Sachet Bags for Perfuming the Clothing

We've written before about Victorian era deodorant, but even though it existed, not everyone used it, and its effectiveness may or may not have been adequate for everyone's needs depending on the formula.

Depending on one's social class, one might not have a great selection of clothes to shift between, and laundry being the chore that it was usually, was limited to being done once a week at most.

In order to keep clothes smelling reasonably fresh, sachet bags filled with powders were used. An old recipe I found for a Lemon Verbena ("Van Van" as its known in Louisiana) bag was the following:

1 pound ground lemon-thyme
2 pounds ground lemon peel
1 pound ground orris root
1/2 ounce lemongrass oil
1 ounce bergamot oil
 Combine, and sew the resulting mixture into little cloth baggies.

Obviously this was meant to make a large amount for scenting the laundry of everyone in the house.


Some other recipes based on popular perfumes of the day include:

• Sachet a la rose.—Ground rose leaves, ground rose wood and pulverized starch each 50 drachms, Turkish rose oil rose-geranium oil 1 1/2, oil of cloves 1, bergamot oil 2 1/2, musk tincture 1. 
• Sachet a la violette.—Ground orris root 125 drachms, ground lavender flowers and pulverized starch each 50, liquid orris-root oil* 2 1/2, sandal-wood oil 1/2, musk tincture 2, extrait violette 25. * The so-called liquid orris-root oil is not pure orris-root oil, but generally a distillate of orris-root with bergamot oil; there are, however, also products in which the orris root is distilled with copaiba balsam oil and cedar oil. 
• Jockey club sachet.—Ground orris root, ground rose leaves and ground rose wood each 50 drachms, ground lavender flowers 25, African rose geranium oil 5, oils of Ceylon cinnamon and bergamot each 2 1/2, oils of cloves and cedar each 1, musk tincture 2 1/2, civet tincture 1, extrait jockey club 22 1/2. 
• Sachet aux millefleurs.—Ground starch 50 drachms, ground orris root, ground lavender flowers, ground rose wood, and exhausted vanilla pulverized, each 50 drachms, pulverized cloves 20, bergamot oil and African geranium oil each 2 1/2, verbena oil 1, tincture of benzoin and musk root each 5, musk tincture 5.
• Victoria sachet powder.—Ground lavender flowers 50 drachms, ground rose wood and ground rose leaves each 25, ground orange peel 12 1/2, ground benzoin 25, ground vitivert root 12 1/2, Turkish rose oil 1, bergamot oil 2 1/2, oils of cloves and verbena each 1, musk tincture 1 1/2, civet tincture 1. 
• Reseda sachet powder.—Ground orrisroot 100 drachms, ground rose leaves 50, ground rose wood 25, clove oil, African geranium oil, and bergamot oil each 2 1/2, muskroot tincture 10, vanilla tincture 5, musk tincture 1, extrait reseda 25. 
• New-mown hay sachet powder.—Pulverized starch 25 drachms, ground rose leaves and ground lavender flowers, each 50, ground orris root and ground benzoin, each 25, bergamot oil 5, angelica oil and Java kananga oil each 1 1/2, tonka-bean extract 7 1/2, musk tincture 1 1/2, vetivert tincture 7 1/2.