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.
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| 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.
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| Second Hanky Dress I made for Susie |
You have turned her Wedding Gift into a gorgeous Wedding Dress! I marvel at your beautiful work.
ReplyDeleteThank you !
ReplyDeleteGorgeous! Both of them. What an honor to be entrusted with both these beautiful hankies.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wanda.
ReplyDeleteThe hankies are absolutely stunning! I can just imagine the time involved in creating them so many years ago. You've turned them into heirloom treasures - your hanky dresses are such a fun way to preserve precious hankies! Well done!
ReplyDeleteThank you....the best part is that the hanky is not damaged because the design is completely folded and hand sewn.
ReplyDeleteI saw your comment on my blog, and I do think that it is probably Swatow Embroidery based on your knowledge that it came from a Japanese mother in law. It is truly beautiful work and I think the other possibility is that it came from the Swiss Appenzell region. I too, have a hard time discerning, and what I try to look for is the feel of the linen used. Extremely fine linen batiste tended to be used from Switzerland. Regardless of where it was made, it would have taken the same hundreds of hours of a very skilled embroideress to execute such a complicated design. Ironically, the work supported poor farm families in either location, both struggling to make ends meet. The work you do with the hankies is amazing! I had an identical hanky to the second one that I sold on Ebay just a few months ago!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your reply. Susie will be so happy to learn more about her treasure. You have such a wonderful site. I was only able to scratch the surface and plan to come back as soon as time permits to delve deeper in to your information about antique handkerchiefs. To my followers - I recommend you stop by Antique Style to see for yourself.
ReplyDeleteHi Muriel. Do you remember the one you made for me from my great grandmother's Madeira lace? I look at it every day. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteHi Julie
ReplyDeleteHope you are well. In all honesty I sort of remembered...so I went to look it up and luckily I had filed the pictures properly. Yes - your's was a gorgeous hanky too! I never have gotten around to getting yours pictured on my blog. You had some wonderful hankies. Have you noticed the majority of my posts are in the middle of winter? I did you work in the summer, as I recall. Thanks so much for following.
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