Ladies' Gored Petticoat in Shetland Floss (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Fine (CYC #2) soft lofty wool yarn in cream white — approximate; the original was 12 skeins of cream-white Shetland floss (skein weight and length not printed)
• Crochet hook (original: medium-sized bone hook)
• 2 yd (1.8 m) ribbon (original: No. 4 ribbon; width not printed)
• Tapestry needle
• Hook: Start with 3.75 mm (US F-5) — approximate; change size so the finished petticoat is about 29 in (74 cm) long, as printed

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

hdc

half double crochet

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

rep

repeat

row

row

lp

loop

Notes before you start

• Source: "Ladies' Petticoat", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Twelve skeins of cream-white Shetland floss; 2 yards of No. 4 ribbon; A medium-sized bone crochet-hook. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own “Explanation of Stitches”, not by name: chain stitch (ch st, “make a series of loops, drawing each loop through the preceding one”) = ch; slip stitch (sl st, “insert the hook into the stitch, draw the wool through that stitch and through the wool on hook at the same time”) = sl st; single crochet (s c, “insert the hook, draw wool through, pass wool around hook (wool over), and draw it through both loops on the hook”) = sc; double crochet (d c, wool around the hook, insert, draw through, then through 2 loops twice) = dc; half double crochet (h d c, wool around the hook, insert, draw through, then “through all 3 loops at once”) = hdc; treble crochet (t c or tr c, wool around the hook twice, insert, draw through, then through 2 loops three times) = tr. For these stitches the 1912 American names already match modern US usage, so no stitch changes height. The book's long crochet (l c: wool around the hook, insert, draw through, then through 1 loop, then through 2 loops twice) is the modern extended double crochet; where used it is written “long crochet” with that definition.
• Modernisation note: The book's abbreviations are written in modern US form: ch st = ch, s c = sc, d c = dc, h d c = hdc, t c / tr c = tr, st(s) = st(s), “wool over” / “thread over” / “pass the wool around the hook” = yo; “miss” = sk; loop = lp; “repeat” = rep; “beginning” = beg. “Widen” is written as increase and “narrow” as decrease, as defined in each design. Ordinal row names (“1st row”, “2d row”) are written Row 1, Row 2; where the book calls a circuit of a round piece a “row” the book's word is kept. “Plain” (a row or round with no increases or decreases) is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Long printed paragraphs are split into one row, round or step per line; stitch order and counts unchanged. Section headings added for navigation.
• Modernisation note: Hooks are printed as bone hooks described only as fine, medium-sized or coarse, or by an unstated numbering system, with no diameters, so no exact metric size can be read from the book. The suggested modern hook is an approximate starting point chosen for the yarn weight and tied to any printed measurement.
• Modernisation note: No stitch gauge is printed for this design; work a swatch and match any printed measurement (given in the modern gauge line) before starting.
• Modernisation note: The yarns are 1912 trade descriptions with no exact modern equivalent, and the book prints no yardage or skein/ball weights except where quoted in the materials. The CYC weights given are approximations only: Saxony (a fine, firm yarn) and 2-ply (single) zephyr as super fine (CYC #1); ice wool (a very fine, lustrous yarn) as super fine (CYC #1); Shetland floss (a soft, lofty yarn) and eiderdown wool as fine (CYC #2) — lofty yarns and to be matched by gauge or measurement rather than by weight; 4-ply (split) zephyr, 4-fold Germantown and Spanish yarn as light (CYC #3); 8-fold Germantown and knitting worsted as medium (CYC #4).
• Modernisation note: The book's definition of its “half double stitch”, printed in the introduction, is placed as the first step; it matches the book's half double crochet (h d c) and modern US hdc.
• Modernisation note: Check: the side gores are “kept straight” on the edge that joins the front by omitting the increase st on that edge only; since the increase is made at the start of every row, it is left to the worker to see which rows begin at that edge. Make the second side gore as a mirror image if needed so both straight edges meet the front.
• Modernisation note: Check: the back is begun on 147 ch, but the placket rows are worked on 72 sts on each side; the stitch count at the split is as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: “work a row of shells all around” after the placket is read as edging the placket opening; the book does not say exactly how far the shells go.
• Modernisation note: Check: in border Row 3 the first dc in each ch-5 stands alone and the group of 4 dc (dc, then (ch 2, dc) 3 times) is worked in the next ch-5, as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: the ribbon's use is not described; running it through the treble row at the waist (“This row is for the ribbon”) is our reading. Finishing lines added.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.