and use the filling of these to stuff the biscornu with? Or a mixture of lavender bag filling and toy stuffing?

Any suggestions would be most welcome. I intend to attach a ribbon to it too so it could hang somewhere, maybe on the end of my clothes rail as I don't have a wardrobe.

[burgundyice]

I don't know what's inside a lavender bag (petals?!) but I should think stuffing it with that or pot pourri would be fine, I think toy stuffing as well would mean there's not as much scented "stuff" in there and it might not last so long. Obviously might smell very strongly at first, but I don't think there's anything wrong with that

Louise

[Lessa54]

I did wonder!

There's a site here http://www.comfycountrycreations.com/lavender.htm" target="_blank" target="_blank that has instructions for how to make a lavender pillow. Or there's loads if you google making scented sachets. Given it's a biscornu and you probably want it a bit softer, maybe if you mixed the petals/flower dust with the soft stuffing that would work. Or you could soak the soft stuffing in some essential oil or something first (checking of course that it'll be ok for your fabric).

I don't know if those DMC scented threads still exist, but it could be an excuse to use some of them! Or you could create your own scented thread by impregnating with oil or lavender fragrance burner or something.

[Midge]

You could use star anise, cinnamon sticks or cloves in the stuffing too. I would pop them in a cotton or muslin bag to protect the stitching and hide it in the middle of the biscornu.

[Sarah Gixxer]

Oh what great ideas! I like the idea of a cinnamon scented one, too, Midge. I might have to make a second one in goldie-browny colours that would go with cinnamon. Yum!

I think I will see if I can buy some of the dried lavender petals they use for scented bags and use those for my currently planned one and a bit of stuffing too so it's soft, Lessa. I thought that pot pourri might end up being a bit lumpy too. I can't wait to start making this now!

[Nachstenliebe]

What is a biscornu?
Faith

[Mabel Figworthy]

It's a little (or big, size is up to you, really) eight-sided cushion made from sewing two squares together at a 45 degree angle (hope that makes sense -- the corners of one square are attached to the middle of the sides of the other square).

Here's one I did earlier:



and a very small one:

[Angel]

There's lots of ways the two best ways I always used for my stuff was either dried plants inside. Lavender, rose petals and so on. Or to add drops of perfume/insense/whatever. You can usually get smells for cadles quite easily and they work lovely in fabric.

[meerkat]

I used a DMC lavender scented thread as well as other threads in my Lilac/Mauve Biscornu design,in my gallery, the threads have retained the scent, if I scratch them gently, but it isn't strong enough to make the Biscornu smell of lavender without some other source of lavender as well.
Looking forward to pictures of yours Sarah.

[Sarah Gixxer]

Wow, that's a gorgeous biscornu, Mabel! And that little tiny one - blimey, a thought making a 4 inch square one was fiddly enough.

I've discovered I can buy a pack of dried lavender buds off ebay for £5.99 which will probably be enough to make 2 or more biscornu, so I think I will get that after Christmas. I'll stitch the biscornu and sew up most of the sides in the meantime and then do the stuffing and add a button and ribbon in the New Year.