Diagonal-Striped Bag with Star Bottom (1847): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Silk or silk-blend thread about the thickness of size 3 crochet thread, approximating crochet silk, in claret and green
• Optional variations: white and gold, blue and gold, or steel beads
• Tapestry needle for weaving in (“running”) the ends
• Hook: Start with a 2 mm (US steel 4) hook and adjust to suit your thread; no hook size or gauge is printed (original: steel needle).

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sc

single crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rnd

round

row

row

rep

repeat

Notes before you start

• Source: "A Diagonal-Striped Bag, with Star-Shaped Bottom", My Crochet Sampler (Miss Lambert), D. M. Peyser, 1847. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: claret crochet silk; green (for the vandyke border and pattern). Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Victorian stitch names converted to modern US terms strictly by the book's own definitions (pp. 15–21, 57), not by modern UK equivalents: “plain double crochet”, “plain crochet”, “plain stitch” and “plain stitch double crochet” = sc; “plain single crochet” = sl st; “chain” = ch; “open crochet” = dc with ch 1 over a skipped st; the “double stitches” / “long stitches” of open crochet = dc; “double open crochet” = pairs of dc with an open space; “treble open crochet” = groups of 3 dc alternating with open spaces; “plain stitch open crochet” = ch-5 loops joined by sc to the centre of the loops below; “dividing”, “seam” or “raised” stitch = 2 sc in one st under both loops, stacked; “treble increased stitch” = 3 sc in one st; “double stitch crochet” = sc under both loops; “raised” or “ribbed” crochet and “plain stitch elastic crochet” = sc in back loop only, turning each row; “to increase” = 2 sc in one st; “to decrease” = sc2tog or sk 1; “to make a stitch” = ch 1 at each end of the row; “fasten off” = draw the yarn through the last st; “fasten on” = lay the new end along the work and crochet over both; “run the ends” = weave in ends. Note that the book's “double crochet” is a modern sc, and its “treble” never means a modern tr.
• Modernisation note: Period wording modernised: “needle” / “crochet needle” written as “hook”; “commence” as “begin”; “unite the ends” / “join both ends together” as “join into a ring” (the book does not name the joining stitch); “a chain and first row” as “ch, then Row 1”; “cheques” as “checks”. The book says “row” even when working round and round; “row” is kept as printed.
• Modernisation note: Printed paragraphs split into one step per row or instruction; no colours, counts or rows added, removed or reordered. Colour-sequence rows are written as “Row 4 (sc): 1 light green, 1 black, 5 red brown …”, meaning that many sc in each colour, in order.
• Modernisation note: Period silks have no exact modern equivalent. The book's hints (p. 22) rank them: crochet silk is “the coarsest” and best for bags; second-sized netting silk is “prettiest for purses”; fine netting silk and reel silk are finer. The modern silk or crochet-thread sizes given are approximations.
• Modernisation note: “Gold”, “gold cord”, “gold thread” and “gold passing” were metallic threads; use a modern metallic thread or cord of about the same thickness as the silk or wool.
• Modernisation note: “Steel” and “gold” beads were small metal beads; use small metal-finish seed beads (no size printed). The book says beads “should be strung on the silk with a needle” before working, and that “when beads are introduced, the wrong side of the work becomes the right.”
• Modernisation note: No hook (needle) size and no gauge is printed — the book names only “steel” or “ivory” needles. The modern starting hook is an approximate suggestion only.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed and none is estimated.
• Modernisation note: Colour swatches are approximate modern readings of the period colour names; they are not in the book. “Gold colour” is a golden-yellow yarn, whereas “gold” on its own in the silk designs means metallic gold thread or cord. “Ponceau” is poppy red, “drab” a dull greyish brown, “stone colour” a pale greyish beige, “claret” a deep wine red. By the book's own definitions (p. 24), “chiné” yarn is dyed in two or more colours at intervals along one thread, and “ombré” yarn shades gradually from light to dark in one colour.
• Modernisation note: Check: “repeat this circle sixteen times” is read as 16 rounds of increasing in all; whether the first two increase rounds are included is not stated.
• Modernisation note: Check: stitch counts after the bottom are not printed, so how the 6-st vandyke repeat fits the round is not stated.
• Modernisation note: Check: the depth of the bag and the diagonal pattern itself are shown only in engraving No. 18.
• Modernisation note: “Weave in ends” added.