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Handsome Purse with Rose and Steel-Bead Scroll (Victorian): vintage crochet pattern
A Victorian long purse in rich brown purse twist, patterned with a steel-bead scroll and leaves, a rose and small flowers in shaded crimson silk with transparent white beads, and a large grey-silk flower, joined by a centre of open square crochet and closed with scalloped ends.
By the crochetpatterns.io editorial team · Updated · Editorial policy · pattern testing in progress
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Skill level | Advanced |
| Yarn weight | Lace (#0) |
| Yardage | As printed: skeins and reels by colour (length not printed). |
| Hook | 0.6 mm |
| Gauge | Not printed. Work to the size of the article. |
| Finished size | Not printed. Each end is a tube of 120 sts; the centre is about 20 rows of open square crochet. |
| Time | about 21 hours |
Materials
- Very fine silk thread about the thickness of size 30–40 crochet cotton (period: purse twist and silk “of the finest size”): 3 skeins rich brown, 1 skein white, 1 reel shaded crimson (ombré in short shades), 1 reel grey, as printed
- 2 hanks steel (silver-grey) seed beads (period: No. 5) and 12 strings transparent white seed beads
- 2 steel purse slides (rings) and a few steel bugle beads for the fringe
- Beading needle for stringing; tapestry needle
- Hook: Start with a 0.6 mm (US steel 14 or finer) hook and work very tightly, as the book directs; no hook size or gauge is printed.
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
- single crochet
- double crochet
- stitch
- stitches
- round
- row
- repeat
- skip
Notes before you start
- Source: "Handsome Purse", The Ladies' Work-Book, John Cassell, La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London (no year printed). Public domain in the USA.
- As printed — materials: 1 reel of ombré; crimson silk, in short shades; 1 of grey ditto; 3 skeins of rich brown purse twist, 1 skein of white ditto, 2 hanks of steel beads, No. 5; 12 rows of transparent white seed beads, 2 handsome steel slides, and a few steel bugles. The silk must all be of the finest size, and the work is to be done very tightly.. Gauge: Not given.
- Modernisation note: Stitch names converted to modern US terms strictly by the book's own crochet lesson: “chain” / “ch.” = ch; “slip” / “slip-stitch” = sl st; “single crochet” / “s.c.” = sc; “double crochet” / “double” / “d.c.” = dc; “treble crochet” / “treble” / “t.c.” = tr; “long treble” / “long t.c.” = dtr; “long” / “l.” = dc (one wrap, from the book's “double long … twisting the cotton twice”); “open square” = dc, ch 2, sk 2; “close square” = 3 dc; “diminished” / “contracted” stitch = dc2tog; “miss” = sk; “loop” (of a chain or row) = st. In this book “double crochet” means the same stitch as the modern US dc, and “single crochet” the modern sc.
- Modernisation note: Period wording modernised: “needle” written as “hook”; “commence” as “begin”; “unite” / “close into a round” as “join into a ring”; “round loop” as “ring”; “receipt” as “directions”; “scollop” as “scallop”. Round and row numbers are kept as printed.
- Modernisation note: Printed paragraphs split into one step per round, row or instruction; no stitches, counts or rows added, removed or reordered. Words in square brackets or marked “Check:” are ours, and the printed wording is quoted wherever a reading was needed.
- Modernisation note: Period purse silk, netting silk and crochet silk have no exact modern equivalent; a silk (or fine mercerised) thread about the thickness of size 20–30 crochet cotton is suggested. “Ombré” silk is shaded from light to dark along the strand; “gold thread” was a metallic gold thread.
- Modernisation note: Period bead descriptions (“steel”, “rather larger than seed beads”, “No. 5”, “No. 6”) have no exact modern equivalent. Choose small seed beads (about size 11/0–8/0) whose hole will take the thread doubled through the needle; steel beads can be replaced with silver-grey or gunmetal seed beads. Check: approximate.
- Modernisation note: No hook size is printed; the modern 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. “Cerise” is a deep cherry pink; “maize” a soft yellow; “stone-colour” and “drab” pale greyish browns; “slate” a blue-grey.
- Modernisation note: Check: the stitch for the pattern rounds is not named; sc is assumed from the first round (“one round in s.c.”).
- Modernisation note: Check: Rnd 28 adds up to 56 sts per repeat and Rnd 41 to 55, instead of 60; compare with the engraving.
- Modernisation note: Check: “make the other end” is not explained — the second end is presumably worked like the first (Rnds 1–49 and 2 plain rounds), but the book does not say whether the rose pattern is repeated or reversed.
- Modernisation note: Check: the book does not say how the first end joins the open square crochet centre; the centre is worked on from the first end and then joined to the second, “with the opening at the centre of one side”.
- Modernisation note: The printed closing line “Turn with a fringe made of steel beads and bugles” is read as “Trim with a fringe …”.
Row progress: 0 of 6 done (0%)
Stitches
0 of 6 done- Single crochet, “s.c.” (book's definition): “Having a loop on the needle, insert the hook in a stitch, and draw the thread through in a loop. You then have two on the hook; draw the thread through both at once.” = sc.Mark row complete
- Double crochet, “d.c.” (book's definition): “Twist the thread round the hook before inserting it in the stitch, through which you draw the thread in a loop. Three loops being then on the needle, draw the thread through two, and then through the one just formed and the remaining one.” = dc.Mark row complete
- Square crochet (book's definition): “An open square consists of one d.c., two ch.—missing two on the line beneath, before making the next stitch. A close square has three successive d.c.” = open square: dc, ch 2, sk 2; closed square: 3 dc in consecutive sts (a filet block). “A number of chains divisible by three, leaving one over” is needed for the foundation.Mark row complete
- To work with beads (book): “Beads must be first threaded on the silk, or other material, and then dropped, according to the pattern, on what is usually thought the wrong side of the work. This side presents a more even appearance than the other.” = pre-string the beads; slide one bead up against the work in each beaded st; the side the beads fall on becomes the right side.Mark row complete
- To work with several colours (book): “Hold the threads not in use along the edge of the work, and work them in. When the colour is to be changed, begin the stitch with the old colour, and complete it with the new, which continue to work with, holding the other in.” = carry the unused strands inside the stitches and change colour on the last yo of the stitch before (tapestry crochet).Mark row complete
- Repeat marks (book): asterisks, crosses and daggers mark repeats — “in every row or round, if one of any kind is used, a second, similar one, is sure to be found; and that the repetition occurs between the two”. Written here with *…* and (…).Mark row complete
Working on:
Single crochet, “s.c.” (book's definition): “Having a loop on the needle, insert the hook in a stitch, and draw the thread through in a loop. You then have two on the hook; draw the thread through both at once.” = sc.
Continue this pattern
The rest of the Handsome Purse with Rose and Steel-Bead Scroll (Victorian) pattern is in the Vintage Crochet Hats, Bags & Accessories
Still to come in the full pattern:
- Stringing and colour key
- End of the purse
- Rose pattern
- Second end and centre
- To close up the ends of the purse
- Finishing
Included with 202 patterns for $12 — $0.06 per pattern.
Errata
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Frequently asked questions
Where is the Handsome Purse pattern from?
It was published as "Handsome Purse" in The Ladies' Work-Book by John Cassell, La Belle Sauvage Yard, Ludgate Hill, London (no year printed). 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 Handsome Purse?
Silk thread about size 30–40 (period: purse twist). As printed: skeins and reels by colour (length not printed).
What hook should I use?
Start with a 0.6 mm (US steel 14 or finer) hook and work very tightly, as the book directs; no hook size or gauge is printed. Gauge: Not printed. Work to the size of the article.
