More Hanky Panky

I finished this hanky for my friend's daughter who is getting married in a few weeks. The edging is in natural silk to match the silk shawl she will wear.

The hanky blank is hemstitched: it has holes stitched all around the hem, making it easy to add edging.

The pattern is from an old crochet book. It was designed as a fancy doily edging, but my friend wanted something dramatic, scalloped and elegant, and this fit the criteria.

I had to do a little calculating to make the edging fit this smaller square piece.

I used a size 6 steel crochet needle and the fine Henry's Attic undyed two-ply silk. The silk is fine enough to use with this hanky. However, even finer cotton cordonnet (size 30 or finer) would be a more traditional medium.

For blocking, I washed the hanky in cool water with a drop of soap and then rinsed. I anchored each hanky corner in place on my blocking board with pins and pinned out every single little picot point.

After letting it dry completely overnight, I unpinned it, gave it a light spray starch and steam ironed it gently. I also steamed in the quarter folds to make it lay nicely.

Before storing, it's a good idea to repeat the blocking process but omit the starch, as it would cause yellowing with age.

I was certainly channeling my great grandmother while I was making this!