Vintage Handkerchiefs

Hello Friends!

Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

Happy New Year!

I am not going to write much today, I am feeling rather lazy having greedily devoured a surfeit of chocolate which now forms a large part of my blood group.  I am still not sure what day of the week it is, feeling as if it is the eighth or ninth Saturday since Christmas.  The days seem to run into one and I shall be glad when normality, whatever that is, returns on Monday.

The chocolate is eaten; the cheese is all gone.  Please send reinforcements, we're going to a dance. Or is that "send three and fourpence, we're going to advance"?  Can we survive without chocolate until Easter?  But wait, there's Valentine's Day soon, but is it soon enough?  I think the chocolate withdrawal is getting to me.

Recently, I found a box full of handkerchiefs, vintage ones, so really lovely things to look at.  Some have patterns woven in to the fabric {see the green check one, at the bottom} others have beautiful embroidery, drawn thread work, or lace adornments.   One is worked in cross stitch, and the back is almost as meticulous as the front {as good embroidery should be!}

I am laundering all I have found and thinking of what use I can make of them.  Some are far too delicate to use now, so I must find a way of preserving them.  Others, such as the green check one, are fine and sturdy so can be put to their intended purpose; there is something genteel about an embroidered, cotton handkerchief, and I do so like to use a proper handkerchief, relics of a bygone age and saving the planet one sneeze at a time.

Until next time
Deborah xo

Pretty Vintage Handkerchiefs

Hello Friends!

It is a heart wrenching task sorting through the possessions of my dearly loved and much missed mother.  These are the days when you see everything in a new and different light, and all things become special treasures as you lovingly, carefully, and slowly sift through a lifetime of love and happy memories and come across some exceptionally pretty, lovely things.  Who would have guessed that the ordinary, quite unremarkable box, long forgotten in the back of the wardrobe would contain over a hundred beautiful vintage handkerchiefs?

I have carefully washed, and lovingly pressed them all. and taken photographs of some of them. I have yet to decide what to do with so many! I use real handkerchiefs every day. I only use paper ones if I am suffering with a particularly contagious cold virus.

There are all sorts here, from beautifully hand embroidered vintage and antique ones; some with fine, drawn thread work; lace embellished ones; some of the sort we would receive at Christmas in the 1960's from an elderly aunt, three in a box. Some are plain; others printed. Why, there is even a commemorative royal handkerchief with the young princesses Elizabeth and Margaret on.  They are all lovely. They are all old. They are all treasured. Some are already put to use for their intended purpose, while the more delicate ones will be carefully preserved, maybe used in shadow boxes with some of my vintage and antique buttons, ribbons and lace.  All the while, I shall wonder, I shall ponder upon to whom they may have belonged and how such a collection came to my mother.

Here are a few of my favourites.

I have always enjoyed using a proper handkerchief, and I still choose real linen or cotton over paper ones daily. I keep a handkerchief in every pocket, for I love pulling out a special, prettily patterned or embroidered piece of fabric to daintily wipe away a tear or a sniffle, or even to remove that smidgeon of chocolate that escapes being eaten. There's something quite special, a nod to a more genteel, refined and less throwaway age. Oh, but I have some heartily man size handkerchiefs too, for colds and serious sniffles and hay fever season!  Some of these vintage lovelies have already found their way into my personal selection for use.  Do you still use real handkerchiefs?

Until next time
Deborah xo