Ladies’ Sleeveless Filet Crochet Sweater No. 849 (1919): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool-and-silk blend yarn — the original was Utopia Worsted and Silk Mixture, 6 balls (color not named)
• Crochet hook (original: No. 3)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 4 mm (US G-6) and change size so the 5 belt rows measure 2 in (5 cm), as printed (no stitch gauge is printed)

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

dc

double crochet

sk

skip

st

stitch

rep

repeat

row

row

inc

increase

dec

decrease

Notes before you start

• Source: "Utopia Ladies’ Sleeveless Filet Crochet Sweater No. 849" (No. 849), 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: 6 Balls Utopia Worsted and Silk Mixture.; 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: The armhole edging is labelled as rounds (Rnd 1–2); the book says "Second Row".
• Modernisation note: The asterisks before Rows 64 and 66 are kept where printed; "Repeat from *" follows Row 73.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 2 prints "work * 5 m. by ch. 2, 1 d. c. on d. c., repeat from * for 6 times"; the 3 dc block between repeats is inferred from Row 3 ("always work the 3 d. c. on d. c."). Left otherwise as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 23 prints "repeat from *" with no asterisk in the row; the asterisk is placed at the start.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 28 "Work 39 m., making 14 rows; on 43d row decrease 1 st. on each side for the next 5 rows … work 9 rows" and then jumps to Row 60; the row numbers do not add up exactly. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: shoulder Rows 64–73 give one side only, and the counts (e.g. Row 67 "2 m., 3 d. c., 10 m.") alternate sides of the line of 3 dc. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: in the front neck rows, "3 d. c." and "6 d. c." counts are kept as printed; Row 85 shows 6 dc where the rows around it show 3 dc.
• Modernisation note: Check: armhole Rnd 1 "4 d. c., 2 m., 4 d. c. alternately" does not say what the dc are worked into. Left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.