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Making Hankies the Good Enough Way

 
pollinator
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I am not very experienced with using my sewing machine. A lot of my time on the sewing machine is spent re-threading after mysterious somethings happen which make the thread disappear from the needle.

I also seem to lack the gene required to create straight lines - folding, cutting, drawing, hanging something up on a wall... unless I make intensive use of tools my line is going to wander, tilt, or just be crooked.

But having discovered that it would cost me four or five dollars each to buy a handkerchief on which to use to blow my nose, I thought I could probably manage to sew something good enough for myself for less.

I know there's debate about using handkerchiefs, about if they are sanitary or not. I use both hankies and disposable paper tissues. One of the biggest annoyances for me with the disposables is that I always seem to collect so many, in my purse or on my desk, and inevitably I end up throwing out handfuls without knowing for sure if they've been used or if they're just scrunched up. This is not a problem with handkerchiefs.

Once upon a time I found a bunch of vintage hankies at a second hand shop and happily bought them up, however, the last hankie from that batch is now developing holes. Over time, aside from them wearing out,  I also find I eventually end up using hankies for something really dirty and have to dispose of them, (for example, I've used some for emergency pet waste clean up after running out of baggies on walks)  so I need to re-purchase or re-create them every once and awhile.

All of this to explain that with spring allergies on their way I set aside time earlier this week to sew some handkerchiefs and I took photographs of the process to share.

First, I went to the local thrift shop. I am not interested in fancy fabric, I want something that will be relatively thick and functional. I found a piece of polka dot fabric that feels fleece-like, it cost 75 cents. Then I found a fairly good-quality cotton t-shirt which was on discount and cost $1.75 (it was too short to wear.) Lastly, I remembered that I had a cotton tea towel which had worn through in places, but I could still use part of it for this project.

When I got it home, I washed the fabric and t-shirt and let dry over night.

Then, I set up my supplies and tools, getting out the ironing board and setting up the sewing machine in the dinning room, to make use of the space.
I have a sewing kit that used to belong to my grandmother - it has seen better days, but many of the tools within remain usable, including the pins.
You will need some pins - Some of the "pins" in my grandmother's sewing kit are actually tiny nails.

Next, I ironed the fabric. Then I went out to the garbage and found some spare cardboard, to create a cardboard template. I measured and made it roughly 9 by 9 inches square.

Using the template, I outlined the hankie squares with a ball point pen. (You might want to use a crayon, I tried that but was having trouble seeing the marks. (Using a pen is not pretty, but it gets the job done.) I got four squares out of the fabric I'd bought as fabric, and five from the fabric that came in the form of a t-shirt.

I cut out the hankie squares with a pair of scissors.

(I did not use the template for the two hankies I created out of the tea towel, as you will see they are slightly larger and rectangle rather than square, but I was able to cut them relatively nicely without the template because the tea towel itself had helpful cutting guidance with it's striped pattern.)

The next step was the most difficult for me, with my poor folding abilities. I folded and pinned over a small strip of a hankie all along the edges to start of creating a hem. (It seems "a hem" is a fancy sewing term for "an edge that is sewn down") You need it or your fabric will unravel. You can use an iron to theoretically help you fold and pin the hem, although I abandoned the ironing-the-edges step quite early as I found that all of this was beginning to take rather a lot of time. Also, my iron started spewing dirty water.

After you've pinned, you can sew. Sew down the hems, taking the pins out as you go. As you gain confidence you might discover you don't need as many pins on your last handkerchief as you do on your first. I pinned and sewed one hankie at a time.

I just went with whatever thread was already on my sewing machine, had to switch a bobbin part way through (argh!) and ended up with two-coloured threading.  Again, I was not concerned with how it looks, just with getting it done.
I made some hankies with a straight stitch and some with a slightly zaggedy stitch.

The corners were a bit of a problem for me at first, until I remembered that if you stop sewing at the corner with the needle down, you can then lift the foot, turn the fabric, lower the foot again, and keep on sewing down the next edge of your handkerchief, corner turning problem all solved. I did go back in a few places to re-enforce the corners as well.

There was some cursing at mysterious sewing machine hiccups involved, and because I am not experienced or confident with the sewing machine, it took me pretty close to five hours to sew eleven handkerchiefs. (I ended up working on this over two days.)

Cost in money: $2.50 plus whatever the thread used cost - I believe some of it was an earlier purchased from the thrift store. Let's call it $3. (Ignoring the electricity cost and the initial cost to purchase the sewing machine, mine is a basic model that I bought from Walmart five or six years ago for about $100)

Cost if purchased: $40

Cost in time: For me? Five hours. I figure I was working for about $7 an hour. Which would not be too bad if I enjoyed working with the sewing machine more.  Much more.
I was getting faster, it took me three hours to do the first five, and "only" two hours the next day for the other six! I might try this again.

I don't have a photo of all eleven hankies together because I immediately started using them.

I am sure that others can sew handkerchiefs faster and better than I can.

A bonus to me of getting out the sewing machine and sewing kit to work on this project is that it reminded me to sort through everything in the sewing pile. I got rid of some stuff that I was never going to get around to using, and I also discovered that I had a pair of handknit socks waiting to be mended. So I mended them, and now not only do I have new hankies, I have a newly resurrected pair of socks and a much tidier sewing-stuff area in a cupboard.

I do still need to clean my iron.

P.S. - A bonus of using t-shirt fabric is that you can cheat! You can cut squares so that you preserve some of the hemming that has already been done - I even managed to keep the washing instructions on one of the squares.

I hope that this might inspire someone who is, like me, sewing machine hesitant, to just go ahead and try!









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I'm beyond "sewing machine hesitant"--so my hat is certainly off to you for this! They look well done, and the satisfaction of having done-it-yourself is always priceless!

Will you be carrying them with you, and using them in public? I use tissues in public, but at home we use some very long and thin cotton cloths that were called "cloth diapers" on the package when I got them years ago at my baby shower. I knew there was no way they would be thick enough to do that job even if folded up five times, but they are dandy for allergy season and winter head colds. Not as bright and colorful as your project, though!
 
Vera Stewart
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Hi Rachel,

I'll use them in public. I've used colourful hankies in public in the past and no one has ever commented.

Hmmm. Actually, I'll probably try not to use any hankies/tissues in public indoor spaces for awhile yet in case people think I've got the covid. :D
 
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I use homemade cloth hankies most of the time. Our house cools off at night most of the year, so I use a fitted flannel sheet on the bed. I noticed that the top would wear out, but there was a strip of decent material on the part of the sheet that was the "side" of the bed and tucked under. I got frustrated with how useless most commercial fabric napkins were, and decided to make some out of this strip of fabric - they are awesome, but too big for a hanky. The next time I had a similar strip, I made hankies out of it. They're soft, wash easily and are absorbent.

I admit that I'm pretty good with my machine and with my iron, but I'm really glad to see you tackle this project, complete it, and put them to use. If the fabric is cotton and you come down with a disease that's really dangerous, after a regular wash, I would boil the hankies in a pot of water to be safe. Most of the time, just drying them in the sunshine will kill lingering bugs.
 
pollinator
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I've been using pieces of old sheet for a few years.
I don't even sew the edges.
I do like the idea of using  parts from a flannel sheet.
I'm going to switch to that.
 
Rusticator
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I love my flannel hankies. I made some bowl cozies, a few years back, with flannel sheets and diaper flannel, and used the smaller scraps for 'family cloths' and the bigger ones, for hankies. So nice, on the nose!
 
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Lovely!! Yay for hankies.
I lived for a while in Japan, where you always had a hanky on you because bathrooms didn't have paper towels, you got sweaty, you might need a napkin for lunch, etc, and everyone carried them. I and my family use them to this day.
Lately I buy 100% cotton bandanas by the dozen, and repurpose them when they're worn out (I made masks out of old bandanas), but when I have some nice cloth I want to keep using (like your t-shirt) I do exactly what you did. Three cheers for un-garbage!
 
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