I really hope you all enjoy my Hanky Tutorial and it inspires you to make your own. If you haven’t read my post about making hankies you can find it here. It’s a great way to use up scrap fabric which is also good for the environment and they’re really useful. No need for boring hankies made out of ugly fabrics. It’s time to give the hanky a make over!
Materials
- 1 x Cotton fabric fat quarter
- Matching thread
Tools
- Seam Allowance guide (I just make my own with some cardboard and measure out the most common seam allowance sizes; 1/4”, 1/2”, 3/4” & 1”)
- Pointy tool or Chop Stick
- Rotary Cutter, mat and quilters ruler
Step 1
Cut your fabric to the size you want to make.
If you want to make a ladies’s hanky cut your fabric to 9.75” x 9.75”
For a man’s hanky cut your fabric to 13.75” x 13.75”
I prefer to make mine a bit larger than a ladies hanky so I cut my fabric to 11.75” x 11.75”
Step 2
Fold and press your seam allowance along all sides a 1/4” towards the wrong side of the fabric.
Then fold your seam allowance in again but this time a 1/2” towards the wrong side of the fabric. This should enclose your first seam allowance. Repeat for all sides.
Step 3
Open out the edges, keeping the original 1/4” fold in place.
Step 4
Now fold the corner over diagonally, wrong sides together, till you get to the 1/2” seam fold line.
Press this diagonal fold.
Repeat with the other three corners.
Step 5
Open out the corner and you should have a diagonal line touching the corner of the 1/2” seam fold.
Step 6
Now fold the corner back on itself with the right sides together. Make sure that the pressed fold lines match up as well as the folded edge of your fabric.
Stitch along the pressed line that runs at an angle across the corner. Make sure you backstitch at the start and end.
Repeat for all four corners and then clip the seam allowance.
Step 7
Now turn your corners right side out. I use a pointy tool (such as a chopstick) to help push the corners out. Repeat this for the other three sides. The action of turning the corners right side out should create mitered corners and conceal the fabric’s raw edges.
Give the hanky a good press.
Now topstitch around the entire hankie with a 3/8” seam allowance. I always find that using a slightly larger stitch helps to keep the top stitching neat.
The topstitching should enclose the seam allowance on the wrong side of the hanky.
And now you’re finished!
