The lovers´s handkerchiefs date from eighteen century. They are embroided with the care that only be felt by the heart of a girl who has reached the age to fall in love.
"The origin of "fiancé kerchiefs", also known as "kerchiefs of proposal", is thought to date back to the distinguihed and noble times of the 17th and 18th centuries and were adapted by the woman of the people who made use of them when they aspired to win their fiancés hearts.
As well as being part of female attire, they were used for decorative purposes.
They were for the most part square shaped (50 to 60 cm) linen or cotton made and embroidered according to the taste of each embroideress.
These proposal wraps represented, to some extent, the proof of the embroideresses devotion towards the men they were in love with and were, for such a purpose, offered to them.
Those declaratios were rarely unaccepted so the engaged boys would then make their engagement public by wearnig the kerchiefs over their Sunday best suit or as neckerchiefs so that they coul d openly be shown off.
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"Beforestarting to design these kerchiefs girls would first paractise cross stitching on maps and markers in order to gain experience and reach perfection and afterwards, theywould work their own pieces out.
Everything was done on account of the fantasies: love, which seemed to be the direct cause of those rich and effusive artisan items.
Since then, these kerchiefs have portrayed various kinds of sentiments felt by marriageable girls, expressed through symbols of faithfulness or religious devotion in regard to the wedding act, and through quatrains that in most cases reveal the illiteracy of the embroideress, as bad spelling or misspelling are common.
" in website www.aliancartesanal.pt
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