Sunday 22 June 2014

Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly

The lavender in my back garden

 Lavender's blue, dilly, dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly, dilly, you shall be queen.
Who told you so, dilly, dilly, who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly, dilly, that told me so.

Call up your men, dilly, dilly, set them to work
Some to the plough, dilly, dilly, some to the fork,
Some to make hay, dilly, dilly, some to cut corn,
While you and I, dilly, dilly, keep ourselves warm.
Lavender's green, dilly, dilly, Lavender's blue, 
If you love me, dilly, dilly, I will love you. 
Let the birds sing, dilly, dilly, And the lambs play; 
We shall be safe, dilly, dilly, out of harm's way.
I love to dance, dilly, dilly, I love to sing; 
When I am queen, dilly, dilly, You'll be my king. 
Who told me so, dilly, dilly, Who told me so? 
I told myself, dilly, dilly, I told me so.

I am very fond of this nursery rhyme. It always seems so romantic. Also the only thing I remember of my very first day at school, was standing in a circle with other children singing this song.

But did you know that the earliest surviving version of the song was printed in England between 1672 and 1685, under the name Diddle Diddle, Or The Kind Country Lovers?  The lyrics printed in this version are not so romantic but quite bawdy.  


I have been making lavender bags, mainly because my mum supplied me with an enormous bag of lavender. She lives in sheltered housing with a communal garden, so having checked that no one else wanted the lavender she went out and picked it, dried it, and stripped it from the stems. So my work room has the delicious smell of lavender at the moment.


The first bags I made were not my own design, but from this book. I used silk for the main fabric, as I didn't have the linen that was suggested. Very handy to keep your undies smelling nice! 



I thought about the song, and how all the lavender I see is not blue, but lilac or deep purple. But a bit of research and I have found white, pink and blue lavender. To my surprise there is even a yellow variety of lavender!



I then had still more lavender, so decided to make some from my own design. First I appliqued felt on to hessian for the plant pots. (I still haven't mastered the free motion sewing, so these are edged neatly with my feed dogs up.) Then I embroidered the lavender plants using wool. I made little bags of muslin for the lavender, as I thought it might work its way out through the hessian. 


My first idea was to sew little bags and turn them out, but the hessian was just too stiff for this. So instead I simple pinned the front and back of the bags together, and sewed round the edge. I had to use my zipper foot for this, so I could get nice and close in to the muslin bag. I think the rustic look is rather nice. They have a ribbon in case you want to hang them in your wardrobe. Despite saying I wasn't going to do any more craft fairs, I have one coming up next weekend, and am hoping these might sell well. After that they may end up in my Etsy shop, and I guess the postage will be very low.


30 comments:

  1. The little flower pot bags are very sweet, I've never seen a yellow lavender
    Clare x

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  2. Very lovely, I really must harvest our lavender!!

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  3. Aww they are soooo gorgeous! Your embroidered plants are just perfect, they will be flying off your stall i think! :)

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  4. Oh I can smell that lavendar all the way over here in Essex!

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  5. Love your flower pot lavender bags ! Wonderful french knot stitching ! x Esther

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  6. Your flower-pot lavender bags are really lovely. Yes, the scent of lavender is gorgeous, so strong and the rhyme reminds me so much of my childhood. Hope you have a good week.

    Jill, Christmas Pie Crafts

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  7. Beautiful lavender bags - the pants ones are very funny, and I love the little lavender plants on the hessian bags.

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  8. Pretty bags, my mother would love the lavender!

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  9. They look lovely. My lavender is just coming out so I will need to pick and dry soon. I love doing lavender bags.

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  10. Oh, these little bag are gorgeous! I really like the way you embellished them with your embroidery skills. And, I'm sure they smell heavenly. So nice....

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  11. What a lovely present from your mum. I think the pants sachets are fun and the flowerpots are really nice. Bet they smell super.

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  12. Love the rustic little Lavender bags they are very cute <3
    The smell of lavender is wonderful, and very calming x
    Good luck with the fair x

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  13. Your own designed bags are gorgeous. I have to say I prefer them much more than the book design :)
    Ali xx

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  14. Lovely bags - I prefer your design. I'm sure they will sell well.

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  15. Mmm, lavender bags sound heavenly and I love the pots of lavender you have created.

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  16. That nursery rhyme took me back... Always been a favourite. And these kittle bags are just toooooo cute!

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  17. All so lovely!!! Great and sweet ideas!
    Hope you have a wonderful day!
    Hugs from Portugal,
    Ana Love Craft
    www.lovecraft2012.blogspot.com

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  18. Hmmm lavender! The pants ones are cute but I like your own design so much better, very elegant, definitely fit for a lady's drawers ;)

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  19. I love your bags... and I LOVE lavender sachets... How nice of your mum to go thru all of that work to collect the buds for you.

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  20. Oh my gosh I love your flower pot lavendar sachets - adorable!!! The cute little undie ones are adorable too.
    Marie@The Interior Frugalista

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  21. Love the bags with the undies on, they are wonderful:-)

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  22. They're sweet!

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  23. those bags are all so cute, especially the little wee ones! you are so talented!!!

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  24. They're very pretty. I had no idea you could get yellow lavender!

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  25. These are fabulous. A great (and pretty) way to use the lavender. We have some in our back garden and I might have to follow in your footsteps - lavender smells so pretty.

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  26. I'd love to make these; they're so pretty! And so handy to add to drawers, plus they'd make great gifts. Thanks so much for sharing at Inspire Me Wednesday. Featuring you in this week's issue.

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  27. love the embroidery, and the whole story, fabulous! thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday!

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  28. Wow the lavender hessian bags are so sweet, I love them! Lovely blog, I'm enjoying seeing your crafty endeavours - I found you via Handmade Harbour :)
    Vicky x

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