Figure 77 Oval Shell Doily (1915): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 30 crochet thread — approximate modern equivalent of the book's No. 30 crochet cotton
• 1.4 mm steel hook (US steel 9) — approximate for the book's No. 9 hook
• Fine tapestry or sewing needle for the ends
• Hook: Start with 1.4 mm (US steel 9) — approximate for the book's No. 9 hook; change size until the thread runs easily and the work lies flat.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

rep

repeat

rnd

round

sh

shell

sp

space

inc

increase

Notes before you start

• Source: "Figure 77. 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: Number 30 crochet cotton; No. 9 crochet needle. 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: Thread sizes are the 1915 numbering. “No. N 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. The book states that where it says “crochet cotton” it means the hard-twisted cotton sold as Cordonnet, Cordonnet Special, Cordichet, Kord-net and similar. No yardage is printed for any design, so none is given here.
• 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: No gauge is printed for this design; work the centre rounds and adjust the hook until the piece lies flat.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.
• Modernisation note: This design takes its materials and its last round from Fig. 76, which is transcribed separately in this file.