Ann Jefferies Legacy Hanky Collection - from the Shirl Archives

Such tiny stitches, destined for a trousseau...

 These handkerchiefs were tucked away, taking up a good portion of a musty dresser drawer during a careful and honouring emptying of my friend, Shirley's mom's dresser. Ann's tragic passing is still raw to the family in some ways, and tackling this was easier with someone there who could keep things in perspective as we cleared the closet and drawers of her mom's things. I was thinking environmentally when I saw the bonanza of little fabric squares, recognizing that there were some sweet little examples of womanhood's necessities, circa early and mid last century, knowing that I could at least use them in place of kleenex, in my ever expanding realm of more sustainable ways of doing things.

When I finally got them out with some time to look at my treasure trove more closely, I was in awe of the intricate stitches, the handmade maiden's touch... the control, the knowledge of warp and weft, embroidery techniques and hemming. As I looked through this pile of beautiful little cloths, one after the other started to tell me stories of where it was from, who gave it, who got it, why it had been created with who in mind and what intentions attached to it. Thinking my usual sociological way, what with my women's studies degree firmly entrenched in my perspective, these hankies were a stroll down memory lane for me. Little captures of time representative of the kind of painstaking expectations women were under over the past 50 years came from each one.

This is a humble representation of the entire collection and just the first peek at them. Shirley and I are going to address documenting this collection as a joint project over the coming months, but this is my first go at photographing each handkerchief to give you an idea of the culture that they came from. Some of us older women remember hankies, but younger women would not equate being a 'nice girl' with having a clean and beautiful, hand embroidered and decorated little tissue in her purse to the same value that those of us who became of age around the 60's or before.

 My Auntie Peggy kept her hankies tucked into the wrist cuff of her never-ending collection of blouses.

But I digress. Here are Shirley's mom, Ann's beautiful hankies. Pre-ironing, pre-semi-professional photographs, simply digitally recorded to get some idea of the light, the grain of fabric, etc. Enjoy. There are about 80 photos so grab a cup of tea, put on some smooth tunes and come wander through the past that existed in the parlours of homes where a good girl was expected to have at least a dozen of these done a year, by lantern if she had to.

This one is made of flower sacks but is sewn by machine, a layered applique technique

Flowers are the predominant symbol

This was made with sewing thread outline and a tiny strand of embroidery floss in blue for the dog's shirt. A child's handkerchief emulating the act of reading a book.

A beautiful trefoil design with four petaled (crosses) borders and paisleys, handhemmed.

 A closeup of the design, a vivid very precise layered print of four colours.

The finest weave with the flowers literally worked into the grain. Handhemmed, this is a soft pink and sheer as can be.

Another portion of the design on the sheer tissue so thin it can pass through a wedding ring easily.

The overview of the sheer pink handsewn, machine woven, imprinted tissue.

A look at the border design. There is something so strong yet delicate about this that I think it warrants photographing it's sheerness when we come at it for the final printing.

This was another printed little sweetheart of a hanky. This took a four or five step printing process and the design emulates the embroidered nylon mesh that came out after WW2.

Apricot and yellow roses are tinged with vivid blue.  Little flowers divided into 6 wedges and blue carnations.

This design is a mashup of the eastern /Indian influence with the paisley corners and the edge of the black mesh image combined with the semi-modern depictions of roses.

The layers of colour are not quite as careful as the previous printed cloth, but the randomness of the colours on these roses are interesting in their own right.

The overall design is a colourful array of bouquets with the stunning black background mesh.

Another sewing thread dog with embroidery floss jammy pants. This time he holds a stick, perhaps what he's holding didn't get finished or has come undone over time. Handsewn, of course.

A sweet child's sneezes were contained amid the barnyard.

Something about the wear, the weave, the tiny hand stitches so uneven around the label, so neat on the label as to possibly be machine embroidered, is so moving to me. The time that this was done, the energy of the world then, the amazing evolutions that have elapsed since then... it's all contained in this little tidbit of cloth.

 This trio of blossoms is so precise.

Many of these tiny works of art combined several techniques such as these ladders and layered applique as well as french knots and satin stitches.

o

A good girl knew that her work was better identified with a little name tag for dual reasons, to show off her handiwork and to make sure she didn't lose track of the results of all her backbreaking, sight straining efforts.

This looks like hand embroidery over premade mesh made of some sort of nylon in a cutaway  design that was machine hemmed in a fine manner.

Satin stitches making stunning irises and bluebells.

Another future desktop. Dazzling.

The type of this label is more masculine, it means business. The stitching around it is neater too.

If I'm not wrong, this is a danish method of cutting away and tying the existing fabric to make these spaced patterns.

Another desktop

The label says it all.

Another desktop, as you can see, I'm really impressed with the amazing pattern. A DNA design

Linen so sheer you can read the reverse side of the label through it. Can you see that it says 'Made in N. Ireland'?

A sweet silver label on the other corner that says 'SUNDEW', Irish Linen, of course.

Mostly roses, but this was an exception, lilacs.

M

The finely finished corners, every warp and weft thread counted and bunched just six threads up from the folded edge.

This was one of my favorites. The layers of technique included the petals of the flower attached only at the base, the grid, the satin stitches, the cutaway and holes with delicate white thread are just profoundly skilled examples of women's handiwork.

A desktop for me right now.

One of the most involved tatting segments that was added to a cutaway corner.

Even that it's torn slightly is a part of it's story.  The edging is completely laced and laddered to perfection, not a mistaken stitch anywhere.

Another example of the hand-embroidered machine mesh

Another example of speedy stitching that doesn't look like the rest of the work on the cloth.

One needs to imagine sitting in a chair by a table with a little embroidery hoop and a small basket of items that will be used to make the hanky. Threading the needle, looking at a pattern in a magazine perhaps, the light might be dim and the tiny stitches would be hard to see but a steady hand soon corraled the teeny sewing and tatting efforts into these lovely works of the world when our mothers were young.

Out in the world, word of World Wars, word of nuclear bombs and communist threats were bandied about as mighty countries sought supremacy, and here in the parlour, Ann was expected to complete the tatted portion by bedtime, leaving only the painstaking edging to iron, count threads and stitch.

A playful work hanky or  something more akin to the working class woman, this design in three colour steps over pink with a handsewn hem.

The overall design is very dainty and pretty.

Back in an era when they used the word 'nosegay', they embroidered 'nosegays' onto tissues even if they only had three feet of coloured sewing thread, or during wartime, threads they pulled out of other clothes where they could afford to do so without compromising the integrity of the items.

More painstaking edges cornered perfectly

These are wedding hankies, meant for a bride, or some other special and important life event. Used by a more elite class of woman aas well, definitely used for good. This is machine nylon mesh handembroidered and attached to a tiny square of sheer cotton weave.

The precision and control of hands barely granted the vote amazes me.

The overall lace lady's fine handkerchief.

This and the next are right and wrong sides of the same corner. Hand woven fine linen lace with a combined shell integrated into the design. Imagine being able to do this. Now which is the right side and which is the wrong?

My vote is that this is the right side.

Another favourite printed kerchief. This one has rosebuds and full blown blooms on it as well as a corner full of leaves.

This looks like it is handpainted.  .

Apricot rosebuds

Golden rosebuds

Perfectly depicted rose leaves in such minimalist strokes.

Signed by the artiste

An example of a tatted edging

Clover and daisies

Isn't this so sweet?

The overall rose print

A child's kerchief with images of little girls in roles of power. Flying the plane, in a balloon basket, parachuting...

Little girls with images like this as childhood memories grew up to believe they could do anything.

Weeeeeee...

A for Ann is hidden above the three pink dots.

The most intricate of them all. A coin almost of embroidered stitched and edged cutaway techniques. Stunning and in incredible shape.

Perfect whitework.

Wether these were made by Shirley's mom or just little tokens of friendship and mementoes she collected over a lifetime, they symbolize women's strength and tenacity, their patience and temerity. I am honoured to have been granted custodial access.

Thanks Shirley.

Wait till you see the beautiful sweaters that Ann made, that's the next project.