Vintage Hankie Quilt Only Looks Difficult
This Beautiful Quilt Is So Quick and Simple to Make!
Sometimes an idea comes along that is so brilliant and yet so simple that you wonder why you didn’t think of it yourself. That’s the case with this lovely quilt made of vintage hankies.
We often see lovely old hankies in thrift stores and antique shops, and they’re always inexpensive. It shouldn’t take long to amass a collection to choose from for this project. Just be sure that the hankies you collect are in good shape, with no stains or fraying, or weakened fabric. You want them to hold up in the wash.
You can also buy vintage style hankies new from Amazon (check out Amazon’s hankie selection here).
Select several with colors that go together well and you’ll have the makings of an elegant quilt that is quick and easy, even for beginning quilters. Vary the size of the quilt to fit the number of hankies you want to use.
This version from Suzanne at Lake and Garden uses hankies with turquoise and pink. Each hankie is fused in the center of a square of white fabric, giving the quilt the look of sashing between squares.
The next step was carefully cutting two-sided Pellon to size, centering each hankie on its square of white sheeting, and then ironing it in place. Most of these hankies required detailed ironing because so many of them had elaborately cut edges. Once attached, I hand stitched around the edges of each hankie to be certain they would wash and wear without curling up or unpeeling.
A small closely spaced machine zig zag stitch would also work for securing the edges of the hankies.
Suzanne had her finished top quilted by a longarm quilter, but you can easily do simple machine quilting or hand quilt yours. The charm of this quilt is the hankies so the quilting doesn’t have to be extravagant, although it can be if you’re so inclined!
Be sure to read the comments at the bottom of that page for clarifying details.
