How to Make an Old Fashioned Linen Handkerchief


Last week I showed you a little stash peek of my new linens and shared a fabricworm discount code. The first thing I made with my lovely linen was this old-fashioned monogrammed hankie. What do you think of my blanket stitch edge?

Umm, yeah, y’all know I’m not so hot with the hand stitch. I did that with my Brother Sewing & Embroidery Machine! If you’ve subscribed to our newsletter you already know what you have to do to enter to win one of your own. The rest of y’all will find out next week. Now onto my embroidered linen hankie after the jump…

How to Make an Old Fashioned Linen Handkerchief

First I embroidered my linen. I used Essex Linen in pale pink from Fabricworm. I loaded up my hoop…

Then used the embroidery edit function to combine a floral pattern that came with my machine and a monogram. I also edited the colors into a gray/yellow/purple pallet that I love so much.

Full body shot in embroidery mode:

Then I let the machine do it’s fancy work.

Just changing the colors when prompted.

Cut my threads and that’s done!

Now cut your linen into a square. There’s no standard size but hankies are always square. Cut it 1″ larger then you want your final hankie. I wanted mine 10″ so I cut an 11″ square.

Iron each side under 1/4″ to the wrong side and iron.

Then fold another 1/4″ to the wrong side and iron.

Unfold and see the little square on each corner?

Cut that out to reduce bulk.

Fold back up and iron again.

Set your machine to blanket stitch if you have it (or do by hand) and sew all four sides.

Same machine in sewing mode.

Iron it up and cut your threads.

Done! I feel so old-timey. I want to carry this rolled up in my sleeve and whip it out every time Scarlet sneezes, ha. But seriously, this would be a cute topper on a gift, right? Tell me, what do you think of this machine embroidery – does it look almost as charming as hand embroidery? Almost?

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13 Comments

ppags

I love the blanket stitch! I used to love embroidered hankies until I had little kids and then I realized that it scratches up those really wiggly noses since kids can't stay still enough for you to find a non-embroidered corner. Now I carry plain ones. But this would be so pretty to have as a second in my purse, you know, just for me! Ah, a girl can dream.

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sarah

You're making me jealous with all your embroidery! I'm nearly blind and living off a GI Bill, woman! It's all I can do to thread my needle and you show off your awesome machine. Tsk tsk. 🙂

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Pinon Coffee

So yesterday I was explaining to my husband how I really need a sewing machine, but how I was okay with just a basic model and didn't need one that did all that fancy embroidery. Only now maybe I do. I love it.

@Jen – I like hand-embroidering on denim because it's heavy enough not to pucker much. And if you embroider in navy blue, it also won't SHOW much, so if it's weird it doesn't matter! Of course, if one had a proper embroidery hoop, that might help with the whole puckering problem. That's crazy talk, though.

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Kaylin

Thinking about making my sister something like this that she can have with her at all of her big events this year (she is a senior and I won’t be there for most of the year!) Thanks for the GREAT blanket stich idea!

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9 quick and easy wedding DIY projects |

[…] some embroidery thread ($10). If we have a sewing appurtenance with elaboration settings, follow this educational on PrudentBaby.com. If you’d cite to freehand it, check out this how-to by JennytheArtist for embroidering […]

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EMdigitizer

EMDigitizer has made embroidery services more efficient and productive. In the beginning, digitizing was done manually but with the passage of time, this has now become a digital process.

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