Crocheted Shell Bedspread, Plate 10 (1918): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Cotton crochet thread — the book prints no size for this design
• Steel crochet hook to suit the thread (no hook number is printed in the original)
• Tapestry needle for joining and for the ends
• Hook: Check: this book prints no hook number and no needle number for any design — not on the cover, not on the abbreviations page and not beside any plate. No modern hook can therefore be read across from a printed size. Match the hook to the thread the design names and change size until the fabric matches the photograph.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sp

space

sk

skip

sh

shell

row

row

rep

repeat

Notes before you start

• Source: "A Crocheted Shell Bedspread" (Plate 10), Knitted and Crocheted Bed Spreads, Book No. 11, Anne Orr, Nashville, Tennessee, 1918. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Not printed — the book gives no cotton number for this design.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own printed definitions under “DIRECTIONS OF STITCHES”, printed page 2 (image p-02.jpg), not by the look of the abbreviation. The naming is MODERN US. Its “SINGLE CROCHET” (No. 3) is: “Make chain, insert hook through second last chain, throw thread over hook, draw through, throw thread over hook, draw through both loops at once.” That is the modern US sc. Its “DOUBLE CROCHET” (No. 4) is: “Throw thread over hook and draw a loop through foundation chain; throw thread over hook and draw through two loops, thread over hook and draw through last two loops.” That is the modern US dc, not a single. Its “TREBLE CROCHET” (No. 5) is: “Throw thread over hook twice, draw a loop through foundation chain, throw thread over again, draw through the two loops, throw thread over and draw through two, thread over and draw through last two.” That is the modern US tr. Its “SLIP STITCH” (No. 2) is: “Insert hook in foundation chain, draw a loop through it and the loop on hook.” Its “PICOT” (No. 6) is: “Chain 4 and make single crochet in fourth chain from hook.” So this book's sc, dc and tc/tr are written sc, dc and tr here with no shift of height.
• Modernisation note: The book's “CROCHET ABBREVIATIONS” list, printed page 2 (image p-02.jpg), reads: “ch—stands for chain. sc—stands for single crochet. dc—stands for double crochet. tc—stands for treble crochet. sl st—stands for slip stitch. st—stands for stitch. blk—stands for block. hdc—stands for half double crochet. lat—stands for lattice. sp—stands for space. h tr—stands for half treble. tr—stands for treble. p—stands for picot. m—stands for mesh. f m—stands for fancy mesh. l m—stands for long mesh. sk—stands for skip. sh—stands for shell. r st—stands for roll stitch. tr tr—stands for triple treble. ks—stands for knot stitch. d tr—stands for double treble.” The book lists both “tc” and “tr” for the same stitch, treble; both are written tr below and that is the only abbreviation changed.
• Modernisation note: The book's own definitions for the fancy stitches used in these designs, all printed page 2 (image p-02.jpg), quoted so nothing has to be guessed. ROLL STITCH (No. 17): “Roll thread around needle 15 times, put thread over and draw loop through the entire 15 loops, then make one chain stitch.” KNOT STITCH (No. 8): “Having a st on the needle, drawing the loop out to the length of 3 ch, draw the thread through for ch st. Take up the single thread of this loop and work one sc st on it. Repeat once. Skip 5 sts of the previous row, if not knot st, and work 1 sc. If the previous row be knot st, make 1 sc each side of the sc between the long loops of last row.” SHELL (No. 14): “Make chain required length. Ch 3 for 1st tr, 3 tr in 4th st of ch, ch 2, 3 tr in same st *, sk 5, 3 tr in next st, ch 2, 3 tr in same st. Repeat from *. 2d Row of Shells—Make sh in each ch 2.” FANCY MESH (No. 13): “Also called Lacet. This consists of two rows. The first a row of long meshes, 1 dc, 5 ch, skip 5 st, 1 dc, repeat. For the second row, 1 dc in dc of long mesh, ch 3, catch in center of 5 ch of 1 m, ch 3, dc over dc.” SPACE (No. 7): “This is for Filet Crochet Work. Chain two stitches, skip two stitches, one double crochet into next stitch.” BLOCK (No. 9): “Also for Filet Crochet. Four dc in adjoining sts. The number of dc in adjoining blocks is found by multiplying the number of blocks by 3 and adding one.”
• Modernisation note: The book calls every round and every row a “Row” (“1st Row—”, “2d Row—”). Pieces worked outward in joined rounds from a centre ring are labelled “Rnd” below and pieces worked back and forth keep “Row”; the numbering is the book's own and nothing has been renumbered. Run-on paragraphs are split at the book's own row marks, one row or step per line. No stitch has been added, removed or reordered.
• Modernisation note: Every figure below was read back against the page image, because the scanned text of this book carries the usual optical slips: its “8” and “38” very often stand for the printed 3 (the scan's “ch 8” is “ch 3” on the page in most places), its “Ist” and “ist” are 1st, its “de” is dc, its “bik” is blk, its “si st” is sl st, its “\4”, “}%”, “14” and “1%” all stand for the printed ½, its “trin” and “scinto” are “tr in” and “sc into”, and its “WMake” is Make. The rows below follow what the printed page actually shows; the quoted extract for each design is left exactly as the scan reads, untidied.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed anywhere in this book.
• Modernisation note: No finished size is printed for this design — the book gives no bed size, no motif measurement and no stitch-to-inch figure — so none is stated here.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed for any design in this book. The photographs show a plain light thread. White and écru are recorded below as the usual period choices for a cotton bedspread, not as this design's printed colour.
• Modernisation note: Modern thread suggestions below are added by this transcription and are not in the original; the original's own cotton number is kept in the materials exactly as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: no thread and no quantity are printed for this design at all — the page begins straight at “1st Row”. No cotton number has been carried over from the neighbouring plates and no yardage has been invented.
• Modernisation note: The book's “ks” is its knot stitch and “k” means one knot of that stitch; both are kept as printed. Its knot stitch is defined on page 2 and quoted above. Its “sh” is its shell, also defined on page 2.
• Modernisation note: Check: rows 5, 9, 13, 17 and 21 open with a printed ½ (“½ ks”), which the scan variously reads as “\4”, “}%”, “14” and “1%”. The page image shows ½ in every one of them. Half a knot stitch is the first long loop of the knot only — the book does not say so, and the reading is left open rather than resolved here.
• Modernisation note: Check: row 5 also prints “½ ch 4” before the turn, where every other row prints plain “ch 4”. The page image agrees; it is left as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: row 13 prints “½ ks, 2 whole ks, 6 sh” — “whole” appearing only here, which supports reading the leading ½ as a genuine half knot rather than an optical slip.
• Modernisation note: Check: rows 3 and 5 say to work into “next sp (or k)”, the book allowing either the chain space or the knot itself; that choice is the book's and is kept.
• Modernisation note: Check: the shell counts across rows 7 to 23 (3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1) are as printed. They do not run as a perfectly even rise and fall, and the book gives no chart to check them against; work a sample against the photograph before starting a whole spread.
• Modernisation note: The scan's “8 tc” in row 3 is written “8 tr” here — the book's own abbreviation list gives tc and tr as the same stitch, treble.