Storing handkerchiefs

[j]

I just today received about 50 different handkerchiefs in the mail to add to my collection of 15 or so. I am trying to figure out how to store these so they don't get too creased, but also so I can pick one out, because almost all of them are different colours/patterns. Does anyone have any ideas here? I can't dedicate a whole bunch of space to this.

Thanks.

j.

 

[Steve B.]

J,

Are they pocket squares, or handkerchiefs?

 

[j]

Yes.

They are all around 16" x 16", and I call them all handkerchiefs as I think the term pocket square is ridiculous. We may as well call pants "leg rectangles", and socks "foot cylinders". If you mean are they useful or for accessory only, some are useful, and those I will just fold and stack as they are all just white cotton or linen, and some are for accessory - the coloured and patterned ones. I don't buy silk 'squares' as they seem somehow affected to me, so they all are cotton or linen. It's the latter group I am trying to figure out how to store, so I can pick one easily without having to rifle through stacks upon stacks. I would rather not crease them by folding them up small either. I don't know if there really is a solution; I'm sure I'll have to compromise and probably end up folding them and filing them next to each other in a drawer like my socks.

 

[Steve B.]

J,

I have lots of silk ones- all different colors, most solid. I stack then on a shelf in light to dark colors like my knits, folded lengthwise twice (quarters). Because they're silk, they stay unwrinkled.

And they can be affected yes, although I prefer the term swashbuckling....

 

[j]

Yeah, silk 'quadranglular fabric accent accessories' would stay unwrinkled, which would be a plus. I just don't swashbuckle very often, so I don't have any. If I ever have to do any swashbuckling, I'll pick up a few.

I guess I just like to think that if really necessary, I actually could use the handkerchief for something, like stopping bleeding or tying a tourniquet. It's something about keeping the practical origins of things... I don't know.

 

[bcmc]

I leave all my linen and silk handkerchiefs laying flat in a single stack on a sweater shelf in my wardrobe. I never know how I'm going to use it until I get dressed. Sometimes they end up folded in an inside pocket, and sometimes they are stuffed in an outer pocket to be seen.