Lace for Window Curtains (1888): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• Crochet cotton — the book prints no size; it names spool cotton or German crochet cotton and says the latter is much the best
• Steel crochet hook to suit the thread
• Tapestry needle for the ends
• Hook: Check: the book prints no hook number for this design. It names a hook size only twice in its whole 114 pages — “a long bone hook No. 6” for the Crochet Dress for Child on page 60 and “a crochet hook No. 12” for the Teapot-Cosy on page 98, both of which are in this file. Neither is an 1888 maker's size that reads across to a modern number for anything else. Match the hook to whatever thread or yarn you choose, and change size until the work lies flat.

Abbreviations (US terms)

ch

chain

sl st

slip stitch

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Lace for Window Curtains", Instructions for Crochet Work, Western Lace Manufacturing Company, 218 State Street, Chicago, Ill., 1888. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: “The Lace Edgings on pages 25, 27, 29, 37, 49, 52, 53, 55, 56, 59, 70, 73, 76, 79, 81, 82, 84, 95, 96, 101, 103, 104, 106, 107, 109, can be made of spool cotton or German crochet cotton, the last being much the best. It is not desirable to use linen as it does not wear well.” (book page 113); No thread number, hook number or quantity is printed.. Gauge: Not given.
• Modernisation note: Stitches are converted by this book's own printed key, “DESCRIPTION OF TERMS USED IN CROCHET”, book page 5 (image p-011.jpg) — not by the look of the abbreviation and not from the date. The key settles the question outright: this 1888 Chicago book uses MODERN US stitch names, the same ladder our 1891 Butterick uses and the opposite of the British-style ladder in the 1913 to 1916 Priscilla books. Its “Single Crochet” is: “Pass the hook through a loop of the last row, bring cotton through, throw cotton around the needle and pass it through the two loops on the needle.” One pull-up and two loops worked off together — the modern US single crochet, not a British double. Its “Double Crochet” is: “Throw cotton once around the needle, pass the hook through a loop of the preceding row, bring cotton through, then take cotton up and bring it through two loops twice.” One wrap before insertion, three loops worked off two at a time twice — the modern US double crochet, not a US single. Its “Half Double Crochet” is: “Like double crochet, only pass the cotton through the three loops on the needle, instead of passing it through two loops twice.” — the modern US half double. Its “Treble” is: “Throw the cotton twice around the needle, and work as double crochet, but bring cotton through two loops three times.” — the modern US treble. Its “Double Double Crochet” is: “Throw the cotton over the needle three times, work as double crochet, but draw the cotton through two loops four times.” — the modern US double treble, written dtr below. The WRAP COUNTS are the decisive evidence and they are printed rather than inferred: none for single, one for double, two for treble, three for double double, with the loops worked off two at a time in every case. So this book's s. c., d. c., h. d. c., t. and d. d. c. are written sc, dc, hdc, tr and dtr below with no shift of height.
• Modernisation note: Two of the book's terms do NOT map straight across, and both are handled explicitly rather than quietly. Its “Close Chain Stitch” (page 5) is: “Insert the hook in the loop of preceding row, and draw cotton through it and the loop on the needle at the same time.” That is what we call a slip stitch worked into the fabric, and it is written sl st below. Its own “Slip Stitch” (page 6) is a different move — a joining, not a stitch: “This stitch is used in joining. Take the hook from the last loop worked, pass it through the loop where the work has to be joined; then take the first loop spoken of and draw it through.” Where a design uses sl. st. in that joining sense the row below says join with a sl st and keeps the book's own wording; where it plainly means travelling along a chain or a row, the row says sl st. Its “Ribbed Crochet” (page 6) is: “Make a single crochet in the back loop of each stitch of the row last worked. At the end of every row make a chain stitch and turn the work; then begin the next row.” — written sc in blo below.
• Modernisation note: The book prints its own short table, “ABBREVIATIONS USED IN DIRECTIONS”, book page 6 (image p-012.jpg): “l. — Loop. ch. st. — Chain Stitch. cl. ch. st. — Close Chain Stitch. s. c. — Single Crochet. d. c. — Double Crochet. h. d. c. — Half Double Crochet. t. — Treble. d. d. c. — Double Double Crochet. p. — Picot. r. c. — Ribbed Crochet. sl. st. — Slip Stitch.” Note that its letter for treble is a bare “t.”, not “tr.”; several designs also write “T” or “t. c.” for the same stitch, and all three are written tr below. Most designs spell the stitches out in words anyway, and both forms are written in modern shorthand here.
• Modernisation note: The book's wording is written in modern US form: “needle” always means the crochet hook and is written hook; “set the needle into” = insert the hook in; “fill the ring with” = work the stitches into the ring; “miss” = sk; “catch down” and “fasten” = join with a sl st or a sc, according to what the row is doing; “throw the cotton over the needle” = yo; “d. c. 3 times in the same place” is written 3 dc in the same place; “repeat from *” = rep from *. Ordinal row names (“Ist Row”, “2d Row”, “3d Row”) are written Row 1, Row 2, Row 3, and Round where the design works in the round. The book's own spellings are kept in the design names as printed.
• Modernisation note: Several of these designs print as one solid paragraph with no row numbering at all, the new row marked only by the word “turn”. Those are split here into one row or step per line at the book's own “turn”, and the book's own sub-headings (BORDER, SCALLOP FOR TOP OF BOOTEE, For the Heading and so on) are kept as section headings. Stitch order and counts are unchanged and nothing is added.
• Modernisation note: The scanned text of this book carries the usual optical-reading slips, and every figure below was read back against the 220 dpi page image rather than trusted from the scan: the scan's “Ist” is 1st, its “Sth” is 8th, its “LO” and “lO” are 10, its “+” and “-L” standing in place of a number are the figure 4, its “§” is 5, its “Y” and “)” are 9, its “S” inside a number is 8, and its “e”, “¢”, “«” and “@” are all the letter c, so that “d. ec.”, “d. «.”, “cd. c.” and “a. c.” are all d. c. Where the scan and the printed page disagree, the printed page is followed and the disagreement is recorded as a Check note.
• Modernisation note: No gauge is printed for this design. The book prints a gauge exactly once in its whole 114 pages — for the Crochet Dress for Child on page 60, which is in this file — and gives none for any other design. Work a sample and change hook size until the piece lies flat.
• Modernisation note: The book prints no materials at the head of any design. It gathers them instead into one list at the back, book page 113 (image p-119.jpg), keyed to the page each design appears on rather than to its name. The line covering this design is quoted verbatim in the original materials above. Nothing is invented to fill the gaps that list leaves.
• Modernisation note: No yardage is printed for this design, and none is estimated here.
• Modernisation note: No finished measurement is printed for this edging. It is worked to the length of the piece it trims, so its length is set by that piece.
• Modernisation note: Check: no colour is printed for this design. The engraving photographs as a plain light thread. White and écru are recorded here as the usual period choices for the thread the book names, not as this design's printed colour.
• Modernisation note: The repeat is Rows 2 to 13 and the foundation row is worked once. Row 13 ends “turn, chain 3, and repeat from *”, and the only star printed anywhere in the design is the one that opens Row 2, so that is where the repeat returns to. Row 13 leaves the same fabric the foundation row leaves — a block of 8 doubles at the outer edge, three single crochets over pairs of doubles across the net, and 3 doubles at the heading edge — which is what makes the return work.
• Modernisation note: The solid blocks are the design. Each “8 doubles” is a block: the foundation row makes one, Row 3 makes one on its chain of eleven, Row 5 makes that one and a second (“d. c. in next 7 stitches, making 8 doubles”), Row 7 makes three, Row 9 two, Row 11 one and Row 13 one. Read down the odd rows the count runs 1, 1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, which is the stepped point the engraving on book page 73 (image p-079.jpg) shows hanging below the net.
• Modernisation note: The chain of 11 and the slip stitch back are the two ends of the same movement and both are printed. Rows 2, 4 and 6 end “chain 11, turn”, which lengthens the lower edge so the next odd row can build a new block on it; Rows 8, 10 and 12 end simply “turn”, and Rows 9, 11 and 13 open instead with “slip stitch back across the 8 doubles”, which shortens it again. That is why the point closes rather than growing forever.
• Modernisation note: “D. c. over the same d. c.” is the book's own and is exactly what it says — a second double worked into the stitch the last double went into. It is what opens the ground into the diagonal net the engraving shows, and it is left in the book's words in every row rather than being renamed a V-stitch or a shell, neither of which the book uses here.
• Modernisation note: Check: the foundation chain is one stitch short of the row's own rhythm. Ch 30 is printed. The row spends 4 for the first double, 7 for the doubles that follow it, and then five steps of 3 for the net, which reaches the 26th stitch; the last group is then “d. c. in the last 3 stitches”, which is stitches 28, 29 and 30, so stitch 27 falls between the two and the last chain-3 spans one stitch where every other spans two. A chain of 31 makes every step the same. Transcribed as printed; the book's own “the last 3 stitches” absorbs the difference, and nothing is altered above.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads the opening as “Chain 30 stitches, d. c. in 4th stitch, d. ¢. in next 7 stitches … d. ec. in the Jast 3 stitches”; the printed page (book page 73, image p-079.jpg) reads chain 30, 4th stitch, next 7 stitches and “the last 3 stitches”. Its “in next 8d stitch” is in next 3d stitch.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan renders Row 2's and Row 4's closing chain as “chain Ll” and “chain 11”; the printed pages (book page 74, image p-080.jpg) read chain 11 in both, and so does Row 6 on the same page. Its “chain 8” inside the rows is chain 3 throughout — the book uses chain 3 for every bar in this design and no other figure.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 9's and Row 11's opening as “Slip stitch back across the 8 doubles, over the last of the $”; the printed page (book page 75, image p-081.jpg) reads “over the last of the 8”. Row 13 on book page 76 (image p-082.jpg) opens the same way.
• Modernisation note: The “slip stitch” that begins Rows 9, 11 and 13 is the book's travelling stitch, its Close Chain Stitch, not its page-6 joining move: it carries the thread back along the block of doubles without adding height. It is written sl st above and the note on terms sets out the difference between the book's two slip stitches.
• Modernisation note: Not a reprint. The chain of 30, the block of eight doubles and the chain-11 lengthening were checked against every other book transcribed in this library, “Home Work” (1891) included, which shares stock with this book. Home Work's “No. 147.—Lace for Curtains” is a different design altogether — it is hung on a bought insertion and built from loops of 12 chain filled with 24 single crochets, with no blocks and no net. The name is the only thing the two share.