nightengale

Hi out there quilting ladies.

Is anyone into vintage hankies? Have any good sites or patterns to share?

Is there any one interested in starting something for vintage hankies trading?

:) :)

LINANN

I have a bunch of vintage hankies. I want to make the butterfly quilt I found here on the board.

dd

What else is there to do with them?

Farm Quilter

I love my vintage hankies. I cut them in half or quarters and use them as labels for my quilts. Naughty of me, I know, but I really like the way they look!

whispers38

A word of caution when using vintage hankies. I made my son a quilt when he was a baby (now 32) and it was well loved. I notice though that over the years that where the hankies were printed with different prints the fabric is starting to deteriorate. In some places the fabric is gone. I had hoped to pass it on to a grandchild one day but not anymore. Like I said just a word of caution.

TanyaL

For those of you who are too young to remember older rules of ettiquete, here are some memories of the hankerchief "rules".I remember that when a lady bought hankies she bought either ones for every day or ones for dressy occasions. Usually this meant that the everyday ones were made from printed fabric and the better ones were made from solid colored fabric and hand embroidered. Some of these were also edged with lace. There were black ones for funerals, and sometimes you could color-coordinate the hankie with your dress, but you seldom had one color of fabric and another color of lace. That was usually considered to be gaudy and not lady like. Frequently the hankies had your initial embroidered on one corner.
You did not use an everyday hankerchief in a dressy situation such as going to church on Sunday morning, and you did not put a white, lace edged hankerchief in your purse when you went to the grocery store. The rules of dress were as strict about the use of hankies as they were about your girdle and getting the seams of your hose straight in the back of your legs. Some things ladies did not do if they were proper ladies. These things were taught by mothers to their daughters and they were very important at the time. Not knowing these type of things could mark a young girl as cheap, and "from the wrong side of the tracks." Not someone a fellow took home to meet the family. It was a different time.

hobbykat1955

Shirts or dresses for Umbrella ladies...

Barb44

I have some hankies that I have saved over the years that I would trade. I was going to make a butterfly quilt years ago when I saw it in a magazine (I think I still have the magazine.) But my priorities have changed. Hankies are hard to find nowadays. The ones I have came from a thrift store. You almost have to hunt antique shops and flea markets to find them and then they are expensive.

TanyaL, thanks for that info. My mom used hankies but they were only the bright prints. Guess she didn't know the rules, LOL. My grandma had fancier ones, but used old cut up shirts for every day. She was very frugal.

luvnquilt

I have my Grandmother's hankies and my mother's dressy white gloves with the pearl buttons at the wrist, I thought I might make a special "crazy" square that I could frame with all of that incorporated. I've had the hankies since 1988 and just didn't know what to do with them. The history of proper use was great to read. thanks for that TanyaL.

MIJul

I usually buy mine at flea markets.