Silk Slippers with Wool Lining and Crochet Wheels (1912): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Light (CYC #3) wool yarn for the lining — approximate; the original was four-fold zephyr, about 4 laps (lap weight and length not printed)
• Silk buttonhole or topstitching thread for the wheels — approximate; the original was 1 oz (28 g) spool of Size F machine twist
• Super fine (CYC #1) wool yarn for the frill and ribbon row — approximate; the original was 1 lap of two-fold zephyr
• A pair of slipper soles (not listed in the materials, but the lining is sewn to a sole)
• Narrow satin ribbon (original: No. 2) to match the lining
• Crochet hooks to suit each yarn (sizes not printed); a pencil for winding the wheel rings
• Tapestry and sewing needles
• Hook: No hook sizes printed. Approximate starting points: 3.5 mm (US E-4) for the four-fold zephyr lining; 1.5 mm (steel US 7) for the silk wheels; 2.75 mm (US C-2) for the two-fold zephyr frill

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

tr

treble crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

yo

yarn over

lp

loop

BLO

back loop only

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Silk Slippers with Wool Lining", Priscilla Wool Crochet Book (ed. Lola Burks Hettich), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1912. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Lining: four-fold zephyr, about 4 laps; Outside: machine twist, Size F — a one-ounce spool; Frill and row for ribbon: two-fold zephyr, one lap; No. 2 satin ribbon of the same shade as the wool lining. 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: “Four-fold zephyr” is given as light (CYC #3) and “two-fold zephyr” as super fine (CYC #1); “machine twist, Size F” was a heavy silk sewing twist. These are approximations. A “lap” was a trade unit of zephyr whose weight is not printed.
• Modernisation note: “Taking up back st” is written as working in the back loop (blo), the book's “ribbed slipper stitch”. “Widen” is written as increase.
• Modernisation note: Check: the sole is not listed in the materials; a purchased slipper sole was presumably used.
• Modernisation note: Check: the book says the frill and ribbon row are in two-fold zephyr but does not say which row of the hour-glass edge is silk; the silk edge after the frill is as printed.
• Modernisation note: Check: “5 long-drawn-out ch being in each loop, and 3 loops put into each opening” is kept as printed; the opening is read as each space of the hour-glass row.
• Modernisation note: Finishing line on sewing the outside over the lining and weaving in ends added (the book says only that the bottom edge is worked “to sew on by”).