Hankie-Panky
Awhile back I was asked to give a talk about my vintage finds and quilting projects. It morphed into a show and tell of the wonderful treasures I have found thrifting, and how I use them in quilt and sewing projects. I have a quilted table runner made from family heirloom antique hankies but it wasn’t available for my talk. As I wanted to discuss what you can do with all those vintage family treasures you have ferreted away in drawers, I needed an example to share. This quilt was my solution. I dug through the piles of vintage linens and hankies I have collected, thrifted a man’s dress shirt for the rose border fabric, and had a professional quilter finish it for me.
Handkerchiefs were a ubiquitous item used by people of all walks of life for centuries, but it was Marie Antoinette that prompted the modern square shape we all recognize. Archeologists have discovered the use of cloth hankies as early as 1000 BC, and by ancient Roman their use was common, both for personal hygiene as well as for signals in public games. During the Middle Ages, knights would vie for a lady’s handkerchief to tie to their armor. But leave it to Marie Antoinette to complain to her husband, King Louis XVI of France that the ridiculous sizes and shapes of the courtiers handkerchiefs were distracting and unseemly, creating a visual she found annoying. Thus King Louis issued a law in June, 1785 that no handkerchief could be larger than his, and that the length must equal the width (i.e. be a square). The term itself, for those etymological fans out there, is actually French, deriving from ‘couvrir’ (to cover) and ‘chef’ (head) as the cloth was used for wiping the face or nose. Added to the English word “hand” and there you have it.
Back in December of 2023, my first official quilt ‘client’ was a local woman who had a collection of her grandmother’s hankies. She wanted a long table runner made with them as a Christmas gift for her parents. I liked the idea so much I used heirloom handkerchiefs passed down from my father’s relatives and made a similar table runner. I used a vintage linen tablecloth as the background, and a dear friend offered to quilt it. She did a lovely job, highlighting each hankie with detailed quilting in white thread so all you see are the lovely designs amid the heirloom hankies. My table runner is long and narrow to suit a farm table in our dining room, but honestly given it is a white linen I have been hesitant to use it. Guests may have to sign a blood oath they won’t spill on it: no hankie-panky around my treasure please.
client’s hankie table runner
