 By 1936 the issues are down to just seven pages. This issue has 7 patterns; a crocheted tie, an ascot scarf crocheted in knot stitch, a three piece knit suit (cover image) and turnip and carrot crocheted pan holders. I decided to try the pan holders. I think that almost every booklet I have from this era has a crocheted pot or pan holder in it. I could easily do one every week from the 1930s and 1940s and never run out of patterns. Here is the illustration for the potholders. I'm not sure what's going on in the tiny illustration between the two pan holders though. Is the food on fire?  The pattern says to use a mercerized cotton thread such as Lily's Frost-Tone. You need 20 yds of lavender, 90 yds of white and 5 yards of green and a number 3 (2.1mm) steel hook. The pattern starts out at the bottom of the turnip and works in rounds with double crochet stitches. It switches to white and single crochet in rounds for a while and then asks you to start turning the row and leave an opening on the side. The green top is just loops of chains.  This pattern was pretty easy to make but I was a little confused about it's use. The photo below is the finished pan holder. It's 5.5 inches tall (not including the green) and about 4.5 inches across at the widest spot.  I slid it on to the handle through the open side to use it. I'm not sure how effective this is. Using it like this means the fabric is only one layer and using a 2.1 mm hook meant that the stitches aren't super tight. I don't think this would protect from the heat and it doesn't give any extra grip on the pan either. I'd reach for this as a pan holder as a last resort and expect my hand to get a little toasted.
Here's the scoring:
Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. 1.0 Does it look like the photo or illustration? Sort of. My version seems a bit fatter and if it was done in all purple it could easily pass for an eggplant. 0.5 Would someone use this? I think it's pretty unlikely to be used as a pan holder. Should I sew it up and stuff it to make a weird stuffed vegetable? 0.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. It went pretty fast and it had enough different stitches that it wasn't completely boring. 1.0 Total Score = 2.5
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 The first Aunt Martha's Workbasket was published in October 1935. The first issue was 16 pages and has two crochet projects and two other projects. It was intended to be for "pleasure and profit" so people could make things to sell. There is a lot of text in this first issue explaining what they plan to do with the magazine and why. You can see the whole thing at the Antique Pattern Library. Here's a quick overview of the contents. On page three she says for future issues, "Right now, crochet is the thing, so I'm going to give you directions for a purse, also a beret and scarf". She said someone was selling the purse for $1.50 each. Page 4-5 is text telling where to buy the other collections. Page 6 gives us our first pattern and it's a crocheted pajama bag or pillow and there is no illustration or photo. The following pages are "How and Why to Sell", "Gift and Shower Suggestions", what to crochet for a booth at a Bazaar (coat hangers, collars, cuffs, scarves, berets) and more ads for their own patterns. Page 11 gives us our next actual pattern. This time it's the cover illustration.  The next project is a transfer under the title of "Parade of Nations" intended to be used as embroidery or an applique quilt and illustrates a Hawaiian person picking flowers.
The last project is coasters cut from cardboard. They say you can cover them in paper with paste or rubber cement and then shellacked. She says, "If you wish to make your coasters really "snitzy" you can cut a base just a bit smaller from an old felt hat and glue it to the bottom". I did not make any of the projects from this issue but I did find one to make in the October 1936 issue and I'll share that next week. I made the Baby Sachet out of the Crochet Designs of Anne Orr booklet. I used some scrap fingering weight wool and a size 8 steel hook (1.50 mm) which is a little smaller than I usually use for thread.
This is done in a fairly simple version of a star stitch where you cut the yarn at the end of the row and start over on the same side. That means there were a lot ends. Instead of sewing them in I just tied them together and tucked them inside with the stuffing (which was also yarn). You make two star stitch triangles and sew them together before adding the edging. The edging was supposed to be a triple crochet but I used a double instead and I used a flower I had instead for the ribbon they used. I didn't use any sachet powder. You could add some essentials oils to the stuffing if you really wanted to use it as a sachet.  This was pretty easy to do but I don't know what makes this specifically for a baby.
Here's the scoring: Is the pattern easy to understand? Yes. They did a pretty good job of describing a star stitch. 1.0 Does it look like the photo or illustration? Yes 1.0 Would someone use this? Yes. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. It was a fast and easy scrap project. 1.0 Total = 4.0 Another perfect score! Anne Orr was a prolific designer in the early 1900s. She designed not only crochet but also knitting, tatting, quilting and embroidery. She had almost 100 designs published between 1910-1945. Many were done in partnership with thread companies but she often published them herself. She was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 1980 and they have an excellent summary of her work. The booklet of her designs that I have was published in 1978 by Dover Publications. Most of the patterns included in it are patterns published with J & P Coats Inc from 1917-1923.  Her designs are almost all thread and often size 20-50 thread. The Shamrock Yoke below is made with size 50 thread and the Yoke with Sleeves is size 20.   Most of the patterns in this booklet are also a filet style crochet.
 There were lots of collars, yokes and inserts but I thought this sweater was stunning.  There were some instructions included and the cross-stitch patterns that were stitches onto many of the articles made were very pretty.
I did find one easy project that was not made from thread. I'll be making a baby sachet.
I'm now on BlueSky and I post under aronningen.bsky.social. I've been working my way backwards through all of my projects on Ravelry so if you want to see all the things I make, not just the vintage ones, that's a great place to see it. If you do, I recommend clicking on the pictures and reading the alt text for the more recent posts. |
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