When going through my great grandmother’s things, we found a few beautiful old handkerchiefs. Not knowing what I would do with them, I took them home until I came up with an idea. I finally found a use for some of them and made a tutorial for how to make bookmarks from fabric. They are completely no-sew fabric bookmarks, so anyone can make them. If you like this project, make sure you also check out my DIY Bookmarks post. Also take a look at these fun tween and teen craft ideas!
Now I can enjoy the beauty of the old hankies and think about my great grandmother every time I use the bookmarks.
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To make these no-sew fabric bookmarks, you’ll need:
- vintage handkerchief or other scrap of fabric
- scrap of thick fabric, such as canvas or duck cloth
- paper backed, no-sew, fusible interfacing (Heat ‘n Bond Ultrahold)
- ruler
- pen or pencil
- parchment paper
- scissors
- scallop fabric shears or pinking shears
How to Make Bookmark from Fabric
Start by drawing a 2 x 6 inch rectangle on the paper side of your interfacing.
Position the interfacing, paper-side-up, on the “wrong” side of your handkerchief. Iron it down and let it cool. If your handkerchiefs are thin, like mine were, use a piece or parchment paper to protect your ironing board from the interfacing. The stickiness on mine seeped through a little.
Cut out the rectangle.
Peel off the paper backing.
Place your rectangle on top of your thicker fabric, with the interfacing side down. Make sure it’s a solid fabric with no print. White worked great for mine! Iron it down and let it cool.
Cut out your rectangle again, with some fabric scissors. Then trim both sides with the scalloped shears, to make a pretty design on the edge. You can use regular pinking shears for this as well, but I really like the scallops.
You can totally play around with this tutorial and use different scraps of fabric. They don’t have to be handkerchiefs. I made some for my girls with scraps of some unicorn fabric that I had sitting around. They love them!
Check out these other projects from Cutesy Crafts:
How to Make a Blanket for a Baby
Beauty and the Beast Coloring Page Bookmarks
You might also like these DIY Key Fobs from Woodberry Way.
Learn how to make bookmarks with vintage hankies or scraps of fabric. No sewing required! Use parchment paper to protect your ironing board.How to Make Bookmarks from Fabric
Materials
Tools
Instructions
Notes
Becky
Thursday 21st of March 2019
Love Love your bookmarks. I've got some vintage tablecloths that are stained in spots. Think I'll make a few of these, maybe punch a hole in the top and add a tassle. Thank you
Jessica @ Cutesy Crafts
Thursday 21st of March 2019
Oh good ideas! I bet the tablecloths will look really cute!
Amber LaBounty
Thursday 21st of March 2019
That's a great idea!! Love this.
Jessica @ Cutesy Crafts
Thursday 21st of March 2019
Thank you!