Postable Presents: The Envelope Gift

Envelope gifts.... a thoughtful gift small enough to post

Straight from the 1930s, the decade that wrote the handbook for austerity comes the envelope gift. A little something that can be packed into an ordinary envelope and posted domestically or overseas for the cost of a stamp.

Envelope gifts have been around for centuries, but seem to have fallen by the wayside in our recent digital era. The rate of online shopping parcels has increased exponentially, while the art of the handwritten letter containing a little keepsake has very definitely declined.

Way back in second century China, people started the tradition of giving cash gifts in paper envelopes. But as time went on, especially during the late 19th and 20th centuries, these envelope gifts evolved into small, meaningful items that are easy to mail or hand over as presents.

These were often handmade and may or may not include a card with a lovely note. Sometimes the card or envelope itself was the gift, displaying a beautiful artwork that could be framed or pasted into an album. Some other favourites from the late Victorian and Edwardian eras include monogrammed stationery, small books, doilies, bookmarks, a length of lace or fine silk embroidery thread.

This holiday season, I've realized how much I love getting a good old handwritten letter or card in the mail. Whether it comes with a little gift or not. In our world of online meetings, emails, and social media messages, it's really special that someone took the time to sit down with pen and paper to write me a note, address the envelope, buy a stamp, and drop it in the mailbox. It means a lot to me. Honestly, it's one of my favorite things to do (just behind knitting), and I'd love for sending letters and cards to become popular again.

I was recently trawling through my vintage magazine collection and came across an article from the 1930s about making handkerchiefs from cotton shirt tails and sleeves that mentioned their suitability for envelope gifting. It even included some suggestions for adding dainty crochet edgings.

So this year, that is precisely what I will be doing. For some I have found some lovely vintage holiday season postcards, for others I have made bookmarks using attractive yarn ball bands with small scraps of the leftover yarn as tassels, for others, handkerchiefs with crochet edgings. I would like to call them dainty, however my crochet skills are just a little on the questionable side, so we'll go with pretty.

My crochet efforts so far- I found some lovely vintage fabrics that feature some sweet embroidery

I am using some vintage and some new fabrics and I did purchase some fine cotton in matching colours to make my edgings, but all in all it's cost me just a few dollars including the stamps to create some practical pretty gifts for each of those friends and loved ones who do not live close enough to visit in person this year.

If you would like to try your hand at your own version of an envelope gift handkerchief, check out the recipe below.

I'm currently attempting the edging that goes along with the square medallion. If you give any of these a try, make sure you let us know in the comments or feel free to email me a pic at megs@vintagemegknits.com