Cover Design Star Motif Insertion (1913): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 100 crochet thread — approximate modern equivalent of No. 100 Cordonnet crochet cotton
• 0.75 mm steel hook (US 14) — approximate for the book's No. 13 hook
• Fine tapestry or sewing needle for the ends
• Hook: Start with 0.75 mm (US steel 14) — approximate for the book's No. 13 hook; change size until the thread runs easily without splitting and the lace lies flat.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

sp

space

lp

loop

rep

repeat

rnd

round

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Cover Design", The Priscilla Crochet Book: Edgings and Insertions, The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1913. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: No. 100 Cordonnet crochet cotton — from the book's general Materials paragraph: all of the edgings shown were made of No. 100 Cordonnet crochet cotton except those in which the number of cotton is specified in the directions; No. 13 hook — the book directs a No. 13 hook for No. 100 cotton and a No. 12 hook for No. 70 cotton, and for coarser cottons a hook that will carry the thread easily without splitting it. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches converted by the book's own “Explanation of Stitches” (printed page 3), not by name. This book uses the older British-style naming, so its stitch names do NOT match modern US names: chain (ch) = ch; slip stitch (sl st) = sl st; “double” (d), “put hook through work, thread over hook and draw through, making two loops on needle; thread over again and draw through both loops” = modern US single crochet (sc); “half treble” (h t), thread over, draw through, then “draw through the three sts at once” = modern US half double crochet (hdc); “treble” (t), thread over, draw through, “draw through two, over again and draw through remaining two” = modern US double crochet (dc); “double treble” (d t), thread over twice and work off by twos three times = modern US treble crochet (tr); “long treble” (l t), thread over three times and “work all off by twos” = modern US double treble (dtr). Every stitch in these instructions has been rewritten in the modern US name and abbreviation on that basis.
• Modernisation note: The book's picot (p) is defined on the same page: “A p is formed on a ch by joining the last four sts (or any given number) in a ring by working a d in the fourth st, counting from hook. In making p on d around the edge of motifs, the d is worked in the top of the last d.” Picots are written out as “picot” with the chain count the design gives, since the site's abbreviation list has no picot entry.
• Modernisation note: The book's abbreviations are written in modern US form: d = sc, h t = hdc, t = dc, d t = tr, l t = dtr, st(s) = st(s), sp = sp, l = lp, bl = block, “miss” = sk, “thread over (the hook/needle)” = yo, “repeat” = rep, “needle” (for the crochet hook) = hook. Ordinal row names (“1st row”, “2d row”) are written Row 1, Row 2, and “1st round”/“2d round” as Rnd 1, Rnd 2. Section headings (Heading, Edge, Foundation) are the book's own where it prints them.
• Modernisation note: The book prints each design as one or two solid paragraphs; these have been split into one row, round or step per line. Stitch order and counts are unchanged. Where the book's own repeat markers (*, **, ***) span several rows they are kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: The book gives this design no figure number; it is the insertion photographed on the book's own front cover, and the directions carry the heading “Cover Design”.
• Modernisation note: Thread sizes are the 1913 Cordonnet numbering. “No. N Cordonnet crochet cotton” is given as modern size N crochet thread, which is an approximation: modern size numbering runs the same way (higher number = finer thread) but the exact diameters are not identical. No yardage is printed anywhere in the book, so none is given here.
• Modernisation note: Hook sizes are the book's own steel numbering (“For No. 100 cotton use a No. 13 hook, for No. 70 cotton a No. 12 hook; for coarser cottons use a hook that will carry the thread easily without splitting it”). The 1913 steel numbering is not identical to the modern one, so every metric size below is approximate and should be adjusted to the thread.
• Modernisation note: No gauge and no finished measurements are printed for this design; work a sample repeat and adjust the hook until the lace lies flat at the width you want.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.