The Good News and the Bad News of Hanky Quilts

I have some good news and some bad news.

 The good news is that I get to use vintage hankies in some of my hanky rag quilts.  The bad news is using vintage hankies in some of my hanky quilts.  I experienced the bad news first hand this weekend when finishing a lovely lavender vintage hanky quilt.

I always check the hankies for weak areas or holes and I don't use those since I know they won't stand up to the washings but in this quilt I thought I had chosen the right hankies.  It wasn't until I took it from the dryer that I saw the tears.

I wasn't sure what to do.  Could I simply hand sew the tears with thread?  No, that would have made it look bad and and it still would be weak all around the mend.

I thought maybe I could remove the whole square but once you wash the quilt it is VERY hard to take a square out and then put it back in.  It looks terrible.   The nice way the fluff looks after being washed and dried will be affected if you take a square out and try to put it back in.  I may have tried it if the square was on the edge but this square was surrounded by other hankies so that wasn't an option.

The only thing left to do was to remove the hanky and put a new one in it's place.  Luckily this hanky had a lace edge so removing it wasn't that hard.  I had to remove all the stitches in the X first and then cut the lace.  I was lucky that I had a few extra hankies to choose from for the replacement.  The one I chose was much larger than the square so I had cut it and make a new size.

I never cut hankies!  I always leave them the original size. When snipping the seams on vintage hanky quilts, I try to cut as minimally as possible, if at all, into the hanky.  This was hard for me to cut up a beautiful hanky but that's what I did.  I cut two of the sides of the hanky then sewed a very small hem edge.  Then I hand sewed the hanky in place with a blind stitch.  The end result turned out well enough for me to be happy.

Here is the hanky quilt after I fixed the torn square.  Can you tell which square I fixed?

Update 2/2/19
I made another hanky quilt recently and while I fixed all the small holes before quilting, I found several more after washing and drying...Again! I was heartbroken!!! That is a hazard when making these delicate creations.  This time my only recourse was to take the whole square out and replace it with a brand new hanky square.  I had to recut the new seams but I am happy to report, you could barely tell which square I fixed.

Finishes

I haven't written a single post here since April 20th.  The (obvious) reason is I have been so busy sewing.  I had more that 20 custom quilt orders and I'm almost done with those.  (I think I have 7 left to do.)   If you are interested, here's some pictures of the things I've finished:

Baby Rag

Soft Quilted Letters

Full Size Hanky Quilt

Front Robot Quilt

Back Robot Quilt

 

Throw size Rag Quilt

Hanky Rag Quilt

16 shirt T-shirt Quilt

King Size Rag Quilt

30 shirt T-shirt Quilt

Texas Star Rag Quilt

Spring Break 2014

I have been so sew busy trying to keep up with my custom quilt orders that I haven't written a blog post since the very beginning of March.  So I thought I'd share all the things I've made this past week.

25 Hanky Rag Quilt

Vintage/New Bandana Picnic quilt

Hanky Pillow cover

Anna Maria Horner Fabrics Rag Quilt

16 square T-shirt Quilt

Full size 42 Hanky Rag Quilt

Good Spring Break!  Happy Easter!!

February Goals Met???

Oh my!  I only wrote 1 post for February.  I was so busy sewing I just didn't have time but I wanted to take a minute to chart my progress.  In February I wanted to:

1. Finish  Mother in Law  rag quilt -- check

2. Finish Black and White full size  rag quilt --check

3.  Finish Hanky rag quilt -- check

4.  Make another Scrabble rag quilt --  WIP

5.  Make a little girl's purple twin size rag quilt --(Still finding just the right fabric)

6.  Make my daughter a 20 shirt t-shirt quilt -- (Squares are cut and fused)

7.  Make another t-shirt quilt  -- (WIP  Top done)

8.  Make a set of soft quilted alphabet letters -- check

 

 

 

9.  Make a Texas Star rag quilt -- check

 

 

And just for good measure...

10.  Make something for my shop

  --check and check

 So while I didn't meet all my goals, I'm happy I put a big dent in them.

February 2014 Goals

January was my best sales month ever!!!  I would love to do that every month.  I have been working very hard almost everyday to make and sell my quilts.  I would love it if this were my full time job and I could make a good living  because I love making quilts and quilty things so much.  

I had 4 WIP's coming into February.  I finished one minky blanket yesterday:

I also finished sewing a quilt for a rag quilt for my wonderful mother in law but it still needs clipping and washing:

 

(It won't look so wonky after it's all been clipped)

I also have a Black and White full size rag quilt that needs one more row.  I'm still waiting for the fabric.  

And I am working on the 3rd of 3 very large hanky quilts.  This one is turning out so lovely.  It's different than the other two that you can see here  and here.  It will be more white like crisp white sheets or a little girl's crinoline.  (picture to come).

So, here are my goals for February:

1. Finish  Mother in Law  rag quilt

2. Finish Black and White full size  rag quilt

3.  Finish Hanky rag quilt

4.  Make another Scrabble rag quilt

5.  Make a little girl's purple twin size rag quilt

6.  Make my daughter a 20 shirt t-shirt quilt

7.  Make another t-shirt quilt

8.  Make a set of soft quilted alphabet letters

9.  Make a Texas Star rag quilt

And just for good measure...

10.  Make something for my shop

 

27 days...hmmm...That seems do-able.

Black and White Experiment Update

      So on Jan 2nd, I wrote about an experiment I was doing with the black and white quilts to see if it was the black and white fabrics or the type of quilt that made the difference in popularity.  Here's what I found.  I made this black and white minky quilt with black minky on the back on Jan. 5th.  I posted a picture of it here and it immediately sold to someone who actually wanted a name embroidered on it. 

So I made her another identical quilt with her baby's name on it.

I listed the original quilt in my shop on Jan. 5th and it sold in 18 days - the fastest anything has sold.

So I think the conclusion to the experiment is that black and white is classic no matter how you make it. 

 I will be making many more of these quilts.  I am working on a full size black and white rag quilt right now and I will be listing this one with white minky tomorrow:

2014 Goals

     

My Business Goals for 2014

Make at least 50 items for my etsy shop

I have 25 right now.

 

Once I make the 50,  try to keep it stocked with 50 at all times

I have a feeling this will be the hardest to accomplish

Double my sales of the previous year

My sales for 2013 on etsy were 140, so I need to do 280 by next Dec.

Reach 500 Facebook Fans

The number of fans I have right now is 372

Zeedlebeez