Ladies’ Negligee Slippers No. 560 (1919): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool yarn — the original was Utopia Germantown: 1½ skeins of Pink and ¼ skein of White
• About 15 pearl beads
• A pair of wool or felt slipper soles (original: No. 6 Madonna wool soles)
• Crochet hook (original: amber hook No. 4)
• Sewing needle and tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) and change size so the slipper fits the sole (no gauge is printed)

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

dc

double crochet

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

inc

increase

Notes before you start

• Source: "Ladies’ Negligee Slippers of Pink Utopia Germantown Yarn and White Yarn, No. 560" (No. 560), 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: 1½ skeins Pink Germantown. ¼ skein White Germantown Yarn. About 15 Pearl beads. Amber Crochet Hook, No. 4.. 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: This design is printed in the book's compressed shorthand ("wk." work, "e." each/every, "r./rs." row(s), "inc./dcr." increase/decrease, "cro." crochet, "y." yarn, "cen." center, "fr." front, "gr./grs." group(s), "rd./rds." ridge(s), "sp./sps." space(s), "re." repeat, "patt." pattern, "pl." plain, "cir." circle, "che." chenille, "col." color, and color abbreviations such as "pk." pink, "wh." white, "bl." blue); these are spelled out.
• 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: 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: "Break off y." written as "fasten off"; "cord sps." and "ribbon sps." (the same row of spaces) kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: "Stk. St.—Stack-stitch" appears in the book's list of crochet abbreviations but is never defined, and "loop sts." are not defined either. Left as printed; swatch before starting.
• Modernisation note: Check: the rose is described only as "a flat rose of 5 petals"; the book's general "Roses and Leaves" instructions (a ring of 15 dc with 5 petal loops) may be what is meant.
• Modernisation note: Check: how the White cord is made is not printed (the book's other cords are a chain with sc worked back along it).
• Modernisation note: No. 6 Madonna wool soles were a purchased sole of the period; any soft slipper sole that fits can be used.