Sunday, November 4, 2012

Making Hankies











I feel like it is only right to have my sewing post be just days after my good sewing friend Joy has had her baby Rosa. Yes, that's Joy with Blanche probably a month or so ago. She just had Rosa last week and is now at home with her baby. Joy is not only a good friend of mine but also an inspiration when it comes to sewing and all things homemaking. She is very crafty (the good kind) and very hospitable. I look up to Joy in many ways, but her sewing skills are the focus of this blog. I had mentioned before that I was making cloth wipes from old blankets. The method I was using was simply taking two pieces of blanket that I had cut evenly into squares, sewing them inside out, and then flipping them right and sewing them shut. Very simple sewing. and they looked pretty clean. But they were sort of bulky. I showed Joy how the ones I had bought online were just one sided with stitch on the outside to keep it from unraveling. (I'm not too good at the technical sewing terms yet) Anyways, Joy once again took me under her wing to help me on her machine one day at her house. She showed me how to do a zig zag stitch and how to make wipes one sided. Really though this had got my mind going about making hankies. Because I had tried to do them before and I felt like we were blowing our noises on small towels.

The hankies that I made are just longer in length than the wipes and are made from soft blankets. They are thin and one sided so they really do work well. After using Joy's machine (and her pretty much watching Blanche the whole time while nine months pregnant) I decided I should try on my own machine. I think that using what you have in life is important. My sewing machine is one that I found in my dad's garage. It was my step mom's from probably the 80's. Its a good little machine but the manual is ripped in half. So that makes for interesting moments when I am trying something new. I really should get online and find a new one. But when I first started using my machine, it wasn't very fun. I had to keep doing things like threading my machine, and spinning the string on the bobbin. Things that take time to get to know how to do, but really are the very basics of sewing.

For me a project like making hankies that we are going to blow our noses on is a perfect start to my goal of sewing more. Its okay if I mess up or they don't turn out amazing. They are just hankies. And whats amazing is that I made them for free. I was given the blankets, and I used the odds and ends of things I already had. This is the kind of sewing that I like to do. Our family is not only saving money from buying lots of Kleenex this winter, but we are taking one more step to becoming paperless. I don't know if we will ever be able to say we are completely paperless (toilet paper is kind of a big deal) but its nice to know we not only use cloth napkins in the kitchen, rags and towels over paper ones, cloth wipes and diapers for Blanche, and now homemade hankies. From the pictures you can see my simple zig zag stitch that helps keep them from fraying. We have the ever growing basket of hankies in our bathroom now and my husband seems to love how soft they are (blowing his nose is a big thing for him).

So thats my crafty post for now. Its the small things that keeps me sane as a creative type who loves to make things. Never would I have thought I'd be sewing hankies for my family. I may not be buying beautiful fabrics for quilting (just looking and maybe one day) but I do feel that I am doing something to further myself and my creative mind. I love using my hands to create and sewing is quickly become a relaxing and creative outlet. More to come!

4 comments:

  1. I have lots of comments today!

    -Love the color you chose for the hankies
    -great job on your photography! They look so soft.
    -Did you make Blanche's headband, she looks adorable in it though I do think she's pretty cute when her hair is everywhere too.
    -Where is the fabric store you've pictured?

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  2. Hey Jenny!
    Thanks! I used some receiving blankets I was given and they all coordinated pretty well. And yes I made Blanche's headband when I had been doing another sewing adventure at Joys. I had been making burp clothes and had a nice strip of fabric left that I sewed into a headband. It is pretty cute on her. And the fabric store is in Siloam. Its sort of downtown and is the Quilt Shop. Its on Maxwell I believe, right behind downtown. Thanks for reading!

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  3. I envy the seemingly simplicity of your lives. I long for that but just haven't been able to make the jump completely. Plus I don't have a sewing machine! :) I put it on my Christmas list so hopefully I'll be learning to sew next year. Someday's I just want to move to a farm and be Amish!

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  4. Well Jessica, its a daily thing to try and make life more simple. Plus trying to save money and caring about all those "chemicals" in so many things has inspired me to make so many things. Plus I just love being expressive. I love to write and take pictures and make things. Haha. I don't have as much time as I use to, so I try to put my creativeness to things that would benefit the family. But I know you could do it! You are very creative! And the sewing I do is super simple!

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