Douglas Lace (1891): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Crochet cotton or linen thread — the book prints no size; its own section title names cotton and linen
• Steel crochet hook to suit the thread
• Tapestry needle for the ends
• Hook: Check: the book prints no hook number for any design in this section, so no modern hook can be read across from a printed size. Match the hook to whatever thread you choose, and change size until the lace lies flat.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

sl st

slip stitch

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

sh

shell

sp

space

lp

loop

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Douglas Lace" (No. 76), Home Work: a choice collection of useful designs for the crochet and knitting needle, Rose Publishing Co. (Ltd.), Toronto, 1891. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Not printed — the book names no thread, thread number, hook number or brand for the designs in this section; its printed section title is “Designs for Crocheting in Cotton and Linen”.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own printed key, not by the look of the abbreviation. The key is headed “Terms used in Crochet” and stands at the head of PART ONE, SECTION I.—Terms and Stitches, BOOK PAGE 9 (image p-010.jpg), running onto book page 10 (image p-011.jpg). It prints ten entries: “Ch—Chain, a straight series of loops, each drawn with the hook through the preceding one.” “St—Stitch or Stitches.” “Sl st—Slip Stitch; put the hook through the work, thread over the hook, draw it through the stitch on the hook.” “S c—Single Crochet; having a stitch on the hook, put the hook through the work, thread over the hook, draw it through the work, thread over, draw it through the two stitches on the hook.” “D c—Double Crochet; having a stitch on the hook, put thread over the hook, then hook through the work, thread over, draw it through two stitches, thread over, draw it through the two remaining.” “Tr—Treble Crochet; like double, except that the thread is thrown twice round the hook before inserting the hook through the work. The stitches are worked off two at a time as in double crochet.” “H tr—Half Treble, sometimes called Short Treble crochet; like double crochet, except that when the three stitches are on the needle, instead of drawing thread through two stitches twice, it is drawn through all three at once.” “L tr—Long Treble; throw thread over needle three times before inserting hook in the work, work off two stitches at a time as in double crochet.” “P—Picot; make three, four, five, or as many chain stitches as you wish to have in the picot, and form them into a loop by making a single crochet or slip stitch on the first of them.” “Sh—Shell; this is usually made by putting two doubles, two chains, and two doubles in one stitch; or by putting three or more doubles in one stitch without chain stitches between.” “*—Star; this is used where certain stitches are to be repeated.” The heights are therefore MODERN US: the S c works off two loops (US single, not the British double); the D c works off three loops two at a time (US double); the Tr throws the thread twice (US treble); the L tr throws it three times (US double treble, written dtr here). The H tr is the decisive entry — it is defined as HALF OF THE DOUBLE, not of the treble, so despite its British-sounding name it is the modern US half double crochet, and its wording confirms that this book's D c really is the modern double. This book is therefore a hybrid: US heights under two British-flavoured names.
• Modernisation note: The book's wording is written in modern US form: “make a chain of N stitches” = ch N; “miss” and “pass over” = sk; “catch” and “fasten” = sl st or join, according to what the row is doing; “throw the thread over” = yo; “needle” and “hook” both mean the hook and are written hook; “under” a chain = into the chain space; “the 4th st. of ch.” = the 4th chain; “repeat from *” = rep from *. The book's numbered paragraphs (“1.”, “2.”, “3.”) are its rows and are written Row 1, Row 2, Row 3. The book's spelling “scallop” is kept.
• Modernisation note: The printed directions are already numbered row by row in this section, and are transcribed one row per line in the book's own order. The book's own sub-headings (Heading, For the edge, On the upper edge and so on) are kept as section headings. Stitch order and counts are unchanged and nothing is added; where the book stops without a stitch count, so does this transcription.
• Modernisation note: This is a microform scan and the optical reading of it carries the usual slips; every figure below was read back against the page image at 220 dpi. Recurring slips in this book's scanned text are “d. o” and “d. ¢” for d. c., “s. o” and “a. c.” for s. c., “at.” and “ata.” for st. and sts., “Ist” for 1st, “lst” for 1st, “1” and “l” for the figure 1, and “Bhell” for Shell. The rows below follow what the printed page actually shows, and any place where the scan and the page disagree is listed as a Check note.
• Modernisation note: No materials are printed for this design. This section of the book prints no thread brand, no thread number and no hook number for any of its designs — the only material guidance is the section's own printed title, “Designs for Crocheting in Cotton and Linen” (book page 23), which is recorded here as the book's own range rather than as this design's specification. Nothing is invented to fill the gap.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design; the book prints no gauge, tension or mesh count anywhere in this section. Work a sample and change hook size until the lace lies flat.
• Modernisation note: No finished measurement is printed for this design. It is worked to the length of the piece it trims, so its length is set by that piece. The book's own word for its width is the one in the design's printed name — the designs called “Narrow” are narrow edgings.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed for this design. The engravings photograph as a plain light thread. The section's printed title names cotton and linen as its materials but names no colour; white and écru are recorded here as the ordinary choices for such thread, not as this design's printed colour.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed for this design, and none is estimated here — the book gives no thread size to estimate from.
• Modernisation note: “Shell” is the book's own key term (Sh, book page 10): “two doubles, two chains, and two doubles in one stitch; or three or more doubles in one stitch without chain stitches between.” Each design in this section also states its own shell in its first row — this design's is transcribed exactly as that first row prints it — and “shell on shell” or “shell in shell” means work the whole group into the shell of the row below. Nothing is standardised across designs here; the book's local wording is kept.
• Modernisation note: This design states its own shell in its first row — “a shell of 7 d. c.” — and that is what the later rows mean by shell.
• Modernisation note: This design runs across two page turns (book pages 83, 84 and 85; images p-078.jpg, p-079.jpg and p-080.jpg). All three leaves are present and were read: the name, the foundation and the opening of Row 1 are on page 83, the close of Row 1 with Rows 2 to 7 on page 84, and Rows 8 to 12 with the closing repeat on page 85.
• Modernisation note: Book page 84 sets Rows 6 and 7 in a column beside the engraving and the optical reading interleaves that column with the rows above and with the facing page; every row above follows the printed reading order of the page image.
• Modernisation note: The book prints Row 2's number without its full stop, as a bare “2”; the numbering is otherwise unbroken and is written out as Row 2 here.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 2 as “Tend. c. in 6 ch”; the page image, read back at nine times the filmed size, reads “Ten d. c. in 5 ch.”
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 5 as “7 slip sta across the top of the shell” and “1d.o, ind. ¢.”; the page image reads “7 slip sts across the top of the shell” and “1 d. c. in d. c.”
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 9 as “7 8. c in ton of shell” and “$8d.c., 3ch., 1d,”; the page image reads “7 s. c. in top of shell” and “3 d. c., 3 ch., 1 d. c.”
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 11 prints “1 d. c., under 1 st., 2 ch.” with a comma where none is wanted; it is transcribed as printed and nothing is supplied.
• Modernisation note: The engraving printed with this design has blocked up to solid black in this filming and nothing is read from it.