Last summer my sister had a baby, this little angel who I have yet to meet. At her baby shower last summer I had wanted to give her something handmade but ran out of time before we left to visit her to make anything.
I wanted to make something unique for her, but was stumped for a while. I remembered that I saw this project in the Martha Stewart Sewing Book a year ago and knew I wanted to make one.
Last month I posted about this pile of vintage hankies that I picked up at the Country Living fair, and boy did I get alot of emails about them! I guess I really peaked your curiosity about what I did with them.
So to end the suspense, here’s the project, a vintage hankies baby quilt. It’s incredibly soft, totally one of a kind and perfect for little ones to snuggle up in! Especially since I backed it in super soft chenille (which I should have washed before I quilted it, live and learn).
I’m very happy with how it turned out. It’s 12 9″x9″ blocks. I’ll share with you a little about how I made it.
Here you can see some of the vintage hankies up close. I fell in love with so many of them. Such cute colors and prints.
When I bought them (they were $1.50 a piece) I went though a big “pile” of hankies, I looked for ones that were red or turquoise, to hopefully tie the colors of the quilt together.
I love this one! (the center turquoise one) Such a pretty floral, someone please make a fabric like that! Then send me a sample for giving you the idea HA!
Okay to make the quilt…
You need to get all of your hankies the same size. To do this you either need to trim them down OR sew them on top of another fabric.
Most of my hankies were about 9″ -10″ square. I knew that I needed to trim off the hem on the edge (it would get too bulky), but I could not figure out what to do with the 3 6″ hankies that I had. Then I realized that I had some Anna Maria Voile in my stash. It was perfect, it is close to the same weight as the hankies so it would not give the quilt an uneven feel.
So I cut the voile to 9″ square then sewed the smaller hankie to the top to make the block. The smaller hankie I left the hem ON. I didn’t want it to fray, I just sewed right on top of the existing stitching line.
To finish it, I just sewed 3 across by 4 rows. Each with a 1/4″ seam and pressed the seams to one side.
It had Quilters Dream cotton as the batting and a white chenille for the backing (which was NOT hard to quilt on at all)
I just did a simple “stitch in the ditch” to quilt it together. I didn’t want any stitching lines to detract from the hankies.
It’s bound with white jelly roll strips.
Before I gave it to her I washed it (I like to wash most of the baby gifts, I think it makes them softer), and the chenille frayed off an stuck to the front of the quilt. After a washing or two this will stop, but in hindsight I would have pre-washed the chenille first.
That’s it! Isn’t she a beauty??? I can’t wait til I get to meet her.
Linking up..
That quilt is beautiful and timeless. It will be a family heirloom I am sure. And yes, she is a beauty, those eyes!
My grandmother recently tried to give me a bunch of similar hankies, and as beautiful as they are, I couldn’t take them because I didn’t know what to do with him. This is a GREAT idea! Thanks for the inspiration!
What a great idea! It turned out beautifully. Your niece is a treasure.
My friend Karrieann made a kitchen curtain with hankies
http://karrieann-followingmyheartandjesus.blogspot.com/2010/11/finally-my-dream-kitchen-curtains.html
Love the quilt!
Perfect! Both quilt and baby! Such a fun idea for repurposing. I wish I had access to such fun hankies.
She is a beauty, and what a special quilt. I’m sure it will be treasured for years to come. BTW, I have also learned the same lesson with chenille. :)
Lovely quilt and adorable neice! What a special gift.
Thanks so much for this! I was handed down a bag of vintage hankies and napkins. Good idea!
we LOVE it. soft as butter!
This is so wonderful Melissa! I love it!
The quilt is lovely but I gotta say its nothing compared to that darling baby!
Love it, Melissa. It’s beautiful and so is your new little niece!
Cute baby and cute quilt. Great idea!
so so pretty! I have some vintage hankies of my mom’s and grandma’s, but I’m saving them up and can hopefully make a little collection. This is such a great way to put them to use! :)
That is awesome! I would love for you to come link up at my Strut Your Stuff Linky Party!
http://danajeanward.blogspot.com/2010/11/strut-your-stuff-party.html
too funny! I just wrote on my blog about vintage hankies, and here I see you have made a blanket! Well done too :) I have so often wanted to make one of these myself.
This is one of the best ideas that i have seen in a really long time. I have piles of vintage hankies that belonged to my grandma. Thanks for the inspiration. Your blog is awesome.
Darling! I love it!
[...] fabric. Most of my hankies were about 9″ -10″ … … View original post here: Vintage Hankies Quilt – The Polkadot ChairThe Polkadot Chair ← Fat Quarter Baby Dress & Quilt – the Polkadot [...]
I have my grandmothers hankies. I guess there are at least 30 of them. All sizes and colors. I plan on making a quilt with them. That is if my daughter ever has kids (she’s 32 and engaged).
How lucky you are to have all those hankies!! I hope you get a grandchild soon LOL!!!
My mother gave me her old hankies. So I made them into a quilt for her. Only one year befor she passed away. Two of her great grandaughter now share the quilt. Need to make one more. They are so nice, will stay in the family for a long time. Also made a nice lable for it.
I just saw this quilt, along with your burp cloths made with the vintage hankies. I loved them! I have been collecting hankies for years, and some have been passed down from my Grandmother. I loved the pairing of White Chenille that you used for the backing of this quilt, I have been looking for just the right fabric to back one with. I agree with you on using stitch in the ditch as to not to detract from your hankies. Again thanks for great ideas. When I finish mine, I will send you a picture.
I would love that! I hope you enjoy making your quilt!
When my grandma moved into a nursing home because of Alzheimer’s, I was given a box of hankies. I found out that she was in an exchange back in the 1940′s and 1950′s. There are hankies from all over the US. Most of them have the name and city, state of the lady that sent them to her. There is even 2 from Paris, France from the 1920′s. I have tried to come up with something to do with them besides just sitting in a box. This may just be the thing. Maybe not a baby quilt per se, but possibly a quilt to hang that displays the hankies.
What a treasure!! That is an amazing keepsake to have of your grandmother. The hankies sound beautiful from what you’ve described. Have you thought of framing the hankies? I’ve seen that done before and they are beautiful hung on the wall.
I was looking for a way to make a hankie quilt for are newest to be grandbaby due AUG. looks like I can do this been saving hankies thanks for the ideal yours look great
Thank you. My niece is now 3 and still uses that quilt.
I love this little quilt. It makes me want to raid my sister’s collection of antique hankies and run to my machine…Sadly, s
he would object to me taking them.
Ha! I can’t blame her- I hoard vintage hankies myself :)
Question – when you backed some of the hankies with the printed voile, did the print of the voile show through? If it did, did it matter? Some old hankies are very thin, as you know. Hope you can help me. Thanks
Yes, On some of them, but it wasn’t enough to be very noticeable or bothersome to me. I tried to pick voile fabric that was close in design to my hankies in case it did show through.
Melissa – thank you so much for your response. I should have come to you first!!! It would have saved me so much time on searching. I will look for some voile now and begin. Wish me luck!! Laurie
Love it! I have a huge pile of hankies that were my grandmothers and great-aunts and I have been wanting to make them into a quilt. I didn’t want quilt lines in them and that has been detouring me. 9 inches seems big are to not quilt, have you had any problems with the batting shifting-or does that kind not do that?
I gave the quilt to my niece and I have not heard from my sister that it is a problem. I think you could research the batting a bit, I’ve made several quilts with 9″ blocks that are only stitch in the ditch quilted and not had any problems with batting ever bunching up. I always use 100% cotton batting, usually quilters dream cotton.
Hope this helps!