Handkerchief Bonnet

Here is a very easy special gift for a baby. You use a dainty handkerchief to make a bonnet. This one was plain white so I added a embroidered flowers on the corners. You can use bought handkerchiefs, vintage ones or make one from linen or batiste. All you do is fold the handkerchief almost in half leaving the rows of lace next to each other to frame the face. After it is folded, you stitch along the fold leaving enough room for the ribbon. Insert the ribbon through the casing you made and tie tightly gathering it into a circle and forming the back. For the ribbon ties, you can make rosettes with the ribbon or a couple of folds and attach to the front corners. Add the following poem for a great gift. Here and here are a couple of links I found that had other versions of this bonnet.

I'm just a lttle handkerchief,

Quite square as you can see.

but with a stitch or two they made

A bonnet out of me.

I'll be worn home from the hospital

Or on the christening day

then neatly pressed and folded

I'll be carefully packed away.

On her wedding day a bride must have,

Traditionally, something old...

Good Luck, good health and happiness

It brings her so I'm told.

Then what could be more pleasant

Than to unpack little me

To snip a stich or two and find

Her handkerchief I'll be.

And if I'm first worn by a boy

He'll surely someday wed

Then he can give his lovely bride

This hanky once worn on this head.