Super Bowl 50 Bronco Hanky Dresses For Sale

I like to say there is a Hanky Dress for every season and a Hanky Dress for every reason.

Living in Colorado I am, most heartedly, a Broncos fan and I made these two Hanky Dresses specifically for that reason!

Now, you may be asking, “What on earth is a Hanky Dress.” Well, I am going to tell you what on earth a Hanky Dress is. It is a piece of art created from grandma’s treasured vintage hanky. I take grandma’s hankies and fold them into the shape of a dress in various styles. Then I carefully stitch and embellish each one and hang it on a little handmade hanger that I coerce my husband to make for me. Each hanger must be made to fit each dress and must meet my rigorous standards. From time to time I find it necessary to reject a hanger. And, I can tell you when that happens, it does not make for a happy home around here.

I’ve done this with wedding hankies, Christmas hankies, Valentine hankies, fancy hankies…polka-dotted, plaid, and plain hankies. The fact is, these hankies have memories attached to them. Some were so precious they were never used. They had been tucked away in a drawer for safe keeping, while others were faded and worn. Some had even been passed down from generation to generation. They were childhood hankies and lover’s hankies. Many might be considered quite ordinary and every day, but they all had one thing in common. They reminded my customers of someone they loved.

Super Bowl 50 will happen only once. This is my way of commemorating the event. I have used two vintage 1950’s Burmel linen hankies with hand rolled white hems to create these very special Hanky Dresses. They are embellished with vintage rickrack and buttons from the same era and measure approximately 11-12 inches shoulder to hem. These hankies are most likely of the never used variety that I spoke of earlier. I can tell because the colors are vividly bright and the linen is nice and crisp.

Surely, there is some philanthropic millionaire out there who would like to own these and give my little Hanky Dress business a boost. Available online through my Hanky Dresses Etsy Shop. If you happen to live in Denver, they can be viewed in person at Frame It located at Broadway and Ridge Road in Littleton.

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Super Bowl 50 Bronco Hanky Dresses - The Hanky Dress Lady 

I Have a Treasured Hanky - Part 3 - Look What Susie Did

This is picture of Susie's kitchen and where she hung her other Hanky Dresses I made for her. 

I think that is just the sweetest idea she came up with!  And notice that unique piece of trim above her doorway.

Pictured here is Susie with her granddaughter Chandler and daughter in law Jami. They are just two of her crafting and baking "partners in crime." She has two other granddaughters, Macie and Hanna, who join her in her these adventures, as well. Susie is a retired professional baker and has traveled to Paris to for lessons. While there she enjoys visiting Paris street markets too. (I secretly want to stow away with you next time.)

Susie made these bags from fabric scraps and vintage hankies. The fringe on the bags and the rug were made from damaged hankies.





The rugs she makes are an old style that originally was created with 2-inch strips of fabric woven with an old toothbrush cut off at the brush end and filed to a point at the other end. The fabric strips are threaded through the hole and worked in a fashion similar to how you do a buttonhole stitch. There are several variations on this theme.







So creative! 

I just love that rug.  

Thanks so much for sharing with us.

I Have a Treasured Hanky – Part Two

This Hanky Dress was made from an antique silk and lace handkerchief. I remember my joy when I first saw it. The lace is very fine and delicate. The silk is a lovely pale green and the lace is cream. There are places where it has been repaired and I could see that the thread used for the repair was larger than the thread that was used to originally stitch the handkerchief together. In the past, thread was made really fine so I knew this was quite old. I had guessed at least 1920's. And now we know that it was likely older.

The handkerchief was given to Susie by her cousin Cindy who told Susie that the hanky had belonged to her great grandmother. Cindy remembered hearing that it was from England or Ireland; maybe, something that was brought over when they immigrated. She said it had always been treasured by her family.

I do not usually work with silk hankies because they are too soft; however this one had such a beautiful wide lace border that I thought I just might be able to make it work. Furthermore, I have never made a dress with this configuration of folds and I really don’t know that I could ever do it again. It all just sort of fell into place.

Susie had a grand plan for this dress….she wanted to surprise Cindy and give it to her for Christmas. Susie has since let me know that Cindy was surprised and pleased with her gift, but, Cindy told her that she should really be the one to have it because of her love of things old. The two haven't seen each other since they were young and hope to get together this spring or summer.

Here are a couple of close-up pictures of the handkerchief.

I Have a Treasured Hanky

This is what Susie said when she contacted me last September to ask me if I do custom work?”

Wow! Did she ever have a treasured hanky…several treasured hankies, as a matter of fact. I am only going to share the first two with you in this blog post because they are so special.

This is a simply splendid example of a Madeira embroidered handkerchief. Just look at the detail in this handkerchief!

It was given to her by her Japanese mother-in-law in 1968 when she and her husband were married and she thinks it may have been made in China in the 1940’s to 50’s.

Here is the dress I made for her.

And...this second hanky was given to her by her best friend who said, "Here, this is old, you'll like it!" Ha! Ha! Yes it is old. My research would indicate that this is a fine example of punchwork from around 1920. This was a technique commonly used for wedding handkerchiefs.

You will notice this dress is made a little differently. Each of my Hanky Dresses is created to show off the handkerchief to its best advantage.

Second Hanky Dress I made for Susie