No. 5453 Lace for a Guest Towel (1916): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 20 or 30 mercerized cotton crochet thread — approximate; the original was 1 ball of Artamo Cordonnet No. 25, a size no longer commonly made
• Steel crochet hook (original: No. 5 steel hook)
• A guest towel to sew the lace to
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 1.9 mm (US steel 5) — approximate; change size until the lace lies flat

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

row

row

rep

repeat

sk

skip

sp

space

lp

loop

sh

shell

tch

turning chain

Notes before you start

• Source: "Lace for Towel No. 5453" (5453), The Artamo Crochet Book No. 1, Bentley-Franklin Company, New York, 1916. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: 1 Ball “ARTAMO” Cordonnet No. 25.; 1 Steel Crochet Hook No. 5.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own key (“The Rudimentary Stitches of Crochet”, book pages 2-3), not by name. The key defines: chain (ch); “single crochet (s. c.)”, sometimes called tight stitch or half stitch — draw up a loop and draw another loop through both loops on the needle, which is the modern US single crochet; “double crochet (d. c.)”, frequently called a plain — thread over, draw up a loop (3 loops on the needle), draw through 2, then draw through the 2 remaining, which is the modern US double crochet; “short double crochet” — thread over, draw up a loop, draw the thread through all 3 loops at once, which is the modern US half double crochet; “treble crochet (t or tr)” — thread over twice, draw up a loop (4 loops), then cast off 2 at a time three times, which is the modern US treble; “long treble crochet”, also called double treble in the directions — thread over three times and cast off 2 at a time until all loops are worked off, which is the modern US double treble; slip stitch, “sometimes called the quarter-stitch”. So throughout this transcription the book's s.c. = sc, d.c. = dc, short d.c. = hdc, t/tr = tr and long treble/double treble = dtr. This book's heights already match modern US usage, so no shift of names was needed.
• Modernisation note: The book's wording is written in modern US form: “needle” = hook; “thread over (the needle)” = yo; “skip” = sk; “pick up a loop” = draw up a loop; “narrow” = decrease; “widen” = increase; “picked up on the double thread” = worked under both loops; “picked up on the back thread” = worked in the back loop only; “join in a ring” = sl st to join into a ring. Ordinal row and round names (“1st row”, “2nd round”) are written Row 1, Rnd 2 and so on.
• Modernisation note: The book's general note on the asterisk is followed (book page 3): the first asterisk is passed without notice, and a second asterisk sends the worker back to the first and repeats from that point.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts are unchanged. Section headings added for navigation.
• Modernisation note: “Artamo” was a brand of cotton sold by the publisher and described on the book's back cover: Cordonnet, a six-cord crochet cable cord for crochet and lace making, in sizes 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100; Crochet Perle, in white and fast colours, in sizes 3 and 5; and Four-Ply, four fine strands loosely twisted together, for embroidery. The modern equivalents given here are approximations only: Artamo Cordonnet reads as modern six-cord mercerized cotton crochet thread of the same number, Artamo Crochet Perle as modern pearl (perle) cotton of the same number, and Artamo Four-Ply as modern six-strand cotton embroidery floss. Sizes 15 and 25 are no longer commonly made; the nearest modern sizes are noted where they occur.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are printed only as “Steel Crochet Hook No. …” or “Bone Crochet Hook No. …” with no diameters, so no exact metric size can be read from the book. The metric sizes given are approximate starting points read across to the modern US steel-hook scale, in which a higher number is finer. Check: the old bone-hook numbers were never standardised and do not line up with any modern scale, so the millimetre size suggested for a bone hook is ours; work a swatch and change size to match the photograph.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design. Work a swatch and change hook size until the work lies flat and matches the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 1 is printed “Repeat 3 times from *” but no asterisk is printed earlier in that row; the repeat is read as going back to the ch 2 that begins the mesh, which gives the 5 holes the book states.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 8 sends the scallops into ch-5 loops, but the loops made in Row 7 are printed as ch 3; the printed wording of both rows is kept and the discrepancy left for the worker.
• Modernisation note: The book adds that a matching stamped guest towel on linen huckaback, 15 by 24 inches (38 by 61 cm), could be bought from the reader's dealer.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed beyond the thread named in the materials.
• Modernisation note: No finished measurement is printed for this design.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added where a measurement is printed; the printed inches are unchanged.