Handkerchiefs, pattern design and Eduardo

The Pocket Square

Pocket Square
Handkerchief
Kerchief
Hanky

A handkerchief is a square piece of cotton, linen or silk fabric, carried in a pocket or bag. It was developed for personal hygiene, the pocket square is decorative only and is used as a fashion accessory in the breast pocket of a suit jacket. It is possible to buy men's handkerchiefs in some large department stores, but women's handkerchiefs are more difficult to find except in vintage shops. Follow the instructions below and make one.

1. Buy some fine cotton, linen or silk fabric. It must be washable.
2. Wash and/or dry the fabric and iron it before cutting.
3. Measure and cut to size.
4. Use a ruler to measure and mark the fabric the size of handkerchief you want to make plus 5cm for the hem.
5. A man's handkerchief is 30cm square and woman's is 22cm square.
6. Using a sharp pair of scissors, cut the square(s).
7. Fold the edge over 12mm and iron flat.
8. Fold the same edge over again another 12mm and iron flat.
9. Using your sewing machine, stitch the edge all the way around. Repeat on all edges.
10. Iron and fold.
11. Place in top pocket or bag.

The Handkerchief Drill

While researching the humble hanky, I found this hilarious public information film from the Welcome Collection. It tells the story of the man who refused to use his handkerchief, and became a public menace. Click the link below.

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/whats-on/events/quacks-and-cures-2/public-information-films.aspx?view=handkerchief-drill

Despite the true purpose of a hanky being a hygienic way of keeping ones nose tidy and stopping the spread of germs, most men's hankies are white. It would be more sensible to print dark colours onto the hanky. In sartorial terms, I assume a crisply folded, ice white handkerchief is a sign of wealth and good breeding. I should consider that a hanky is a small square of pattern that "reads" when viewed from all four sides and not have more than four colours. That is a commercial reality, but when imagining it, blue sky thinking is the name of the game. I am going to fill my squares with patterns, colours and quirky pictures. Good taste is to be abandoned and Mr Sartorial will have to put up with a jazzy pocket square. 

Playing around with my images and marks, almost in the same way as Klee took a line for a walk. Not over thinking, not worrying about what I think surface pattern should look like, enjoying the last few days of UNIT X

Graphic designer Simon Cook has collaborated with silk scarf designer Lucy Jay to create an unusual series of pocket handkerchiefs. The designs are very extreme but I can learn a lot about design and colour from this work

This work reminds me of the artist screen prints Eduardo Paolozzi in the early 1970's. 

Paolozzi was a sculptor but he also produced graphic art and pottery, made films and was a successful writer. Paolozzi taught textile design at the Central School of Art and St. Martin's School of Art. He was a Surrealist and enjoyed art Brut. He was an avid collector of anything strange,  colourful or bizarre, often incorporating this into his found object sculptures. He was a active in  the development of English Pop-Art. His best known public work is the mosaic designs in the tube station at Tottenham Court Road in London.

To see more of his work click the link below

http://www.modernprints.co.uk/artist/eduardo-paolozzi