Ladies’ Filet Crochet Sweater No. 853 (1919): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool-blend yarn — the original was Utopia Llama Wool, 8 balls (color not named)
• Crochet hook (original: No. 3)
• 6 buttons
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) and change size so 34 rows of the stripe pattern measure 10 in (25.5 cm), as printed (no stitch gauge is printed)

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

sl st

slip stitch

sk

skip

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

row

row

inc

increase

Notes before you start

• Source: "Ladies’ Utopia Filet Crochet Sweater No. 853" (No. 853), Utopia Yarn Book: Being a Practical Treatise on Knitting and Crocheting (Fourteenth Edition), Henry E. Frankenberg Co., New York, 1919. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: 8 balls Utopia Llama Wool. 1 crochet hook No. 3.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own definitions ("Explanation of Terms Used in Crocheting"), not by name: s. c. ("insert hook in ch. or st., draw the wool through, over, and draw through both loops on hook") = modern US sc; h. d. c. (over, insert, draw a loop through, over, draw through the three loops) = hdc; d. c. (over, insert, draw a loop through, over and through two loops twice) = dc; t. c. / treble crochet ("over twice", then through two loops three times) = tr; sl. st. (insert, over, draw through st and loop on hook) = sl st; ch. = ch; "over" = yo. For these stitches the 1919 American names already match modern US usage, so no stitch changes height.
• Modernisation note: The book's abbreviation "M." is defined as "Mesh; Ch. 2, skip 2 sts., 1 d. c. on d. c." and is written as "mesh" (ch 2, sk 2, dc in next dc); where a design says its meshes have 1 ch between, that is stated in the row. "Space" and "block" are kept as printed. Dc counts printed between meshes (e.g. "7 d. c.") are kept exactly as printed.
• Modernisation note: Period abbreviations and wording modernised: s. c., h. d. c., d. c., t. c., sl. st., ch. written as sc, hdc, dc, tr, sl st, ch; "m." written as mesh; "st. of ch." written as "ch" where the stitch is a chain; "wool"/"thread" written as yarn; "needle" (used for the crochet hook) written as hook; "break off yarn" written as "fasten off"; "repeat" written as "rep"; ordinal row names ("Second Row", "Twenty-first Row") written as Row 2, Row 21.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts unchanged. Section headings added for navigation where the text runs on.
• Modernisation note: Hook numbers (bone, ivory, amber/celluloid No. 1–5) refer to the book's own illustrated scale of 1919 hooks, which pictures the hooks but prints no diameters, so no exact metric size can be read from the book. The suggested modern hook is a starting point chosen for the yarn weight.
• Modernisation note: No stitch gauge is printed anywhere in the book; work a swatch and match any printed measurements (in the modern gauge line) before starting.
• Modernisation note: Utopia yarns are 1919 trade names with no exact modern equivalent. The modern CYC weight given is an approximation only: Utopia Shetland Floss was a soft, fine, lofty 2-ply wool (treated here as fine, CYC #2); Utopia Alpaca and Llama wools, and the Worsted and Silk Mixture, as light (CYC #3); Utopia Germantown (zephyr) as light (CYC #3) and 8 Fold Germantown as medium (CYC #4); Scotch Knitting Yarn/Worsted as medium (CYC #4); 3 Fold Saxony as super fine (CYC #1). Yardage is never printed — the book gives skeins, balls or hanks only, and their weight is not stated.
• Modernisation note: Size is given only as a 1919 bust size; vintage sizing and ease differ from today's — compare the printed lengths with a garment that fits before starting.
• Modernisation note: Repeats are kept as printed ("repeat from * 3 more times" means 4 repeats in all).
• Modernisation note: "1 t. c." written as tr (the book's treble crochet is worked "over twice", a modern US treble).
• Modernisation note: "3 s. c. on next 3 sts." written as "sc on next 3 sts"; "on" and "in" are used interchangeably in the book and mean the same insertion.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 4 prints "ch. 2, skip 2 sts., 5 s. c. on next 5 sts." without the opening asterisk that the "repeat from *" refers to; the asterisk is placed as in Rows 2, 3 and 5.
• Modernisation note: Check: the stripe rows do not print where the mesh stripe begins and ends at the row edges, and the chain counts at the turns vary (ch 3, ch 5). Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: "Chain 95 sts. for sleeve, work 31 m." — the meshes over the chain do not reconcile exactly with 3 ch per mesh. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the fronts are described in one continuous paragraph that moves between right front, left front and sleeves; the order is kept, but the construction of the 45-chain front extension is not fully explained. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.