Sleeveless Cutaway Sweater with Peplum No. 825 (1919): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool-blend yarn — the original was Utopia Llama Wool: 6 balls of Cream White and 2 balls of Maize
• Crochet hook (original: No. 4)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) and change size so the 75-ch foundation measures 13 in (33 cm) and 56 dc measure 11 in (28 cm), as printed

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

sk

skip

st

stitch

sts

stitches

yo

yarn over

lp

loop

rep

repeat

row

row

inc

increase

dec

decrease

Notes before you start

• Source: "Utopia Sleeveless Cutaway Sweater with Peplum and Popcorn Stitch, No. 825" (No. 825), 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: 2 balls Maize Utopia Llama Wool. 6 balls Cream White Utopia Llama Wool. 1 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: 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: 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: "Yellow" in the text refers to the Maize yarn in the materials; written as Maize where the color is changed and kept as "yellow" in the stripe count.
• Modernisation note: The popcorn st definition, printed in the middle of the peplum text, is moved to its own line first.
• Modernisation note: Check: the stitch this design calls "popcorn st." is not a modern popcorn (a group of dc closed by pulling a loop through the first). As printed — yo, draw a loop through, yo, draw through one loop, yo, draw through 2 loops — it leaves 2 loops on the hook; it is most likely meant to be completed like the book's "long crochet" (an extended dc) or closed with the following sc. Left as printed; swatch before starting.
• Modernisation note: Check: the peplum rows are printed as one run (dc row, turn, ch 3, dc row, then the popcorn row, then "2 rows" of dc); the row labels follow this reading, so each Cream White stripe is 2 dc rows.
• Modernisation note: Check: "skip 30 sts. for front" at the peplum waistline and "on other 30 sts. continue pattern straight down front" are not tied together clearly. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: The book does not say how the 3 large buttons are made; the "Crocheted Button" in its general explanations is one option.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.