Water Lily Filet Gown Yoke and Cuffs (1921): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 70 mercerized cotton crochet thread — approximate equivalent of Coats Mercerized Crochet No. 70
• Steel crochet hook (original: No. 12)
• Ribbon for the beading (not printed; shown in the photograph)
• Nightgown to sew the yoke and cuffs onto
• Sewing needle and thread
• Hook: Start with 1.0 mm (steel hook US steel No. 12) — approximate conversion of the printed No. 12 hook; change size to match the printed meshes to the inch.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sp

space

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Gown Yoke on Cover", 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. 70; No. 12 Hook. Gauge: 7 meshes to the inch.
• 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: Filet crochet as the book defines it: a space (sp) is 1 dc, ch 2, sk 2 sts, 1 dc (“For a space at the beginning of a row, chain five, which allows three for the treble on the edge, and two for the usual chain”); a block (bl, written “block” here) is dc worked in consecutive sts — “there are four trebles in the first block and three trebles in each following block”, so a row of blocks has 3 dc per block plus 1. Ch 3 at the beginning of a row counts as the first dc.
• Modernisation note: The book's “New Method of Adding Meshes at Last End of Row” (book page 4), for rows where the directions or chart add meshes at the end of a row: instead of making the last dc of the block already there, ch 2 and sl st into the loop where that last dc would go; then ch long enough for the extra meshes (ch 6 for 1 mesh, ch 9 for 2, ch 12 for 3, adding 3 ch for each further mesh); turn and work spaces or blocks along the ch as the chart shows; sl st to the top of the last mesh before the added ch; turn, sl st to the end of the added meshes, and you are ready to start the next row. Adding meshes at the beginning of a row is done the usual way, by working extra blocks or spaces on a ch made at the end of the preceding row.
• 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: Picot as the book defines it: “usually made by a chain of three or five, then a slip stitch in the first chain.” The size is not given in the individual designs, so use ch 3 (or ch 5 for a larger picot), sl st in the first ch.
• Modernisation note: The filet charts (the book's “working patterns” or “design”) are printed as pictures and are not transcribed square by square here; rows that say “follow design” are kept as printed, and the chart page is listed with this pattern's images. Each chart square is one mesh: a filled square is a block, an open square is a space.
• 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: “Meshes to the inch” is the book's gauge: count filet meshes (spaces or blocks) across 1 in (2.5 cm) of work.
• Modernisation note: Sizes are rarely printed; vintage fit and ease differ from today's. Widths marked “calculated” are ours, from the printed mesh count and meshes to the inch — compare them with a garment that fits before starting.
• Modernisation note: The book's note on the chart page: “The yoke and sleeve and cap borders can be started with a closed block, as shown in finished garment, and as the directions read, or by leaving off the closed block and starting at the next open block, as shown in the cuts for working patterns, according to the fancy of the worker.”
• Modernisation note: The book's note beside the chart: “If worker prefers to make back of yoke like front, the pattern is so provided; otherwise continue shoulder straps and back of yoke plain open meshes with back same width as strap, according to directions given.”
• Modernisation note: Check: the beading line is printed “* 3 / 4 tr in 2nd bl, ch 4, 1 d tr in 2nd bl, ch 4” with a stray “3” at the end of the line above; it is not clear whether 3 or 4 dc are meant. Compare with the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Check: the cuff directions are garbled in the book — after Rows 2 and 3 the next line reads “Start in bl, ch 5, * sl st in 2nd bl, ch 5, 1 sl st in 2nd bl, 1 p, ch 5, to the inch.” with no “repeat” and no instruction to follow the design. The step to follow the cuff chart is ours, taken from the chart caption; the edge is transcribed as printed and appears to be a picot edge like the cap's (“* ch 5, 1 sl st in 2nd bl, ch 1 sl st in 2nd bl, 1 p. Repeat from *”).
• Modernisation note: Check: the edge around neck starts “in d tr” (= tr) and works into the 3rd and 4th “tr” (= dc); the beading does not name what the edge is worked over. Kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Ribbon and sewing steps added from the photograph; the book gives no finishing directions.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.