Three Sisters

After acquiring dozens of old hankies from both my and my husband's families, I was tickled to read Carol Collett's Vintage Hankies article in the July 2008 American Quilter magazine. Now I could put all those "for show, not for blow" hankies to good use.

One definiton of vintage is "dating from the past, outmoded" (no longer current, not being in style). As applies to hankies, that's accurate. They're collector's items but of no practical current use. I, myself, am vintage (dating from the past) and perhaps also no longer current or in style. But, I and my old hankies will cling to another definition of vintage: "representing the high quality of a past time."

I am one of three sisters (and a brother) and decided to make small hankie quilts for us three sisters. At the center of each quilt is a photo of us ready for church in our Easter finery (as contrasted with the cutoffs and flip flops so prevalent at church now).

The label reads:

A detail view follows each quilt below. This is my quilt.


Hankies are a fine gauge fabric so it's necessary to use a white cotton foundation to keep the squares stable and opaque. You can see how transparent some of the hankies are. And how diverse--note the Valentine and Christmas holiday hankies.


This is Becky's quilt.


Some hankies came with lace (like the one here) while I added lace to other hankies.


This is Ruth's quilt.


This little yellow chick with a bonnet was my hankie "way back when."