Free preview · full pattern in the Heirloom Doilies & Tablecloths
Figure 7 Buttonholed Tumbler Doily with Fans (1915): vintage crochet pattern
The smallest of a four-piece set worked on buttonholed damask centres: blocks of single and double crochet alternate for six rounds, then a fan border opens a chain stitch a round until the solid stitches are down to one, closing with a picot edge.
By the crochetpatterns.io editorial team · Updated · Editorial policy · pattern testing in progress

| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Skill level | Intermediate |
| Yarn weight | Lace (#0) |
| Yardage | the book gives no thread quantity for this design. (as printed; yardage not given) |
| Hook | 1.5 mm |
| Gauge | No gauge printed. The book fixes the work by the centre and finished sizes: a 1½ in (4 cm) centre finishing at about 6½ in (16.5 cm) with 7 fans. |
| Finished size | Linen centre about 1½ in (4 cm); the finished doily measures about 6½ in (16.5 cm), with 7 fans. |
| Time | about 4 hours |
Materials
- Size 60 linen thread — approximate modern equivalent of the book's No. 60 linen spool thread
- 1.5 mm steel hook (US steel 8) — approximate for the book's No. 8 hook
- White satin damask for the centre, about 1½ in (4 cm) across
- Hook: Start with 1.5 mm (US steel 8) — approximate for the book's No. 8 hook; change size until the thread runs easily and the work lies flat.
Yarn Kit & Substitution Options
This pattern calls for 350 yards of weight #0 yarn. Select a suggested yarn to see required skeins and estimated cost:
Caron Simply Soft · 100% Acrylic
315 yds per skein · High-yield yardage, silky no-scratch texture
2 skeins required
approx. $$10.98 total
Abbreviations (US terms)
- chain
- slip stitch
- single crochet
- double crochet
- stitch
- stitches
- skip
- repeat
- round
- shell
- increase
- decrease
Notes before you start
- Source: "Figure 7. Tumbler Doily", The Priscilla Crochet Book: Centerpieces and Doilies (edited by Belle Robinson), The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1915. Public domain in the USA.
- As printed — materials: Linen spool thread, No. 60; Steel crochet needle, No. 8; White satin damask for centres. 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) = sl st; “double” (d), hook through work, draw thread through, “thread over again and through both loops” = modern US single crochet (sc) — the book adds that this stitch “has been, especially in wool crochet, called ‘single crochet’”; “half treble” (h t), thread over, through work, then “thread over and through all three sts at once” = modern US half double crochet (hdc); “treble” (t), thread over, through work, “thread over and through two loops, thread over and again through two loops” = modern US double crochet (dc); “double treble” (d t), thread over twice and worked off by twos three times = modern US treble crochet (tr); “long treble” (l t) or “triple treble” (t t), thread over three times, worked off by twos = modern US double treble (dtr); “quadruple treble” (q t), thread over four times = modern US triple treble. Every stitch below 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: it is formed on a chain by joining the last four stitches (or any given number) in a ring by working a slip stitch or a single crochet in the fourth stitch from the hook, and “a sl is understood unless otherwise designated.” 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, “miss” = sk, “thread over (the needle)” = yo, “repeat” = rep, “needle” (for the crochet hook) = hook. Ordinal row and round names (“1st round”, “2d round”) are written Rnd 1, Rnd 2 and Row 1, Row 2. Section headings (Border, Edge, Heading) are the book's own where it prints them. The book's British spelling “centrepiece” is kept inside quoted names.
- Modernisation note: The book prints each design as one or two solid paragraphs; these have been split into one round, row or step per line. Stitch order and counts are unchanged. Where the book's own repeat markers (*, **) span several lines they are kept as printed.
- Modernisation note: Hook sizes are the book's own steel numbering, and the book itself says only a suggestion can be given: “since crochet-hooks vary, even in the most carefully graded kinds, it follows that only suggestion and not absolute directions can be given for the selections of crochet hooks.” The 1915 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: The book's general “Directions for Working” asks the worker to allow for tension, especially in chain stitches: loose workers may need one chain fewer in places and tight workers one or more chains more, “more necessary in circular work than that of straight rows.” That allowance applies to every design here.
- Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.
- Modernisation note: Materials for Figs. 7–10 are printed once as a group heading: linen spool thread No. 60, steel crochet needle No. 8, and white satin damask for centres. The book adds that the thread may be white or natural, and that natural colour gives the effect of Torchon or Cluny while pure white matches the linen centre.
- Modernisation note: The book gives the linen centres for the set as about 1½ in for the tumbler doily, 2½ in for bread and butter, 6¼ in for the plate doily and 9 in for the centrepiece, finishing at 6½, 8, 12 and 18 in respectively, with 7 fans in the smallest, 9 in the second, 18 in the third and 12 larger fans in the centrepiece.
Row progress: 0 of 2 done (0%)
Preparing the centre
0 of 2 done- Cut out the linen and overcast in both directions, from left to right and from right to left.Mark row complete
- Buttonhole the edge ⅛ inch deep, and not too closely together; 1⁄16 of an inch is not too much space to leave between stitches.Mark row complete
Working on:
Cut out the linen and overcast in both directions, from left to right and from right to left.
Continue this pattern
The rest of the Figure 7 Buttonholed Tumbler Doily with Fans (1915) pattern is in the Heirloom Doilies & Tablecloths
Still to come in the full pattern:
- Doily
- Finishing
Included with 236 patterns for $19 — $0.08 per pattern.

Errata
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Frequently asked questions
Where is the Figure 7. Tumbler Doily pattern from?
It was published as "Figure 7. Tumbler Doily" in The Priscilla Crochet Book: Centerpieces and Doilies (edited by Belle Robinson) by The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston in 1915. The publication is in the public domain in the United States; this version is transcribed and modernised by crochetpatterns.io.
What yarn or thread do I need for the Figure 7. Tumbler Doily?
Size 60 thread. Not printed — the book gives no thread quantity for this design.
What hook should I use?
Start with 1.5 mm (US steel 8) — approximate for the book's No. 8 hook; change size until the thread runs easily and the work lies flat. Gauge: No gauge printed. The book fixes the work by the centre and finished sizes: a 1½ in (4 cm) centre finishing at about 6½ in (16.5 cm) with 7 fans.






