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Silk Baby Shoes in Afghan Stitch (1915): vintage crochet pattern
Baby shoes worked in afghan (Tunisian) stitch: a widened front in white silk, a ribbed strip of thirty-six double crochet ribs in colour worked around the sole, and a white afghan-stitch turnover with a treble beading, joined in and edged with double crochet and picots. Cross-stitch rosebuds trim the turnover.
By the crochetpatterns.io editorial team · Updated · Editorial policy · pattern testing in progress
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Skill level | Intermediate |
| Yarn weight | Lace (#0) |
| Yardage | Not printed. (as printed; yardage not given) |
| Hook | 2.5 mm |
| Gauge | No gauge printed. Printed checks: the front widens to 30 sts; the strip has 36 ribs; the turnover is 13 sts wide and 54 rows long. |
| Finished size | Not printed. The front is increased to 30 stitches; the strip around the sole has 36 ribs; the turnover is 13 stitches wide and 54 rows long. |
| Time | about 3 hours |
Materials
- Fine silk or silk-blend crochet thread in white and in a colour — approximate; the original was Richardson's Perfect Knitting Silk in colours No. 24 and No. 20
- Silk embroidery floss for the rosebuds and leaves — approximate; the original was Grecian silk in shades 1122 (rosebuds) and 1135 (leaves)
- An afghan (Tunisian) crochet hook and a regular crochet hook (no hook size is printed for this design)
- A pair of baby-shoe soles
- Embroidery and sewing needles
- Hook: No hook size is printed for this design. Start with a 2.5 mm (US B/C) afghan hook and change size so the afghan-stitch fabric is firm but not stiff
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
- double crochet
- treble crochet
- stitch
- stitches
- skip
- repeat
- row
- increase
- loop
Notes before you start
- Source: "Silk Baby Shoes", Richardson's Crochet Book No. 1 (Complete Instruction Book for Crocheting, Tatting and Smocking), Richardson Silk Company, Chicago and New York, 1915. Public domain in the USA.
- As printed — materials: Perfect Knitting silk No. 24 and No. 20; Grecian silk for Rosebuds 1122, and Leaves 1135; Soles. Gauge: Not given.
- Modernisation note: From Richardson's Crochet Book No. 1. Stitches converted by that book's own stitch key (“Crocheting Stitches — Terms Used”), not by name: chain stitch (ch) = ch; slip stitch (sl st), taking a stitch through a chain stitch and through the loop on the needle at the same time = sl st; single crochet (s c), insert, draw the thread through, thread over and draw through the 2 loops = sc; double crochet (d c), insert and draw a stitch through, then draw through 2 and through the 2 remaining loops — two work-offs of 2 = dc; treble crochet (t c), thread over twice, then draw through 2 loops three times = tr; “long treble” (thread over 3, 4 or more times, worked off 2 at a time) = dtr and longer trebles. So this 1915 book already uses modern US heights — its treble is the modern treble, not the modern double crochet.
- Modernisation note: Picot (p) is the book's own: chain 3 or 4 stitches, then work back into the first of those chains, drawing through the chain stitch and the loop on the hook at the same time. It is written picot throughout, with the book's chain count where printed.
- Modernisation note: The book's abbreviations are written in modern US form: ch = ch, sl st = sl st, s c = sc, d c = dc, t c = tr, p = picot, st(s) = st(s); “thread over” / “over” / “over twice” = yo / yo twice; “miss” and “skip” = sk; “needle” (the book's word for the crochet hook) = hook; “repeat from *” = rep from *. Ordinal row names (“First Row”, “Second Row”) are written Row 1, Row 2; where the book calls a circuit of a circular piece a “row”, that reading is given in the heading and the change is noted.
- 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: 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: The book's “Afgan st” is modern afghan or Tunisian crochet; its set-up and return pass are written out as printed. The printed spelling “Afgan” is corrected to afghan.
- Modernisation note: No hook size is printed for this design, so the suggested hook is ours and is approximate.
- Modernisation note: Check: the strip around the sole is worked in double crochet taken through the back part of the stitch to make ribs (“take up 14 loops in d c, ch 1, st, turn and in the back part of st make 14 d c”); the printed “st” after each ch 1 is read as the turning stitch.
- Modernisation note: Check: the embroidery is described only as four cross-stitches on the turnover and one across the top, in named Grecian silk shades; no chart is printed.
- Modernisation note: Check: the soles are named only in “Sew to soles”; no sole pattern or size is printed.
- Modernisation note: Check: the colours are given only as Richardson shade numbers 24 and 20; white is named for the turnover.
- Modernisation note: Metric conversions added.
Row progress: 0 of 3 done (0%)
Afghan Stitch for the Top of the Shoe
0 of 3 done- Ch 4 sts. Put the hook in the st next to the hook and draw a lp through; rep twice. You now have 4 lps on the hook; yo and draw through 1 st, yo and draw through 2 sts, yo and draw through 2, yo and draw through 2.Mark row complete
- Row 2: Take up a lp in the 1st st of the row below, then one between the 1st and 2nd sts, then 1 lp in the other sts to the end — 6 sts in all; draw through the 1st st, and then through 2 sts together to the end.Mark row complete
- Row 3: Same as Row 2, except that it is widened at each end by putting a lp between the 2nd and 3rd sts from each end. Continue increasing 1 st at each end until there are 30 sts; draw off the lps, fasten and cut off the silk.Mark row complete
Working on:
Ch 4 sts. Put the hook in the st next to the hook and draw a lp through; rep twice. You now have 4 lps on the hook; yo and draw through 1 st, yo and draw through 2 sts, yo and draw through 2, yo and draw through 2.
Continue this pattern
The rest of the Silk Baby Shoes in Afghan Stitch (1915) pattern is in the Vintage Crochet Baby & Kids' Patterns
Still to come in the full pattern:
- Strip Around the Sole
- Turnover in White Silk
- Finishing
Included with 133 patterns for $12 — $0.09 per pattern.
Errata
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Frequently asked questions
Where is the Silk Baby Shoes pattern from?
It was published as "Silk Baby Shoes" in Richardson's Crochet Book No. 1 (Complete Instruction Book for Crocheting, Tatting and Smocking) by Richardson Silk Company, Chicago and New York 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 Silk Baby Shoes?
A fine silk crochet thread. Not printed.
What hook should I use?
No hook size is printed for this design. Start with a 2.5 mm (US B/C) afghan hook and change size so the afghan-stitch fabric is firm but not stiff Gauge: No gauge printed. Printed checks: the front widens to 30 sts; the strip has 36 ribs; the turnover is 13 sts wide and 54 rows long.
