Fan Insertion for Children's Lingerie (1916): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Mercerized cotton crochet thread — the book prints no number, and says the size “must depend, to a great extent, on the material on which it is to be used”
• Steel crochet hook to suit the thread
• Tapestry needle for the ends
• Hook: Check: the book prints no thread number and no hook number for this page of edgings, so no modern hook can be read across from its page-41 table. The book's own rule is that a much finer thread must be chosen for lace to go on a batiste or linen dress than on an edge to finish a garment made of pique; match the hook to the thread that suits the garment.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

ps

puff stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

sk

skip

sp

space

row

row

lp

loop

Notes before you start

• Source: "A most attractive insertion and edge to match — the insertion", Clark's O. N. T. Book of Needlework, The Clark Thread Company, Newark, New Jersey, 1916. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: No thread number and no hook number are printed for these edgings. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own key, read for this book and not assumed from the brand or the year. The abbreviation list is printed on book page 41 under “Abbreviations Used in Crocheting” — “st = stitch; ch = chain stitch; sl st = slip stitch; sc = single crochet; dc = double crochet; tr c = treble crochet; p = picot; d = dot; w st = wound stitch; m = meshes”, with a star that “Means to repeat directions printed between them as many times as stated in each case.” The stitches are then defined in words on book page 42: Single Crochet — “Insert the hook in the foundation chain and draw thread through, catch thread around hook and draw through both loops on hook”, the modern US single crochet; Double Crochet — “Catch thread around hook, insert in chain, draw thread through; catch thread around hook, draw through two loops, thread around hook and draw through last two loops. Always start a d c row with 3 ch in place of the first dc”, the modern US DOUBLE crochet; Treble Crochet — “The treble crochet is made similarly to the double crochet. Start with 4 ch and take thread twice over needle, drawing three times through two”, the modern US treble. So this 1916 book uses modern US heights and no re-lettering is needed: its dc is written dc and its tr c is written tr. This matters because the same firm's 1923 Book No. 19 does the opposite, printing “D c” for a modern half double and “Tr” for a modern double; the two books were checked separately and do not agree.
• Modernisation note: The book's wording is written in modern US form: “needle” and “hook” both mean the hook and are written hook; “thread over needle” = yo; “skip” = sk; “catch”/“fasten” at the end of a circuit = sl st or join, according to what the row is doing; the book's star ★ is written * and “repeat from ★” = rep from *; tr c = tr; sh st = shell stitch. The OCR of this scan prints the ordinal “1st” as “Ist” and the letters c/e interchangeably in places (“de” for “dc”, “se” for “sc”); those quirks are kept in the excerpts and not in the rows.
• Modernisation note: The printed paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts are unchanged. Section headings added for navigation. Ordinal row names (“1st row”, “2nd row”) are written Row 1, Row 2, and the book's word “row” is kept even where the work goes around, as the book itself does.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design. The book prints a stitch count per inch for its two filet yokes only, and those are the squared-diagram designs that are not transcribed here. Work a sample and change hook size until the work lies flat and matches the photograph.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed for this design. The book gives ball counts only for the baby jacket and cap, and no yardage anywhere, so none is estimated here.
• Modernisation note: Picot (p) is the book's own, defined on book page 42: “Make a chain of three or four st as indicated in directions; throw cotton over hook, insert hook into first ch st made and make a single crochet.” The chain count is kept wherever the design prints one.
• Modernisation note: No finished measurement is printed for this design.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed for this design. It photographs as a plain light thread, and the book's own O. N. T. Articles pages list Clark's O. N. T. crochet cottons in white and in colours.
• Modernisation note: The book prints no thread and no hook for this whole page of edgings and gives a rule instead of a number: “The size of the thread to be used for the work must depend, to a great extent, on the material on which it is to be used, for a much finer thread must be chosen for lace to go on a batiste or linen dress than on an edge which is to finish a garment made of pique.” That rule is kept and nothing is invented to replace it.
• Modernisation note: Check: the fan row prints “2 sc in next 3 sc” — two stitches named over three — where the row beside it prints “3 sc in next 3 sc”. The page image p-079.jpg shows the same, so the printed reading is kept rather than corrected to 3.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book gives the corner chain as “8 to 10 ch”, a range rather than a count, and that range is kept.
• Modernisation note: Check: this insertion and its matching edge are shown in the last illustration on book page 74; the book says so rather than printing a finished width.