Heirloom Hankies Pillow
By Debbie Cook
Recently, I signed up at my local Viking store for
a class on heirloom techniques. The class project was to make a
Christmas stocking using patches of our newly-learned heirloom techniques.
Well, I have a house full of men and boys and while this stocking
was quite beautiful, I knew it would never fit in with the men.
It was then I remembered that for years my mother
has kept a collection of hankies in her dresser drawer. These hankies
are beautiful works of art from the hands of her beloved grandmother
(my great-grandmother) Emma Zahnleuter, who passed away many years
ago. If I could get my mom to send me some of these hankies, I knew
I had the beginnings of a nice memorial project and a way for mom
to display those lovely hankies instead of keeping them hidden in
a drawer.
There really aren't formal instructions for this pillow,
but I'll outline what I did and maybe you can apply them to your
own collection of heirloom linens.
SUPPLIES:
5 to 10 hand-worked hankies or other heirloom linens
2 squares of white muslin, 20" x 20" each
cotton batiste (I used about 1/4 yd of ecru batiste to create "filler"
patches)
1/2 to 1 yd coordinating fabric for pillow back and/or bias cording
strips
2-3 spools Ecru light-weight cotton thread for the top and bobbin
Various lengths of cotton insertion and edging lace (Dye in tea
or coffee + 1 tbl white vinegar to "antique")
Cotton batting, about 20" x 20"
Embroidery thread (I used ecru, but the sky is the limit)
Heavy spray starch
Water soluable stablizer, as needed (you will tear away dry, not
wet)
Pins
TOOLS: (not required, but handy)
Rotary Cutter, Mat, and Clear Ruler
Purple Air Erase Marker or Non-white Chalk
10-15 Safety Pins or Quilter's Bent Safety Pins
Edge Joining Foot
Open Toe Foot
Edge Stitching Foot
Gathering Foot
Pintuck Foot
To begin, each hankie and the batiste must be heavily,
HEAVILY starched. To do this, spray the fabric with the spray starch
until it is saturated through and through. Lay it on a press cloth
and cover with a second press cloth and then press with a hot, dry
iron until it is dry. Be careful not to linger in one spot too long
so you do not scorch the fabric. Repeat this starching and pressing
process about 3 or 4 times. You want these hankies to be as stiff
as cardboard!
Now you will need to decide on placement. Lay one
muslin square on your working surface and then arrange the hankies
and lace on top of the muslin. There is no set-in-stone method for
this, so rely on your creative eye. If you have a space where a
hankie just won't work, that's the time to contribute your own piece
of "history" to this project. Use the batiste to create patches
of double-needle pintucks, wing needle entredeaux, puffing, etc.
They will blend right in with the antiques and add a nice bit of
texture to the pillow.
I had a pattern from Janice Henning that I used as
a basis for my arrangement. (Thanks Janice!) I placed it under my
muslin foundation and was able to see through the muslin to the
pattern. Below is my version of Jan's pattern, drawn to scale. One
square = One inch
To my eye, the most pleasing layout was one with many
similar angles. In other words, all lines in the pattern that run
in the same direction are parallel. But, as you can see in the photo
below, what works in theory doesn't always work in practice. Some
of the hankies had appliqued edges that ran outside the pattern
lines. Some were not exactly square after all these years. So, the
message here is to not overly worry about exact placement. Your
pattern will be a guide only. It will help you keep track of where
you are and will help to plan where to put things, but chances are
it won't be an exact science. As I arranged the hankies, I made
notes on the pattern paper so that I could reconstruct my layout
as I went along.
Now you're ready to do what for me was the hardest
part of this project -- CUT THE FIRST HANKIE!! If you're like me,
you may feel a little funny cutting those beautiful antique linens.
But, when I finally realized that the hankies would still be loved
since I was creating a new heirloom, and they certainly wouldn't
be stashed away in my mom's drawer anymore, I got up the courage
to make the first cut. After that, it was a whole lot easier. I
also made sure to cut away only what I needed for this pillow and
now I have a nice bag of embroidered corners, edges, and crisp linen
"scraps" for the pillow my sister now has requested after seeing
this first one for mom.
Decide which hankie will be at the center-most point
of the pillow. (It's the "P" hankie in my photo.) This will be your
starting piece. Next, lay your clear ruler over top of the hankie
with the layout guide still in place and visible underneath. Align
the 1/4" mark of your ruler with the pattern line so that you'll
actually be cutting the hankie with a 1/4" inch seam allowance.
Mark a widely-spaced dotted line along that edge and then repeat
to make cutting marks for the other edges of the hankie to be cut.
Move the hankie to your cutting mat. Realign the ruler with that
dotted line and make your cut. If necessary, make a note on the
layout guide noting where this newly cut hankie piece belongs.
Use heirloom stitching techniques such as your built-in
pin stitch or entredeaux stitch (with a wing needle) or narrow zig
zag stitch to join lace to one or more sides of the cut hankie piece,
or lay two hankies pieces right sides together and stitch with a
1/4" seam allowance. Click
HERE
and pick "Heirloom" from the dropdown list for great instructions
on heirloom techniques. As a fairly new sewist, I kept returning
to this website for quick pointers and ideas. (When you're finished
with your pillow, go back to this site and click on the other categories
for lots of good sewing tips.)
If, like me, you have hankies with appliques that
run off the edges, lay the applique edge over top of the next hankie
piece and attach using a narrow satin stitch which follows the applique
edge. This is where your imagination comes into play. There is no
right way and wrong way to join up the hankies, laces, and other
insertions. Be confident that it will look beautiful when it's finished,
even though you may not think so along the way!
Work in a clockwise circular pattern around that first
center hankie piece, using the cutting method above to make your
hankie patches. Don't forget to add in your own patch creations
so that a piece of you is also added to this new heirloom! When
you get to the patches that will form the outside edge, leave at
least a 1/2" seam allowance for the outside edge although at this
point, it's actually better to leave as much overhang as possible
for when you square up the pillow top.
The next step is to create a "quilt sandwich." Do
this by first laying down one muslin square, then the batting square,
then the other muslin square and finally your hankie patchwork centered
on top, with the right side facing out. Pin the "sandwich" together
using 10-15 quilter's or safety pins.
Now, snap on the open toe foot, thread your machine
with the embroidery thread (keep the cotton in the bobbin) and use
those wonderful built-in decorative stitches to add interest to
the pillow top either by stitching over seam lines or just randomly.
You will be stitching through a thick sandwich of fabric and batting,
so go slower than usual. During this step, I lowered the feed dogs
and did a bit of free motion quilting on one of the blank areas
of a hankie and was rather pleased with the results. If you've never
tried it, now's the time!
The last step in creating the pillow top is to square
it up using your ruler, cutting mat and rotary cutter. The finished
pillow top will measure 16" x 16" before you attach it to the pillow
back, using 1/2" seam allowances.
NOTE: This will create a 15" square pillow.
Most pillow forms run in even sizes, i.e., 14", 16", 18", etc. I
found this out AFTER I had already finished the pillow! I decided
to chance it and bought a 16" goose down pillow form. It fit perfectly!
I also added a handfull of loose batting to each corner to fluff
them up a bit.
Now that you've got the pillow top all squared and
ready to go, use your usual method for making a pillow. You can
choose to have a ruffle or self-cording as I did, using bias strips,
or something else entirely. My pillow back is the same fabric you
see in my photo for the cording and has a pillow-sham opening because
I didn't think a zipper belonged on this project and I really don't
like to handstitch. Click HERE
for links to pillow-making instructions.
Now, go dig those hankies out of those dresser drawers
and start creating!
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