Boudoir Cap with Crocheted Crown (1921): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 30 mercerized cotton crochet thread — approximate equivalent of Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 30
• Steel crochet hook (original: No. 8)
• ¼ yd (23 cm) muslin or crepe
• Sewing needle and thread
• Hook: Start with 1.5 mm (steel hook US steel No. 8) — approximate conversion of the printed No. 8 hook; no gauge is printed.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Boudoir Cap", J. & P. Coats Crochet Book No. 7: Sweaters, Yokes, and Boudoir Caps (designed by Anne Orr), J. & P. Coats, Pawtucket, R.I., 1921. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 30; No. 8 Hook; ¼ of yard muslin or crepe. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own stitch key (“Abbreviation Stitches and How to Make Them”), not by name. Its slip stitch (sl st) = sl st. Its single stitch (s st: “insert the needle in the stitch directed, draw the working thread through this stitch, making two on the needle, then draw the working thread through these two loops”) = modern US sc. Its treble crochet (tr: thread around the needle once, draw through, then through two loops twice; “three chains equal one treble”) = modern US dc. Its double treble (dtr: thread around twice, loops worked off two at a time three times) = modern US tr. Its triple treble (tr tr: thread around three times) = modern US dtr. So every “s st” is written sc, every “tr” dc, and every “d tr” tr.
• Modernisation note: Period wording modernised: s st, tr, d tr written as sc, dc, tr (see the stitch note); “bl” written as block; “sp” kept as sp (filet space); “p” written as picot; “needle” (the crochet hook) as hook; “throw cotton over” as yo; “skip” as sk; “fasten”/“fasten cotton” as join thread; “break cotton” as fasten off; “repeat” as rep; “drop off”/“leave off” meshes kept as printed (stop working over those meshes); ordinal row names (“1st Row”) written as Row 1, and “Row” is kept even where a piece is worked round (as the book does).
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs are split into one row or step per line; stitch order and counts unchanged. Section headings added for navigation.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are 1921 steel crochet hook numbers; the book prints no diameters. The metric sizes given use the modern US steel-hook scale (No. 2 ≈ 2.2 mm, No. 7 ≈ 1.65 mm, No. 8 ≈ 1.5 mm, No. 10 ≈ 1.3 mm, No. 12 ≈ 1.0 mm, No. 13 ≈ 0.85 mm, No. 14 ≈ 0.75 mm) and are approximate only — period numbering may differ, so match the printed meshes to the inch instead. The book's own table pairs, for example, size 5 thread with a No. 2 hook for 3 meshes to the inch, size 70 thread with a No. 12 hook for 8 meshes, and size 100 thread with a No. 14 hook for 9½–10 meshes, and warns that “if the thread is loosely held, the meshes will increase to the inch”.
• Modernisation note: Threads are 1921 J. & P. Coats products with no exact modern equivalent. Approximate modern equivalents: Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 30–100 as mercerized cotton crochet thread of the same size number; Coats Pearl Cotton No. 5 as size 5 pearl (perle) cotton. The book prints no yardage or ball counts, so no yardage is given.
• Modernisation note: The book calls each round a “Row”; the crown is worked in joined rounds from the center.
• Modernisation note: “Over” a stitch (“1 tr over 2nd tr”, “5 tr over next 4 tr”) is kept: work into the stitches named of the round below.
• Modernisation note: Row 20 is printed with “sc”, an abbreviation not in the book's stitch key (which uses “s st” for single stitch); it is read as sc, the same stitch.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 3 prints no ch 1 between the pair of dc, but Row 4 works into a “ch 1”. Read the Row 3 “ch 4” as 1 dc and ch 1, and make ch 1 between each pair of dc in the same st (dc, ch 1, dc).
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 6 “* 3 tr, ch 3, 5 tr over next 4 tr” and Row 17 “2 tr in 1st 2 st of ch … 2 tr in 2 last st of ch” are kept as printed; the dc counts can be checked against the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 18's spaces are printed “1st ch 2, 2nd ch 2, 1st ch 2, 3rd ch 2” — the second “1st” is probably a misprint.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 19 prints “SI st tr 3rd tr of group, ch 3, 3 tr in each of next 3 tr, * 3, 1 tr in 1st ch 3” — read as “sl st to 3rd dc”, “1 dc in each of next 3 dc” (making 4 with the ch 3, to match “4 tr over 4 center tr”) and “*ch 3”. “3 dc in each of next 3 dc” is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book gives no size or making-up directions for the cap; the muslin or crepe is listed only in the materials. The finishing line is ours.