TUTORIAL • How to Make Handkerchiefs

With Father's Day fast approaching, it's in just a few weeks on Sunday 21st June, we thought now would be a good time to do our first make! And what better than a set of hankies for you (and your children) to make for dads everywhere, we all know they love a good handkerchief!!

These are super easy to make, but the fact that they're made by you, will undoubtedly make them all the more special, and be much appreciated, by the lucky recipient!

We've brought together four of our favourite 100% Organic Cotton Crossweaves and Woven Ginghams, to create a Fat Quarter Bundle just for Dads - Make Your Father's Day!

You will need:

• Lightweight woven fabrics such as our Organic Cotton Ginghams and the Combed Cotton Poplins by Robert Kaufman 
• Cotton Thread; again we're gone for our Organic Thread
• Dressmakers Scissors
• Tape Measure
• Sewing Gauge - not essential but in our experience it really does make turning a hem so much easier!
• Sewing Pins
• Iron
• Sewing Machine

To make:

Firstly wash and dry your fabric.

Then, cut a square of fabric to the required size, we've made ours 40cm square, but feel free to make them larger or smaller.

Fold over 7mm on all four sides and iron the fabric.

Repeat once more and iron again. You'll now have a double hem.

Once the fabric has cooled, unfold all the edges. Use the fold lines as a guide to trim the corners by carefully cutting a triangle to prevent the corners from being too bulky. You need to be careful not to cut too close to the corner of the handkerchief when the hem is turned as you don't want it to fray.

Re-fold, making sure to tuck in any frayed edges. Pin the corners to secure it for sewing.

 Select your thread for sewing. Depending on the "Dad' that you're making them for you may want to make a feature of this and use a brightly contrasting thread, or select a more muted tone that sits across all the fabrics, we've decided to go subtle for this make and used our Slate thread!

Then using a straight stitch, stitch 5mm in from the outer edge of the handkerchief. 

At the corners make sure you leave the needle in the down position, lift the presser foot and pivot the handkerchief 90 degrees to ensure a crisp corner, sew all four sides in this way.

 And there you have it! One fabulous handkerchief to "Make Your Father's Day"! Though of course these handkerchiefs would make an idea gift all year round, including birthdays and Christmas.