Make a decorative bathroom bag in 7 easy steps

Want to lend a slightly more refined touch to your bathroom? Find out how to embroider a decorative organza bag, just like you'd find in craft hobby shops.

• 15 cm (6 in) organza gift bag
• Fine nib pencil
• Stranded embroidery cotton:

1. For rosemary: light beige, light fern green, avocado green, baby blue;
2. For lavender: dark purple, dark purple-blue, fern green;
3. Forchamomile: dark lemon, white.

• Embroidery needle
• 4 small yellow buttons (for the chamomile bag)
• Herbs and spices for each bag:

1. For the lavender bag: lavender, oatmeal, dried orange peel and bay leaves;
2. For thechamomile bag: dried chamomile, bay leaves and rose petals;
3. For the rosemary bag: dried rosemary, lavender, sage and bay leaves.

1. Draw the pattern of your choice. For the rosemary and lavender, simply draw the position of the stems.
2. Slide the pattern inside the bag and traceit in on the bag in pencil.
3. For the rosemary pattern, thread a strand each of cotton beige, light fern green and avocado green threads (three strands in all) and embroider the stems with long stitches on top of the pencil line, moving backwards to fix each stitch.
   For the leaves, thread two strands of light fern green and four of avocado green (six strands in total) and sew a series of stitches forwards to form a downward angle on each side of the stem. The stitches must very neat as the bag is transparent. With two strands of blue baby thread, embroider a few flowers among the leaves, using three forward stitches for each flower.
4. To make the lavender design, thread two strands of fern green cotton and embroider the stems, using two or three long stitches on top of the pencil line, moving backwards to fix each stitch. Then thread two strands of each colour (six strands in all) and sew flowers with small forward stitches on each side of the stems, following your drawing.
5. For the chamomile bag, carefully arrange the buttons on the front of the bag and mark their position with a pencil, without pressing hard. Using two white threads, embroider daisies around these marks, leaving room in the centre to place the buttons.
6. Sew a button in the centre of each flower with two or three strands of dark lemon thread.
7. Fill the bags and pull the cords to close. Do not overfill.

Once finished, the bag should stand 15 centimetres (six inches) tall.

Now that you know how to make your own decorative bags for the bathroom, not only will you enjoy making them, you will also save money!