Thursday, September 29, 2011

A Very Cute, Shabby Chic, No Sewing Required, Vintage Hanky Project

I caught a glimpse of an antique booth on a blog I was reading the other day (don't remember which one) and I saw a great idea for my stash of vintage hankies.

I had bought a box lot of vintage and antique hankys at an auction last year; hundreds of them. I didn't know what I was going to do with them but I figured ideas would present themselves and I could not pass up the bargain at $5.

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This one - in my office/den - I made from blue, green and turquoise (and some pink) themed prints and solid colored hankys.
I also did one in my dining room with white linen embroidered and cut worked hankys that is smaller, for the single window.

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You don't need a box lot of 100s of hankys to do this. I used 10 for the double window and 7 for the single window. I also buy hankys at yard sales,thrift shops, or estate sales for a dime or as much as a quarter. Or you can buy larger lot of them on Etsy or eBay.

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Fold each hanky in half, cross ways. (You might also want to press them.)

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Tie the corners of each hanky together; using however many hankys you will need for whatever you'll be making this for.

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Like so:

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I personally used the ones I made as window valances; but I originally saw them draped on a shelf. You could also use these as wedding decor, or drape them on a stair rail at Christmas; or anywhere you need a little vintage hanky "flag bunting" fun.

4 comments:

Catherine said...

I love old handkerchiefs! Here's another cool re-purposing idea, too: http://jeanjeanvintage.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-did-it.html

Hosanna said...

Yep; I follow Jean Jean so I saw that too. I had actually seen that before in a magazine. There are so many cool things to do with them! :)

Catherine said...

I remember several posts you did about re-purposing vintage hankies into tussie mussies and bras. :)

Jodi Eliza said...

Ooh, love this. On the hunt for Christmas hankies to do one for the fireplace mantel... :)