Handkerchief
A handkerchief is typically a hemmed square of thin fabric or paper which can be carried in the pocket or handbag, and which is intended for personal hygiene purposes such as wiping one's hands or face or blowing one's nose. - Wikipedia
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The use of a handkerchief is one universally known by all, through the ages men and women both have donned the fabric in place of a disposable option, the story of the handkerchief is widely debated but a source from a 1940 Modern Woman magazine read;
”Historians credit Marie Antoinette with the invention of the pocket handkerchief. She was so broken up at leaving her home in Austria that she cried all the way to France and wiped her eyes with bits of lace torn from her dress and lingerie. Anticipating future tears, she made it a point always to have a piece of lace tucked in a pocket of her dress. This, say the historians, was how handkerchiefs were born." (http://www.vintagehairstyling.com/bobbypinblog/2011/12/handkerchief-history.html)
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hearing this story inspired me to make a beautiful handkerchief with a finished edge emulating that of lace but also of the simplistic nature of the 1900s.
Since many handkerchiefs had a motif such as flowers or are monogrammed. I decided to go with a celestial theme due to its significants of stars in my personal life and the nostalgic feel the look of the moon will give; it is also a slight nod to the 1902 silent film "la voyage dans le lune" and a classic scalloped edge,
although I considered this design from ElizabethRoseAntiques - Instagram
"This locket's super sweet sepia paints a picture that means "The further we fly.... the closer we tie....." Seriously?! She dates back to the 18th Century around 1780/1790. The two lovebirds, perhaps swallows, tie an infinity lover's knot.... and are encased by a wreath like arrangement!!"
As I took inspiration from the 1900's I did some research on popular motifs and found that
A very popular feminine symbol in the Victorian era was the mystical crescent moon & star motif, traditionally embellished with rhinestones & seed pearls.
"...The stars about the lovely moon, fade back and vanish very soon, when round and full, her silver face swims into sight, and lights all space..." -Sappho
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Crescent moons in Victorian jewelry often represented spirituality and the glorification of the Feminine Moon Goddess. Whilst the stars were symbols of direction, and guidance for the spirit.
I started by creating two moon embroidered samples. I decided to use a warm blue and yellow due to them both being primary colours, they have been proved to work well together such as in the palette of forget-me-nots. Forget-Me-Not plants symbolise true love which is a similar meaning to the meaning of the birds in my initial idea. This also allowed me to bring the image forward by using embroidery thread gives texture; I decided to not paint the moon in on my final piece due to this and began to print my stars.
I made a stencil with a sturdy piece of card and sponged on the stars keeping one blue, one yellow and another a fade of both. this method worked well due to the now uniform "print all over" nature of the stars but however became an issue later. I also experimented with different hemmings and picked the bottom-most one as it had the desired scalloping I wanted due to it resembling that of older handkerchiefs.
This is where issues began. Firstly the stars I mentioned earlier began to bleed under the stencil which could have been a fault of my own but also due to the fact I couldn't see underneath the stencil. I also realised the uniformity of the stars would look a lot like a flag and I didn't want it to be so cluttered and harsh to the eye. In conjunction, I am aware blaming my equipment is bad as a creator but I had many problems with the machine jamming and creating an uneven hem. It also made me realise cutting the fabric too close to the hem would cause fraying and thus would compromise the sustainability of the piece which would contradict the name of a handkerchief and turn it into a pocket square.
After roughly 9 hours of continuous work, the product was finally made. I was very happy with the result but do still recognise the minor flaws of the edge still having a small amount of fraying. the stars being uneven and a few of the threads on the moon not lying completely flat but overall I'm extremely happy with the result. I also went ahead and created a package complete with bag health and safety warning, a hole for retail hanging and barcode. This would be marketed under my brand "Moth Eaten Shenanigans" of which I've been continuously planning since late 2016. Below is a prototype for a special cosmetic edition of this product. Link here for listing.
