Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Butterfly wall-hangings

A very dear friend of mine is trying to downsize a bit. She and her husband moved into her parent's home just after they passed away, so she inherited many of their "goodies". As well, she and her husband farmed for many years, and that always seems to end up making a collector out of you (ask me how I know!)
One day she showed me boxes of dainty lady's handkerchiefs that had been given to her mother for various occasions. The handkerchiefs were still pinned into their original boxes, and she estimated that some of them were at least 90 years old! She had no idea of what to do with them - she didn't think that any of the local "thrift" shops would appreciate them, so donating them wouldn't be an option. I have seen several craft ideas incorporating hankies, so I showed her a few pictures, and the crafting began. She has a daughter, daughter-in-law, and 2 grand-daughters.
The idea was to fold the hankies, then stitch them onto backing fabric so that the hankies looked like butterflies. That was the easy part! I finally ended up stitching fabric strips around the blocks, using colours that closely matched the variegated threads I'd used to stitch the hankies in place; then I bordered each block in brown to simulate windows. I added 4 hanging loops at the top, and the 4 women received their wall-hangings for Christmas! Brightly-coloured handerchiefs work a little better, but each one seems to have it's own personality.
Here's one of the wall-hangings:

3 comments:

  1. What a great idea!! I love stuff like this. =)

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  2. Beautiful Jannette..and how clever! They make the keepsake all the more special.

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  3. What a lovely way to display those treasured handkerchiefs!

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