How I made Aunt Susie’s handkerchief quilt

A few people have asked me to share how I made this handkerchief quilt. These are the steps I took.

• Washed and dried all the hankies to see if they would hold up
• Pressed the hankies well, then starched them with heavy spray starch.
• Spot treated a few hankies for stains. Then rewashed and starched them.
• After this step, I had 25 usable hankies in all shapes and sizes.
• The largest one was about 18″ square so I chose to sew them to 20″ white squares.
• I wanted a soft, beautiful white. After feeling all the whites at my local shop, I chose Northcott.
• I washed, pressed and starched the white fabric and cut 25 20″ squares.
• Then I pressed each hankie in half horizontally and again in half vertically so they were folded twice and pressed so that the pressing lines marked a cross.
• I did the same to the 20″ white squares.
• I opened flat one square and one hankie and laid the hanky on top of the square.
• I lined up the centers where the creases crossed and pinned the hanky in place.
• I did this until all the hankies were pinned to a square.
• I sewed each one down with 50 wt. white thread.
• Some hankies had straight edges. I sewed then down with a small zig zag.
• Some hankies had an uneven, patterned edge. I sewed them down the same as the straight edge hankies, follow the patterned edge as I sewed.
• A few had lace. I sewed them down twice, once on the outer edge of the woven part of the hankie and again on the outer edge of the lace.
• I pressed and starched the blocks again.
• Once completed, I sewed the squares together and added a border.
• I love the backing fabric and I will share photos once the binding is done.
• It was long-armed on an HQ Avante by my longarmer.