The best handkerchiefs that a man can carry, or wear in his breast pocket, are Irish linen, meaning the cloth was woven in Ireland where there is more than a thousand years of linen weaving expertise.
Now, linen is a fabric made with some difficulty from the fiber of the flax plant and almost every article made in linen is also made in cotton less expensively. If it were it merely a question of price, no-one would carry or wear linen handkerchiefs however the advantages of linen are that it is stronger than cotton, smoother, and absorbs water rapidly. That means it tends to hold its shape in a jacket pocket, and is better for blowing, or for mopping up a spill.
The best size for a man's linen handkerchief is about 17" on a side. They are made as large as 19 and even 20 inches but the larger sizes tend to be bulky in a jacket pocket.
The design of the handkerchief may be plain or, for some additional cost, patterned but for use in a jacket pocket its most important characteristic is the design of the edges. There are two common finishes. The hemstitched variety in the top photograph are finished by machine.
Hand rolled edges, like the ones in the second photo, require significantly more time to sew and can cost up to twice as much as their hemstitched relations. They also look better on display.
A man may need half a dozen or more handkerchiefs for hygienic purposes but two or three should suffice for display. And as with the rest of his clothing, they should be the best he can afford.
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6 comments:
No doubt Irish linen is a fine product, but do you have any evidence for your claim that it is the best, in particular that it is better than the finest Belgian linen?
The Belgians grow some of the best flax in the world, and their weaving is very good. But not one but two of my suppliers, one a weaver imself and both far better versed than myself, have told me that the Irish remain the best.
Will, I don't know about the three models in the first photo of your entry but hemstitched handkerchiefs are ideally also finished by hand and as such require much more work than a simple, rolled seam.
That's interesting Florian. Hemstitching to me looks machine stitched. What would be better done by hand?
Will, hemstitching (granted we are referring to the same thing, which is in my case the small "holes" at the edges) is an old technique which is best done by hand. A certain number of weft yarns is removed from the cloth and the warp yarns are grouped and secured with cotton or silk thread. Many old folklore blouses and shirts are decorated this way. The motif shown on a typical linen handkerchief is relatively simple, other garments and pieces of cloth such as bedsheets take more ornate hemstitching.
Glancing at Givan's Irish Linen site, probably the best manufacturer of linen products in the world, note the different in cost between the hemstitched handkerchief vs. the hand-rolled handkerchief: http://www.givans.co.uk/products/133 vs. http://www.givans.co.uk/products/134
Thus, I think Will and Mr. Kubleck may both be correct, provided one has an apples to apples comparison of both types being handmade vs. one being handmade and the other being machine-made.
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