Last week whilst rummaging through my drawers, I noticed that my cashmere sweater had a moth hole in it! It's right on the front so it's ruined; sewing it up will be too noticeable. I am very sad about this.
Although it's too late now for my cashmere sweater, I want to protect the rest of my clothes and hand made socks so I decided to put some lavender bags in with my clothes.
The lavender in my garden is now long past it's best so I have picked off the heads of my french lavender and the Hidcote and put them in little organza bags. The French lavender smells different to the Hidcote lavender - it's got a more lemony scent and the Hidcote has a more traditional lavender smell.
The bags originally had jewellery and other small items in them and I had put them aside for something just like this! Gifts etc. often come in little organza bags but even if you don't have any lying around they are relatively cheap to purchase from eBay.
The great thing is that you don't need to to any sewing. To make them, just pop in the lavender flower heads, pull the drawstrings tight, hang the bags in the airing cupboard or somewhere warm, dry and relatively dark for a couple of weeks and then they will be ready to place in your drawers and wardrobes to protect your clothes from moths and make them smell nice too!
As for the sweater - I'm considering "ripping" it and seeing if I can knit something with the cashmere... a shawl perhaps?
Bad surprise for me as well, cashmere pullovers ruined. The thing is that I HAD lavender bags on my shelves. After doing research, it seems lavender is not strong enough to kill the larvae that makes the holes. So I went for the real moth proofer product. It smells nice as well, and I hope this time I won't have any bad surprise. Will let you know in few weeks...
ReplyDeleteYes, lavender will only repel the moths from laying eggs, it won't kill the larvae. You also need to refresh the lavender bags every year with either fresh lavender or a few drops of lavender essential oils.
ReplyDeleteI would be very careful about using anything that will kill moths/larvae rather than just repelling them as these probably contain insecticides that will also be dangerous to your health or cause skin irritations.