Blokerchiefs

How I love hand-embroidering handkerchiefs. As a project, it’s fast, portable and easy, and a great way to give myself a quick hit of accomplishment when I haven’t got time for anything major. It’s also a stylish and simple way to say (e.g.), “I love you, you dashing hunk”, or “Stop mooching my kleenex.”  Hankies make great stocking stuffers or thank-you gifts.

I made these hankies for the dashing hunks in my life, which is how they came to be dubbed Blokerchiefs. There are a couple ways to handle the hanky itself: make your own or buy plain hankies and embroider. Frankly, I prefer to make my own, as it’s a good way to use up scrap fabric and I have yet to encounter a shop-bought handkerchief that doesn’t punish the nose.

For the handmade hankies, I did the embroidery before cutting out to make it easier to hoop the fabric. Then I cut and hemmed. I’ve tried a couple different hem finishes: a machine-stitched narrow folded hem and a hand-rolled hem. I favor hand-rolled hems for lightness, elegance and neat corners, although they do take forever until you get the hang of them. Colette Patterns has a handy tutorial on hand-rolled hems I wish I’d read before attempting my first. Claire Schaeffer’s invaluable Couture Sewing Techniques also covers hand-rolled hems (along with many, many other techniques) comprehensively.

Blokerchief #1: Circles

This was my first Blokerchief. I made it out of so-so quality handkerchief linen I bought on eBay. The Bloke wanted a monogram that looked a bit modern, so I browsed through Fontfreak until I found one called “Circulate” that fit the bill.

I traced the monogram on to the linen by using my laptop screen as an ersatz light box. This meant laying the laptop on its back so the screen was flat, stretching the fabric taut over the screen, securing it with masking tape and tracing the design on to the linen with tiny dabs from a water-soluble fabric marker with a very fine point (if you’re not meticulous, fabric markers tend to bleed too much for precision). Then I embroidered the monogram in Anchor cotton, using split stitch for the outline and satin stitch for the lettering.

Lessons learned:

- Handkerchief fabric for embroidery should be as finely and tightly woven as possible. You can see from the close-up photo above that the weave is pulling a little along straight lines of stitching, such as the vertical of the letter N. Fine weaves are also more nose-friendly. Vintage hankies are the gold standard, of course — deliciously thick and soft. Sadly, nobody seems to make cotton or linen that fine and strong anymore… although I’d love to try the handkerchief linen from William Booth, Draper.

- If you’re doing lettering in satin stitch, it’s a good idea to run an outline stitch first to provide a guide and give the lettering body and firmness.

- Hand-rolled hems turn out better if you avoid the temptation to make the roll fat and sturdy — the hem should really be as narrow as possible and feel a little flimsy.

Blokerchief #2: Laser Geek

Like any true geek, the Bloke likes lasers. So I decided to incorporate the international symbol for LASER DANGER! into my next Blokerchief.

For the lettering, I found a Blade Runner-esque font on Fontfreak called, appropriately enough, “Laserian”. I traced out the design on to linen, using my laptop as before. I outlined the lettering in split stitch this time, and then filled it in with satin stitch.

The laser symbol was a piece of cake to embroider — I outlined the circular center in split stitch and filled it in with satin stitch, then used (slightly wonky) stemstitch for the rays, finishing off with French knots.

The finishing touch was a split stitch border around the hanky. I put a narrow machine hem on this one.

Lessons learned:

- Don’t attempt a narrow machine hem on anything square until you’ve done your research on sewing mitered corners.

Blokerchief #3: Scrabble Enigma

Although I mistrust people who take Scrabble seriously as covert language-haters, I do enjoy the occasional game with James. His 2008 Christmas present included an elaborate treasure hunt involving the Enigma cipher, and this hanky monogrammed with his initials acted as a clue while incorporating the Scrabble theme.

Where’s the Enigma connection? Well, sharp-eyed Scrabble fans might have noticed that the point values for the letters are incorrect. This is a clue that the 3-letter, 3-number combination is an Enigma key. Combined with an encrypted text and plugged into this online Enigma simulator, the key yielded a topical Valentine’s Day message — yes, that is how long it ended up taking him, even with hints.

Lessons learned:

- Most treasure hunts start going wrong at clue #1.

Blokerchief #4: We Seek Him Here

James and I enjoy reading books aloud. One of our favorite shared literary experiences to date is The Scarlet Pimpernel, which combines a sensational plot — intrigue, blackmail, unspoken love, betrayal, heroism, chases, the shadow of the guillotine — with cheap jingoism and flamboyantly terrible writing. Bosoms heave, eyes flash, dialogue is peppered with comedy French accents and a single character is compared on various occasions to a fox, a rat, an eagle, a lion and a ferret. Also, the hero, while concealing his secret identity behind a reputation for brainless foppery, uses as his calling card a motif which just happens to be an ancestral device of his family, and which is thus depicted not only on a seal he uses regularly but in a family portrait hanging in his study.

I decided to make James a Blokerchief worthy of Sir Percy himself by embroidering the Scarlet Pimpernel in Madeira silk embroidery thread on a cotton hanky. I copied the flower from an image I found on the internet and used crewel techniques I learned from Katherine Shaughnessy’s The New Crewel to fill it in.

Embroidering in silk is a luxurious experience I recommend wholeheartedly — the fine threads slide effortlessly through your fingers, and the shimmer of silk embroidery thickly laid has the sumptuousness of a former age. I only wish the quality of the shop-bought hanky had matched the quality of the thread.

Lessons learned:

- Buy top-quality fabric if you’re going to spare no expense embroidering it.

Bonus: The Twin Peaks not-technically-a-Blokerchief

My friend Gaia has spent a sizeable chunk of the past two years of her life on a seaside-karaoke film homage to  Twin Peaks, shot and produced by her and featuring nearly everybody she knows. This was my tribute to her dedication. I hope to see her dabbing her eyes with it in 2010 as she weeps tears of joy at the film’s long-awaited premiere. I drew the lettering freehand and embroidered it in stemstitch and satin stitch, with French knot accents.

Lessons learned:

- Embroidery goes a lot faster and more smoothly if you use a frame and two hands, keeping one hand on either side of the fabric, instead of using one hand and switching up every stitch. I use a floor-standing embroidery frame like this one.