A couple of years ago my mother gifted me her hankies. She collected them from various department stores. Eventually, she was going to build a quilt. lucky for me she never did. The hankies sat in her closet for decades until she gave them to me. I was so excited to see how pretty they were, and at the time I knew nothing about them.
I Went all in and started an Etsy Shop
My thoughts at the time were to start a shop to share to these pretty hankies. So, I did. I took photos with a cheap Motorola phone & by using the Camera FV-5 app I was able to add some more controls to the camera. I was surprised how well they turned out and I think it helped to photograph using natural light. It was a wonderful experience, and my hankies were a hit. They were considered New Old hankies. With tags and all.
I Didn’t Realize Vintage Hankies were so Popular
There were so many varieties and brands and after much research I began to be knowledgeable. Some were linen, cotton, or blends and some were beautiful thread-drawn cotton wedding hankies as shown above. Some had scalloped edges, rolled edges and plain edging. So beautiful.
It was a happy time, and I looked forward to taking photos and trying different layouts. It lasted for a few months, but the time had to end it was getting harder to find good quality old hankies and my inventory was running low. I dabbled in old jewelry, but it wasn’t the same. I even tried my hand at re-purposing the less than perfect craft hankies into sachets. But nothing compared to those new old hankies. It was a bitter-sweet end.
I took a lot from this exciting experience, and I learned a lot about opening an Etsy shop along with an Ebay shop to sell other items that were not a good fit for the Etsy market.
Being an entrepreneur is something I’ve always wanted to do, but making enough money to support yourself is another story. But maybe the learning experience of taking photos, writing item description’s, shipping, curating products and more will eventually lead me to another journey that’s more successful that the last.
Hankie Gallery
And lastly a beautiful gallery of some of my hankies sold.
Thank You Kindly