Vintage Hankie Crafts

I recently won the giveback giveaway at Elaine's Love2junk, and there were some really nice handkerchiefs in there, so I decided to look up some crafts to make with them! The cutest thing was the tradition of making a bonnet from a handkerchief to give a new baby. There's only a few stitches in it in order to make it easy turn it back into a handkerchief, so anyone can make this for a wedding or christening or baby shower gift, and there's a few really sweet poems you can print out to give with it. This site has several....
Here are two bonnets I made.


All you need to do is gather up the back edge in a simple running stitch. I used quilting thread, you can use white embroidery floss,too. Fold the front edge over and tack a length of ribbon on each side with a few stitches. That's it!



This one is made the same way.




Here are some sachets to put in your closet or drawers. I used my favorite perfume sprayed between two pieces of batting. You can use lavender or potpourri.



You'll fold your handkerchief like an envelope, like this. Hand sew the two seams on the pocket of the envelope part, and slip your prepared batting and scent inside. Hand sew the top flap down and embellish with ribbons, buttons, what ever you like.


This one I added a small piece of lace to the edge.


This one I made with ribbon and buttons.



Here's a cute idea. This hankie has some very pretty pansy embroidery around the edges. I starched it, and folded it in a square, and tucked it into this small vase.

I found this interesting; these are called Sunday Dolls or Church Dolls. I never had one myself, but I remember women having coins wrapped up in handkerchiefs when I was small, simply as a way of keeping a certain amount of change handy. The story behind this one is, that they were made for children to keep their change for the collection plate. They could play with it during service and it wouldn't make noise if dropped on the floor. I made this one with two quarters folded into a corner and tied with a ribbon. Then the corner was pulled back over the "head" made of the quarters as a bonnet and each side under the head was pushed up and tied with the same ribbon. These would be wings or hands. I saw some for sale at different places that come with a poem. They could be given to a bride on her wedding day.


You may be able to tell how I made it from this photo. Take the corner behind her head and bring it on top of her head, like a bonnet. Twist each side a little, like shown on the left, and push it to the dolls head. Use the same ribbon, tie it around to the back, then to the front again, and into a bow.

kudzu