Star Stitch Sacque (1888): vintage crochet pattern

Materials

• A split zephyr wool for the sacque — the book names it and prints no quantity
• A knitting silk for the border, in a shade to go with the wool
• Crochet hook to suit the wool; the star stitch is worked with a long hook, as the tricot rows carry several loops
• Enough wool or silk for a cord and two tassels
• 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

sc

single crochet

dc

double crochet

st

stitch

sts

stitches

rep

repeat

inc

increase

dec

decrease

tog

together

row

row

Notes before you start

• Source: "Star Stitch Sacque", Instructions for Crochet Work, Western Lace Manufacturing Company, 218 State Street, Chicago, Ill., 1888. Public domain in the USA.
• As printed — materials: “Star Stitch Sacque, on page 17, is made of split zephyr with border of silk.” (book page 113); “Now take knitting silk, tie in corner at bottom…” and “Finish sacque with cord and tassels.” (printed with the design, book pages 19 and 20); No quantity, hook number or gauge 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: 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: This is the only one of the book's three long garment projects that counts rather than fits, and it is transcribed because the counts prove themselves. The opening chain checks first: 40 stars want 5 chain for the first star and 2 for each of the other 39, which is exactly the 83 the book prints. Then every row consumes the stars the row before produced — Row 2 takes 4 + 4 + 2 + 9 + 2 + 9 + 2 + 8 = 40 and leaves 47; Row 3 takes 9 + 26 + 4 + 8 = 47 and leaves 50; Row 4 takes 50 and leaves 58; Row 5 takes 58 and leaves 62; Row 6 takes 62 and leaves 69; Row 7 takes 69 and leaves 74; Row 8 takes 74 and leaves 80; Row 9 takes 80 and leaves 85; Row 11 takes 93; Row 12 takes 97 and leaves 105; Row 13 takes exactly 105; Row 14 takes 59 and leaves 61; Row 15 takes 61; Row 16 takes 63 and leaves 67; Row 17 is the 67 it names; Row 18 takes 67 and leaves 71; Row 19 is the 71 it names; and Row 20 takes 71. Eighteen of the twenty rows close on the nose.
• Modernisation note: Check, and this is the one broken row: Row 10 as printed cannot be worked as it stands. A block of six groups — “make 16, increase in 17th; make 1, increase in 2d; make 22, increase in 23d; make 2, increase in 3d; make 16, increase in 17th; make 5, increase in 6th” — is set twice over, and the row as printed asks for 152 stars where Row 9 has left 85. Read with that block once, the row takes 6 + 6 + 17 + 2 + 23 + 3 + 17 + 6 = 80 stars and has eight increases; Row 11 needs 93 stars, which is 85 plus eight. So the duplicated block is a compositor's repeat and the row's own last figure has to be 5 rather than the printed 4 for the arithmetic to close. The row is printed above exactly as the book sets it, including the repeat; the finding is recorded here and nothing is silently rewritten.
• Modernisation note: Check: Row 13 ties off the sleeves and the book does not say how many stars go with them. Row 13 consumes 105 and, after its three increases and six draw-togethers, leaves 102; Row 14 takes 59. The 43 stars between those two figures are the two sleeves, and the sleeve section that follows works “3 rows, 24 stitches each”, which is 48. The book reconciles neither number, and neither is adjusted here.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads the foundation as “Make a chain of $8 stitches”; the printed page (book page 17, image p-023.jpg) reads “Make a chain of 83 stitches”, and 83 is what 40 stars need.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 5 as “make 28, increase in Y4th”; the page (book page 18, image p-024.jpg) reads “make 23, increase in 24th”, which is also the only figure that makes Row 5 consume the 58 Row 4 leaves.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 6's opening as “Make 5, increase in 6th; make 8, increase in -+th”; the page reads “make 5, increase in 6th; make 3, increase in 4th”.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads Row 9 as “make 2Y, increase in 23d”; the page reads “make 22, increase in 23d”. Its “Lith Row” is 17th Row and its “Sth Row” is 8th Row.
• Modernisation note: Check: the scan reads the sleeve as “Do 3 rows. 2+ stitches each”; the page (book page 19, image p-025.jpg) reads “Do 3 rows, 24 stitches each”.
• Modernisation note: The book's own bracket “(Tie sleeves together.)” is kept at the end of Row 13 where it is printed; it is the instruction to set the sleeve stars aside, and the sleeve section that follows picks them up.
• Modernisation note: The star stitch itself is quoted in full above from the book's own STAR STITCH section, book pages 16 and 17, because the sacque prints no definition of its own; nothing in it is altered. It is worked in the “tricotee (or Afghan) stitch” with a long hook, which is crochet, not knitting.
• Modernisation note: Not a reprint of “No. 10.—Child's Shell and Star Stitch Sacque” in “Home Work” (1891). That design begins on a chain of 69 with two rows of plain single crochet and then works shells of three doubles over its stars; this one begins on a chain of 83 and is star stitch from first row to last, with the border worked over it afterwards.