Today is a great day because we get to hear from my sweet friend Bethany. She's at it again with some great ways to re-purpose beautiful vintage handkerchiefs and doilies. Yea for us!


I've had this stash of vintage handkerchiefs from my grandma for a long time & have been wanting to do something with them, besides letting them take up drawer space! All are in pristine condition & have such sweet detail on them. (I imagine that the ones that have embroidery on them were too good to use after the person spent time on the intricate handiwork!)


For the first project, a Hanky Table Runner, I simply choose five of my favorite hankies that were about the same size. I used hankies that were approximately 13.5" square. I ironed each hanky to make sure the edges were nice & flat, layed them out in the order I liked and then, using a 1/4" seam, simply sewed them edge to edge. I pressed the seams flat & voila! A pretty little table runner was born. Can't you just see this used on a table for a garden party or bridal shower?




The next two projects, I made hanky buntings. Using my rotary cutter, quilting ruler & mat, I simply cut various hankies in half. Using a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine & some white bias tape, I sewed each half of hanky along the bias tape.



For the second bunting, I cut various yellow & white hankies on the diagonal & stitched those to a length of yellow seam binding. These just shout summer tea party to me & wouldn't they look so pretty waving in a gentle breeze?




Since I was in bunting mode, I also made one by cutting doilies in half and sewing those to a heavy twill tape, again with zig zag stitch. I so appreciate the handiwork of vintage doilies & again, had a stash from Grandma's treasures that I wasn't sure what to do with - since doilies on the end tables aren't exactly my decorating style! I love how this gives me a little more modern way of displaying these beautiful vintage textiles.



Thanks, Bethany! Isn't she amazing? I wish I had that collection of vintage goodness. Lucky girl! Check out Bethany's blog, Ribbon, Glitter, & Glue, for more gorgeous ideas, including some great papercrafting inspiration (think cards and mini albums). I loooove her recent card post which includes cards made with the Earth Love line from Cosmo Cricket. (I just noticed some of the pieces of this line and other Cosmo lines are on sale here!)


And her winning page submission to Citrus Tree Studio's Sketch Challenge using the Thrift Shop line from October Afternoon (one of my all-time fave lines!).