When I was a child I was frequently given a box of hankies for birthdays or Christmas. Quite often they'd have the letter E embroidered and they'd be white with maybe a flower as well. I thought it was a really boring present.
These days I would love it if someone gave me hankies as a present so I'm delighted that Nuora has started to make them.
£1.50 each or 10 for £12 from Amore Mio Clothing. Can be posted internationally.
10 comments:
What lovely cottons she's used!
I had those lacy white embroidered girly-girl hankies too, in my little purse, with my little white gloves, when I would go to Sunday School. Those hankies were "for show" only -- you didn't want to ruin them by actually using them for their intended purpose! Ugh. Thank the Goddess those days are gone.
She has, hasn't she, Sonata?
I can't remember whether I actually used them, Debra. I must have done when I had a cold.
I wish I could find reasonably priced, white cotton hankies that are large enough to be useful. All of my skirts/pants (who am I kidding? I've not worn a skirt in years!) have pockets. The first thing I do when donning a fresh pair of pants is to stick a hanky in my left pocket - and - it is for use; although, I frequently use tissues, too. Unfortunately, most hankies that I find are either 10.5" square ("women's") or 14" square ("men's"), while I think 11.5" square is ideal.
When my mother died, I inherited her box of hankies - most of which were quite colorful prints or colored embroidery on white. She could not have foretold how much use those hankies would see.
As to use: It my hanky is usually used to clean my glasses or dab at a tear. Tissues are better for heavy-duty use or when no hanky is to be found.
Cop Car
Of course it's much easier to wash hankies nowadays. But in the pre-washing machine days, I remember my mother boiling a huge pan of hankies on the stove - quite an operation. She must have been very glad when tissues became the norm. Except that now they're a waste problem because they all have to go in landfill.
Nick--You must be really old! *laughing* At age 81, I'm too young to remember "pre-washing machine days"; but, each family did not necessarily own a washing machine. My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother - plus us kids - gathered, weekly, at my maternal great-great grandmother's house to do our laundry. And the manual-drive wringers...! We did boil many of our white clothes to better remove stains. When we had infectious illnesses (measles, mumps, scarlet fever, etc.), the bedding was boiled. The sun did a great job of further de-germing our clothes while they hung on the line.
Cop Car
I still boil hankies. Some habits die hard. My gran used to wash on Mondays using a huge metal barrel thing before putting clothes through the mangle. I used to love that bit.
I can remember a huge gas-heated copper boiler in my grandmother's flat, too. The entire family's ( 9 children ) wash was done on it every week, and for a couple of extra families too, when the children were young for a bit of much needed extra cash.
Liz--I had to look up "mangle" and was surprised to learn that it applies to two machines: 1) as you used it for what I called a "wringer" and 2) as I would have used it for a machine with which to iron large, flat pieces of cloth (bed sheets, etc.) Thanks for the lesson!
Cop Car
P.S. Yes, we had to heat the water in large tubs - ours having been galvanized steel.
Wikipedia would have it that King Richard II of England, who reigned from 1377 to 1399 AD, is widely believed to have invented the cloth handkerchief, as surviving documents written by his courtiers describe his use of square pieces of cloth to wipe his nose.
IMHO, not true. The Chinese invented it first, waaaay earlier.
Xuanzi of Han (Chinese: 韓宣子; pinyin: Hán Xuānzǐ), was the head of Han and served the State of Jin. He was the son of Han Jue and served as zhengqing (正卿) and zhongjunjiang of Jin between 541 and 514 BCE. Zhongjunjiang (Chinese: 中軍將) or Jiangzhongjun was the military leader and the prime minister of the ancient Chinese state of Jin. He was credited with this inventrion which was named after him.
Before he became posthunously known as Xuanzi of Han, he was known as Han Qi ;-)
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