DIY: Vintage Hankie-Wrapped Hanging Mason Jars

My grandma and mom recently lent me their stock of vintage hankies from my great-grandmother and great-great grandmother to be used in our wedding next month. They both had such a stock- it was crazy! What I found really amazing was that any time a letter was sent to a friend, it was customary to include one of these hankies. Can you imagine if that was still done today with emails? Our inboxes would runneth-over with these pretty little keepsakes.

I have a couple of ideas of how I’m going to use these in our wedding, but I wanted to share one with you that you could use, regardless of if you’re getting married: hanging Mason jars wrapped with vintage hankies- a lovely addition to your patio or home.

[just a selection from the stash that I was loaned]

 

[get all your supplies together!]

This is simple to put together, but step by step directions are below:

1. Pick a hankie to use. Seriously, this is the hardest part.
2. Fold your hankie in half, then fold down the hemmed edge about an inch or so, depending on the size of your Mason jar. You just want the height of your hankie to be just less than the height of your jar.
3. Wrap the hankie ’round.
4. Secure with a pretty little bow.
5. Now the fun part: making the hanger. I found this amazing bark-wrapped wire here. It took about 3 weeks to arrive, which is longer than my Amazon-Prime-Spoiled-Self would have liked, but I’ll deal. Estimate the amount of wire you need based on the circumference of the mouth of your jar, plus how far you want it to hang down. Then add a few inches just to be safe.
6. Cut the wire. I included this because I didn’t have any wire trimmers on hand. I just twisted the piece in the spot where I wanted it cut for about 30 seconds, then it popped off. It’s not the most professional method, and as you can see it made a bit of a mess, but it got the job done.
7. Starting with one end of the wire, wrap around the jar, just under the lip of the mouth and twist and tuck to secure one side. Create your loop that will be your hanger, and bring the other end under the circle of wire that’s under the mouth of your jar. Did I make that way too confusing? I might have. Let me know.
8. Twist the wire of your final side and make sure that it’s secure. Trim off any excess wire.

Now just fill with either a tea light (careful that it doesn’t get too hot and burn the bark wire, if you go that route), or fill with pretty flowers and hang for all to admire. I’m not telling which one I’m doing

As an added bonus, check out what I did with several paper doilies that I glued in a row, then wrapped around a mason jar and secured with twine. Cutie? Would make a great candle holder or vase.