Six-Point Star Centerpiece in Carpet Warp, Plate 9 (1915): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• 2 spools cotton carpet warp (modern 8/4 cotton rug warp is the nearest equivalent; spool yardage not printed — check your label)
• Round linen centre (not listed in the original; size not printed — see the photograph)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 1.9 mm (US steel 5), the modern hook of the printed number; carpet warp is heavy, so go up a size if the work is tight, and change size to reach the printed finished size.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Instructions for Plate No. 9", Center Pieces and Lunch Sets in Crochet Work, Anne Orr, 1915. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: 2 spools of Carpet Warp, Steel Crochet Needle No. 5.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: A "fan" is 3 sc, ch 1, 3 sc in the same place; the first point starts as a strip of 25 fans worked back and forth, and the chain loops are then built out from its side.
• Modernisation note: Check: "sl st over the 6 ch, st 10 times, in each" means covering each ch-6 loop with 10 sl st (or tight sc); the book calls them sl st.
• Modernisation note: Check: rows 3–9 as printed each end with half a loop left, so the point narrows by one loop each row; rows 5–9 all say "Same as 4th row" although the loop count drops each time.
• Modernisation note: Check: the inner-edge instructions (the passage beginning "join thread to middle of scallop") fill the space between neighbouring points and are very condensed; kept word for word apart from splitting into steps. The book does not describe attaching the star to the linen; the photograph shows a round linen centre.
• Modernisation note: "2d" is written "2nd" and "3d" "3rd" in the final section only where the sentence was split; stitches unchanged.
• Modernisation note: Carpet warp was a heavy, firmly twisted cotton warp for rag rugs; the modern equivalent is 8/4 cotton rug warp. It is much heavier than the crochet threads used elsewhere in the book.
• Modernisation note: Stitch names mapped by the book's own definitions: its single crochet = modern US sc, double crochet = modern US dc, treble crochet = modern US tr, slip stitch = sl st, picot = ch 4, sc in 4th ch from hook. These match modern US usage, so no stitch was converted; only the abbreviation "tc" (treble crochet) is written "tr".
• Modernisation note: The book calls every round a "Row" ("First Row—"). Pieces worked in joined rounds are labelled "Rnd 1:" etc.; pieces worked back and forth keep "Row". Run-on paragraphs were split into one round or step per line; no stitches were added, removed or reordered.
• Modernisation note: Anne Orr's phrasing "1 sc, join into …" / "join to top of sc" means work the stitch into the place named; it is kept as printed. "St of ch" (e.g. "middle st of ch 5") is kept.
• Modernisation note: Steel crochet needle (hook) numbers of 1915 were not standardised to millimetres; the starting hook is the modern US steel hook of the same number. Change size so the piece reaches the printed size.
• Modernisation note: Thread is printed in spools only; spool yardage is not printed, so no yardage has been invented.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed in the book.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions and modern thread and hook suggestions were added; they are not in the original.