I wish I could find a good picture online (still looking, but I wanted to put this up)
Since I had an attack of sinusitis plus allergies this week, I wanted my avatar to look equally miserable, and I was thinking, she needs a handkerchief or something.
And, thinking about it, the hand pose kind of looks like the avatar could be holding it in a really old-school kind of flirting type thing. I don't remember what era it was, but the girls would drop their handkerchief so the boy they were flirting with could pick it up.
To get to the point:
Handkerchiefs with colored lace borders.
Wish I was at my parents, I have some that my babcia had made and I'd just take a picture. All the google ones so far are all white.
Edit:
They apparently were Victorian.
Also, on page 17 of the search, but more contrast between lace and hanky color:
