Ladies' Boudoir Cap with Crocheted Cluny Lace (1915): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Size 12 pearl cotton in white — approximate; the original was 2 balls of Richardson's White Perle Crochet Cotton, Art. 35, No. 12 (ball length not printed)
• A plain linen cap to trim
• ½ yd (0.5 m) lightweight silk for the lining
• Narrow ribbon (original: No. 1½ ribbon; width not printed)
• 3 yd (2.7 m) Valenciennes lace
• Steel crochet hook (original: No. 12 steel hook)
• Sewing needle and thread
• Hook: Start with 1.0 mm (US steel 12) — approximate; change size so the motifs lie flat

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

hdc

half double crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

sk

skip

rep

repeat

rnd

round

Notes before you start

• Source: "Ladies' Boudoir Cap with Crocheted Cluny Lace", Richardson's Crochet Book No. 2 (Complete Crochet Book No. 2), Richardson Silk Company, Chicago and New York, 1915. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: Two Balls Richardson's White Perle Crochet Cotton Art. 35 No. 12; One Linen Cap; One-half Yard China Silk; One Piece Ribbon No. one and a half; Three Yards Valencienne Lace; One Steel Crochet Hook No. 12. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: From Richardson's Crochet Book No. 2. That book prints only an abbreviation list (ch = chain stitch, s c = single crochet, d c = double crochet, t c = treble crochet, t t c = triple treble crochet, p = picot, la = lacet, gr = group, sp = space, cl = clover leaf) with no worked descriptions, so the stitches are read by the same key its companion Book No. 1 prints in full: s c = sc, d c = dc, t c = tr, t t c = trtr (triple treble). Book No. 2's heights therefore match modern US usage as well.
• Modernisation note: This design uses the same short abbreviation list as the night-gown yoke: S = Single Crochet, M = Mesh, D = Double Crochet, H D = Half Double Crochet, written sc, mesh, dc and hdc; “Sl. St.” is written sl st.
• Modernisation note: The book's abbreviations are written in modern US form: ch sts = ch, s c = sc, d c = dc, t c = tr, d t c = dtr, sl st = sl st, p = picot, sp(s) = space(s), gr = group (block), la = lacet, cl = clover leaf; “skip” = sk; “repeat *” = rep from *. Ordinal row names are written Row 1, Row 2, and so on.
• 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 only as Richardson steel hook numbers, with no diameters, so no exact metric size can be read from the books. The metric sizes given are approximate starting points read across to the modern US steel-hook scale (in which a higher number is finer); work a swatch and change size to match 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 threads are 1915 Richardson trade names with no exact modern equivalent, and the books print no yardage except where quoted in the materials. The modern equivalents given are approximations only: R. M. C. Cordonnet and Cordonnet Special (the book says it “matches the D. M. C. thread”, sizes 3 to 150) as mercerized cotton crochet thread of the same size number; R. M. C. Perle Cotton (Art. 15 and 15-B in hanks, Art. 35 in balls, sizes 3, 5, 8 and 12) as modern pearl cotton of the same size; Richardson's Crochet and Knitting Silk (“Perfect”, ½ oz on the ball; “Our Art”, ¼ oz) as a fine silk or silk-blend crochet thread about the weight of size 10–20 cotton; Richardson's Tatting Silk (100 yd on the ball) as a fine hard-twisted silk thread about the weight of size 20–30 cotton; Bed Spread Thread on cones as a heavy cotton crochet thread about size 3–5. Grecian floss (a silk embroidery floss) is used only for embroidery where it is named.
• Modernisation note: Check: the publication year. The book is catalogued as 1915 and is recorded here as 1915, but its own title page carries a 1916 copyright line and the deposit stamp on book page 2 reads April 1916.
• Modernisation note: The motif and joining directions are not reprinted for the cap; the book sends the worker back to the night-gown yoke on the same page, and that cross-reference is kept.
• Modernisation note: Check: the cap itself is a bought linen cap; no pattern or size for it is printed, and the placing of the lace follows the photograph.
• Modernisation note: Check: the colour is white, as named in the materials; the ribbon colour is not printed.
• Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.