Hanky Primer #1: Antique Monogrammed Hankies

Photos are copyrighted and may not be used without my permission!

I've spent alot of time drifting on my blog--you get whatever is happening in my life.  However the purpose was to share my knowledge--or what I like about antiques.  First and foremost is my love of antique textiles.

Not many people understand my fascination with hankies--except other hanky lovers.  To me they are fine works of art on a 10" x 10" square of the finest linen.   To purchase a hanky with the same level of detailed hand-embroidery would cost you several hundred dollars today.

While hankies were made all over the world, my favorite workmanship are hankies made in Belgium, Switzerland and Madeira.

You don't have to be a hanky collector to appreciate a nice hanky.   The non-collector purchases a hanky most often for a gift--a bride being the number one recipient.  Brides often buy from me, and use the hankies as gifts or part of a gift basket for bridesmaids, in addition to using the hanky for "something old" and "something blue" if it has blue embroidery on it.

If you see a fabulous hanky damaged, make a sachet out of it.   Don't let the fine embroidery go to waste.

I've attempted to categorize hankies in a way that you'll understand and encourage you to spot a fine hanky.

Applique & Shadow-work Hankies

Madeira hankies must have invented the use of applique and shadow-work.  Applique is when they take a piece of fabric and stitch it on top of the hanky--hence "applique".   Shadowwork is when they put the fabric underneath, or stitch underneath, to create a "shadow" on top.  I don't think I've seen a Swiss hanky that has this.

The blue flowers are the applique-work on this hanky.
Note that the L is made up of embroidery and shadowwork, making a large monogram.

White version of the L hanky

Like the L hanky, the W below was made by the same manufacturer.

same hanky in pink

Below are some variations, possibly by the same manufacturer.

A variation of the L hanky

A pink variation of the B hanky above

Note the flowers are the same for the last 3 hankies compared to the earlier ones.

The embroidery on the hankies with the applique letter can become more elaborate.

Rather than applique, this hanky has the letter done in shadowwork and embroidery

Similar to the D above, only in white shadowwork

Don't forget to click on a photo if you want to see the enlargement.
This is another variation of a spring bouquet around the monogram.

 The hanky below is a real favorite of mine.  It has pale grey embroidery and a separate organdy flower with loose petals not attached to the hanky.  This design with the flower is a whole collecting category by itself--which I will share with you later.

Note the attached organdy flower on the corner.

Hankies can also have the letter be an applique, instead of embroidery

M hanky with a nice drawnwork hem, in a medallion of delicate stitching.  It has a 40's look to me.

Doesn't this hanky remind you of the 50's monogrammed sweater (the "L" on LaVerne's sweater?0

While this is simple, notice that the appliqued fabric is enhanced with embroidery

Below are some appliqued monograms that are more elaborate.  The K in this hanky has leaves that edge the hanky.  

The hanky below has the label "Madeira" and has some wonderful bellfowers accenting the somewhat modern-looking angular H.

The hanky below is an M done in a french script style.  I love the detailed embroider surrounding the M.

Click on photo for enlargement.  Notice the applique flower has some openwork, buratto I believe.

 Lastly, I'd like to share my favorite applique monogram, complete with embroidery and a lace edge.

Beautiful!

This next section of applique work shows applique flowers in combination with shadowwork and french style script monograms.

The bows are shadowwork, the R is french script in heavy padded satin stitch, with an applique flower in the corner.

Another example with applique flower in the corner.

Applique flowers in the corner

 The next group shows hankies with applique flowers surrounding the monogram--making more of a "medallion".

The applique flowers are a creamy satin - interesting texture.

One of those unusual hankies with the all-white applique.

I hardly ever see red in a monogram.  I love the contrasting grey stitching.  The flowers are applique.

Applique flowers make a medallion.

Unusual V Hanky--V's are hard to find.  White creamy applique flowers.

Simple medallion with one applique flower, shadowwork and embroidery.  I like the pink G monogram

The lavender monogram looks great, I think all these flowers are shadow-work.

Most of the shadow-work tends to be colored, although not always.  They are Madeira hankies, I don't think I've seen any good Made in China knock-offs. Below are two examples of P Monograms.

Below are more examples of shadow-work.  Don't forget to click and view a photo if you want to see an enlargement.

Simple shadow-work making up a medallion.

I totally love the brown embroidery. I can't seem to keep any of the blue, brown or grey in stock, everyone loves them for weddings.

I t

This hanky is unusual with the flowers on one side of the B monogram.  I love the applique and shadow-work flowers

The shadow-work bows are really sweet.  Great for a wedding hanky.

Another example with grey shadow-work, some cutwork and pale aqua contrasts beautifully.

I love the brown on this hanky!

Applique medallion with shadow-work leaves.  Great aqua blue embroidery

Isn't it interesting that they managed to have such a classy combination of grey complementing the pink!

Great wedding color, don't you think?

I love the shadow-work medallion on this monogram, plus a shadow-work edge on the hanky.  Beautiful!

Organdy Flowers

The hankies below are really special.  They have organdy flowers/ butterflies attached to create a 3-D effect.  The organdy is light and delicate.

Butterflies look like they landed on the hanky for the photo shoot!

Note the petals of the organdy flower are not attached.  Hanky has Madeira label.

Fabulous hanky with loose organdy leaves surrounding this R monogram.

Monogrammed Hankies - in a Circle Medallion

The hankies below are all hand embroidered with a french script style monogram, padded satin stitch.  There are various designs, all circular.

Shadow-work medallion of circles

Simple delicate blue embroidery makes an elegant statement

A bit of shadow-work, and wonderful Madeira flowers.

A small medallion of flowers and scrolls enhance this B

The C monogram is on an organdy insert, enhanced with the grey scroll embroidery.

A double row of padded satin stitch makes a great enhanced script monogram.  love the daisies, french knots and scrolls.

This is too cool!  I love the cicular design around the H!

Unusual D hanky with eyelit embroidery making a cicular medallion with pink embroidery

Another great pink/grey combination.  The french script R stands out in this circular medallion of scrolls.

A great hanky with cutwork border, lots of padded satin stitch and Madeira forget-me-nots.

Unusual find, a triple monogram hanky in a medallion of flowers and scrolls.

The next 4 hankies are still a circular medallion, but the monogram is not the heavy padded satin stitch--the monogram is done with embroidery making the letter wider.

This A monogram has a border with cutwork.

This monogram is a combination of padded satin stitch and embroidered fields filled with tiny french knots.

This F monogram is great--I love the double circle of embroidery.  Notice the detailed embroidery  on the bell flowers.

The bright blue monogram combined with the white embroidery really makes the monogram jump off the  hanky.

The two hankies below I've owned years apart.  They are the same, made to look like a rose petal, with the outer leaves out of organdy.  Beautiful!

Great W monogram

M Monogram with organdy leaves inserted and cut out to make them sheer.

Organdy medallion, cutwork on the border, shadow-work bows and flowers.

Square and Oval Medallions

Square R Medallion, original label.

Probably my favorite "square" medallion.

The next 11 hankies are monograms surrounded by a heavy square of embroidery.  I have noticed there is a distinct style of hanky that is filled with scrolls and flowers.  It is likely the same manufacturer.

Looks very much like Victorian Whitework embroidery

Talk about scarce, an "I" monogram.

This is one with the scrolled embroidery I was talking about.

Has some shadow-work leaves

Distinctive Madeira forget-me-not flowers surrouning this F monogram

Another heavy whitework Victorian hanky

Scrolls and flowers make up the medallion

Unusual green F monogram

I can't resist the field of flowers on this hanky!

Hankies with Double-Wide Monogrammed Letters

Some of these hankies don't have huge monograms, but the embroidery on the lettering is extra detailed.  Some of them are two-color, for a shadow effect, and others are letters filled with embroidery.

Hanky reeks with quality embroidery.  OK, reeks is not a good word, but you get the drift.

Wonderful French style script monogram.

The embroidery is delicate on this hanky, but has a wonderful effect with the bouqet.

OK, I threw this in as a  test.  This hanky is NOT hand-embroidered.  It is NOT antique, err, at least by my standards.  It's still not bad for a machine made hanky. Check it out, you need to know how to tell the difference!

Can you see the quality difference in this hanky vs. the last one?   This one is a fabulous hand-embroidered hanky.

Another unusual hand-embroidered hanky.  It is not Madeira, but still wonderful!

Your red Christmas "I" Hanky.  Wonderful!

The double lines of the R add to the graceful look of the monogram.  The ribbon intertwined with flowers is unusual.

There are 3 colors of embroidery.  Doesn't it add to the beauty of this hanky!

Simple forget-me-nots enhance this monogram.

The colored embroidery is extremely high quality--look at it closely!

All white embroidery, tiny french knots inside the monogram.

Great looking whitework!

Go back and check out a B hanky earlier in the post.   Very similar to this one.

This was as 13" hanky, huge, wonderful embroidery!  Open cutwork in the monogram.

I think that the previous W hanky was made by the same manufacturer.  The grey pencil lines underneath the embroidery suggest that it may have been made in China.  At least that's what I think when I see them.

Great blue ribbon border with those Madeira forget-me-not flowers .   The H is a french script  double-wide on the right.

I love the detail on this hanky.  Great design.

The green embroidery is a very unusual find!

Check out the quality on this hanky--isn't it wonderful!   I don't think I've come across a pink lawn hanky.

OK, another test.  this is a machine made hanky.  The colors were fun so it got purchased.

This is an English Victorian Whitework  Hanky.  

Looks like a design from the 50's or 60's.  Still great.  The embroidery is an extremely fine quality.

This blog is so big, I'll continue this later with Hanky Primer #2.   So what is your favorite hanky that I've shown today?  


Here are the links to all of my hanky articles:
Hanky Primer #1 Monogrammed Hankies
Hanky Primer #2 More Monogrammed Hankies
Hanky Primer #3 Embroidered & Petitpoint Hankies
Hanky Primer #4 Appenzell & Appenzell Style Hankies

You can find me from time to time selling antique linens on Ebay: antique-monograms-- I need to share some of my fabulous finds, I don't have room for more!

Have a Seat!

I've always liked interesting antique chairs.  They can be tucked anywhere and have more functions than just seating.  I have to say that--because most antique chairs are small, and may work better for stacking books than sitting.

The first chair that ever caught my eye was when I was a teenager.  (check back, I'll add the photo next week) It is a hall chair, and part of a set with a desk and a second chair.  My dad and I bought it at a Ventura County swap-meet, and my mom was MAD when we brought home that "junk".

The first chair that I purchased on my own at an estate sale was a corner chair.  Well, actually, it was round.  I liked it because it is hand-made.  I know it is probably edwardian, but the interesting part is that is was handmade probably at home by someone.  The reason I say that is that the design to the left and right of the center splat is not symmetrical.  What's not to love about a chair with a heart?

The next chair that made it home with me was one of those that makes my husband roll his eyes and say "what were you thinking?".  This one I liked because of the inlaid work.  When people ask me what I collect, I say I collect antique object that demonstrates craftmanship.

Hubby didn't like the chair--it's rickety, and has had the back broken off and reglued (poorly).  However, a doll usually sits on the chair, so it's not a problem.

Closeup of the marquetry

I then went a bit country.  The chair below is a ball and stick Victorian chair with a cane seat.

The next country chair was a pair of grain-painted chairs with the manufacturer printed on the back of the chair seat:  W.Corey, Portland, ME.  They were done in the 1850's, painted grain to look like rosewood.  It has a ribbon of gold painted on the chair.  

I had these recaned as they were broken. They were hand-caned, rather than the sheet caning.  I was told that the caning darkens with age, but I'm afraid I don't have enough years to wait.  The problem with staining is that as the chair sags, the unstained cane shows.  Why don't they stain the cane before they weave it?

The chair above is definitely my venture in the American furniture.  I love the eagle painted on the back.   It's pretty rickety, I should have it tightened.  

I keep finding chairs that have inlay.  The chair below is a wonderful sturdy chair with original horsehair stuffing.  I put a red silk on it, love it!

Note the mother-of-pearl center, and the flowers.  I loved the simple design of the back.


I saw this chair at an antique show.  It is probably 1900-1920. It is an Adam style shield-back chair.


I love the swags of handpainted flowers.



I have a pair of these chairs.   They have really tall backs.  The upholstery is needlepoint.  I'm a bit puzzled about the age of the chairs.  They are an old style that you see at auction, but the needlepoint is later.  However someone worked very hard to make the needlepoint for these chairs--the upholstery is well done.

In 2009, I picked up the cutest hall chair at Hillsborough, it has a squirrel on the back.

I apologize for the photos.  I don't seem to take good ones.  I'll try to upgrade these.  Back to the chair, isn't it whimsical with the squirrel!

So why did I write this article?  This weekend I picked up a dutch queen anne chair with marquetry that has a turtle in the back splat.

This little turtle had to come home with me.  After finding the rabbit chair, it seemed like a good excuse to get the turtle chair.  

Do you have a favorite antique chair?

Antiquing at Expo!

I'm delighted to have enough time for myself to do some antiquing - FINALLY!  Today was a fun day, and I purchased a few things.

First thing in the door, I found this punch bowl by Doulton.  It is early, and HUGE!  it is 18" across, very hard to find in this size.  Most of the punchbowls are 14".  I always try to find things that are exceptional in a collecting field, and I think this is one.  I don't collect Doulton, but thought it would set the right tone for a room with some hunt prints in it.  It is a more homey feel than the cut glass bowl in the background.  I've had 3 huge punchbowls in cut glass, and they definitely are a formal feel.

I'd like to point out that if you're purchasing something that you don't know anything about, it helps to purchase from a reputable dealer who stands behind their merchandise.

One dealer had a few great little boxes.   I collect boxes to display in a vitrine.  I know some people would put fancy porcelain boxes in it, but I like plain old paper boxes.  Match boxes, sewing needle boxes, litho boxes, etc.

Box has glass top, and matches stored in each corner.  Isn't it cool!

Tattered, but fun match box

Some miscellaneous items.  The metal tassels are curtain tiebacks!  Love it.  The little litho is french, and I like to find odd little framed items to tuck in bookcases.  There were some great Madeira napkins with grapes.  They took forever to find--there was a bargain box of linen I had to dig through to find all 8, took me half an hour.  I spent the time because it's hard to find GOOD Madeira embroidery.

The "D" monogrammed hanky is a man's hanky.  I have sold alot of men's hankies on Ebay for weddings.  It makes that rented tux look extra special....

The french litho photo was sort of fun, but I purchased it for the frame.  I have alot of embroidery and am always on the prowl for period frames to drop them into.  In fact, this show had another.

This is a birds-eye maple frame.  I've even had them cut down to fit my current project.    Both pictures are period prints, you can see the backs are undisturbed.  I just don't happen to plan on using either one.

There were a couple of items I contemplated but didn't purchase.   

Saturday's Finds:

My two favorite pieces for today are:

The top is a petit-point embroidery with a Gumps label on the back.  The bottom is a hanky holder monogrammed on fine french net lace.  My last name begins with H, so I don't know if this will ever wind up on the for sale pile.

I always hunt for hankies.  I used to sell quite alot on Ebay.  Monograms and lace hankies are my weakness.

 So I found quite a few.  Not exactly a ton of money to be made, but I mainly purchase items that I think are nice looking, high quality embroidery.

Some other items I found:  A transferware plate in Mulberry.  I have a wall of plates and thought that the pelican would be amusing to see.  There were some wonderful embroidered hankies, a fabulous lace wedding hanky, and a cute set of cocktail napkins with girls.  I'll eventually put them on my website for sale.

Things that got away:  A round tablecloth with gilt metallic embroidery.  I didn't know if I liked the colors, so I passed on it.   There was a wonderful chest on stand with inlay work that I hesitated on--thought it might be way over the top for me.   

Here's an boar's head dated 1931 Germany.   It struck me as funny....my daughter said she'd marry a pig farmer when she was 6.

Til next time:  Happy antiquing!

Expectations...and Reality

I blogged last month that I ordered a wonderful lamp on One Kings Lane.  It arrived and was not the same as the photo.

I was so excited about it, but here's what arrived:

The handles were white, and the rest of the alabaster was brown.  It made the lamp look really bad.  Plus there was a huge chocolate brown chunk on it.  So off it went back to OKL.  They were very gracious about it not being what was represented and took the return. 

Casita Progress:

We worked to finish up the tile job on the casita bathroom, and are almost done.  The shower has been completely tiled, only grout is missing.  We're saving that for the next trip.

The tile is marble Venato.  I really like it because it appears to me to be a cross between statuary, carrara, and calacutta.  While we hired out everything in the project, we decided to do the tiling ourselves, as we think we're so picky that we wouldn't be happy with anyone's work....  

We are so slow, we couldn't earn a living laying tile.   The bathroom floor is a 1x2" herringbone white marble (Venato) tile, and we used a 3/4" hex on the shower floor.  We ran a border of 3" x 12"  around the edge of the shower (and bath) floor, mostly for cleaning purposes.  I wanted to do a 3/8" border of grey marble between the field and border, but got vetoed as I always come up with really difficult things to do.  However, the most difficult thing we did was put in a floor heater.  The internet suggested we use floor leveler after puting down the floor heater.  It was AWFUL.   It made the floor really uneven.  We will never do that again.  I think chiselling into the concrete floor would be easier than the mes we now have.  So there's a few uneven floor tiles in the mosaic.  My husband says that was caused by me being too cheap and not ordering enough tile.  Oh yea, we did run out and he was manufacturing 1 x 2" tiles to put under the vanity..... I didn't mean to be so cheap, I miscalculated..and we made it work as the tile was from the east coast.

The floor is grouted, walls are not.

The vanity, wall sconces and mirror is from Restoration Hardware.  With the 10 foot ceilings, I like the vertical space the sconces take.  I won't ever feel really great about placing the vanity as the marble slipped out of my sweaty hands smashing my husband's....   So yea, the top is heavy and get 3 people to lift it in place.

So we left sunny California and 100 degree weather for Portland 64 degree weather.  The Molineaux roses around the fountain have a profusion of blooms, wish we could have stayed to enjoy it.

I'm planning on attending Expo this weekend and hope to tell you all about my great finds!  Have a great weekend.

Casita Kitchen Cabinet Progress

If you haven't read any of the previous blogs, this is a progress report on a casita we are building for my parents on our property.  They are in their 80's, and are supposed to move here.  I say "supposed to" as try to tell an 83 year-old that he is not taking proper care of his wife and needs help.   That's another story...he originally said he would move and now he's back-peddling since he didn't believe we would do what we said we would do!

I had debated about doing painted cabinets for the kitchenette, and was thinking of white or green.  I saw these distressed cabinets at a cabinet-maker, and completely changed direction.

We are happy with the way they turned out.  It seems to match the feel of this little country cottage.   The beams were stained to match the cabinetry.  The Pierre Duex lantern (purchased on Rue-La-La at a huge discount) is the perfect complement to the room.

I had to come up with a design that would work.  The microwave couldn't be built into the upper cabinet, as my parents are really short, and a bowl of soup coming out of the microwave would wind up on their head.   The microwave will be installed under the right cabinet.

The GE microwave under-cabinet hanging kit is a nightmare.  We used their template (or the cabinet installer did), and the screws don't line up perfectly with the microwave.   We'll tackle that later.  I'm thinking we should just wait til the backsplash is installed, so we aren't more irate when we have to take it down..again.

The lower cabinets have a trash drawer to the left of the sink.  The cabinet-maker said they do have one that opens with a toe lever, but that would be too complicated for my folks, someone would trip and it would be my fault.   However, the drawer does close nicely with a bump of the knee, if you want.  I love all these auto-close drawers and hinges.

The 18" Meile dishwasher was a design solution.  I wanted to have the cabinets symmetrical on each side of the sink, and this allowed me to have an additional 9" drawer to the right.    Perfect for potholders, towels and maybe some gladware.

There isn't a stove--mom has dementia.  However, we left a floor plug for an island to allow for future options.

The above is a slab I am considering for the counter. I need to pick out some tile for the backsplash and I am leaning towards 2 x 4 subway tile.  I was thinking about ceramic tile, but will likely go with the same travertine that is on the floor.

We have actually been working like dogs laying tile in the bathroom.  A sneak peek at our progress below:

We used statuary white marble.  The marble isn't as "muddy" as carrara, and ALOT cheaper than calacutta.  It is honed, so you don't slip as you would on polished marble.  Also, if you've ever stayed in Europe and seen the 100 year old bathroom floors that are literally worn, you would put in honed marble, and bleach the mold out of the corners without blinking!   (Yes I use harsh cleaners to get rid of mold in showers)  It does take the "shine" off, but who cares, it looks clean!

One thing we did for cleaning ease was lay a border of 3" x 12" around the floor of hex.  The biggest issue with keeping the shower clean is the grout joints at the wall.  It has always been an issue.  So we carefully laid the tile so we have perfect slope, no standing water, and minimized the amount of joints with the border.  I'm thrilled.  The only thing I would do differently is add a 3/8" border of a darker grey marble before I started the hex.  I was vetoed on it, but have since seen the pencil border since we laid this--and it would have really looked FABULOUS....oh well.  This will look really good when done.

The marble that we are using I don't think is a totally true statuary white marble.  It may be a lower grade because of the color variation.  I am actually liking the color variation.  There are many very white pieces, and some with some tan veining in addition to the grey veining.  Looks great and will add some warmth to the room.

On another note,  I am really enjoying the lavender planted last summer:

The landscaping isn't done, but this turned out so lovely I had to share it.  It is a view of a porch off the master bedroom.

Later this week we will head back down to the project and try to make some serious progress on laying tile!

Victorian Screen

I impulsively purchased this screen today.  The muted colors really appealed to me. It's an old Victorian leather screen that someone applied wallpaper to.  It's not in the best condition, which is why my husband thinks I've lost it.  I did a sniff test to make sure it didn't smell, and so far I think I'm ok.  The antique dealer said she had it in her living room for years. Yes, I know, with every antique comes a tall tale.

It seems like a really whimsical piece to act as a backdrop in a room.  I just haven't decided what room.  Yes, I know there is water damage, but I thought if you put a chair in front of it, you wouldn't notice.  I liked the pastoral scene with the sheep.  OK, I'm a sucker for sheep anything.


I'm thinking a corner of a guest room with seating in front of it.

Here's a closeup:

If you click on the picture and look at the closeup, you can see the wallpaper detail.  Any guesses as to the age of this wallpaper?

There is wallpaper border trimming the front, but the sides of the screen have old french metallic ribbon on it.  The back of the screen is the same scene, only 2 of the wallpaper panels are peeling off.  I haven't examined the leather underneath to figure out what is on the leather.

I hope I don't have to Craigslist this one.  Does anyone else see the charm or did I just get a project?