 This series is all borders. Let's jump right in. There are a lot of borders for sideboards and trays. The wheel border in the bottom right panel looks similar to the one I made with the plastic rings. This one has you wind the thread around your finger nine times and then start crocheting around that to make a ring instead of using a form
Some borders imitate other types of lace.
Here are some more typical borders. The rose border looks like a border version of a doily that shows up a lot in vintage books.
I had planned to do the Pine-apple border. It's worked side to side and looked like one of the easier ones but even after trying to write it out, I just couldn't follow it. This is one that would have been better as a chart. So, no project from this series.  Next week we'll be looking at the last Weldon's Series in this book. We'll be moving out of the Victorian period by the end of October.
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 The sixteenth and eighteenth series are all about using molds to crochet around to make some very pretty edgings. I could only find a substitute for the circles so that narrowed down my options. I decided to try this triple wheel border. I found 1 inch plastic rings at Joann's that seemed like they would work.  The directions say these are, "quite easy to work". They used a thread that was described as having green, tan and fawn colors. They also say you need some gold thread to fill the middle of the wheels. I'll be skipping that part. I used #10 thread in purple and my trusty size 7 steel crochet hook. This was pretty easy to do. They get joined together in what we would think of as a "join as you go" method. The difficult part was figuring out where that was supposed to go. The directions sort of told you but that didn't seem like it worked out quite right. I used the photo to get those joins in the right spot. The heading was equally confusing on where to join and in this case the illustration wasn't very helpful. I just made some choices and got it done regardless of the directions and even the illustration. The heading in the illustration seemed to have an extra stitch that I couldn't figure out. I skipped the little pendants too. Ultimately, I got something that looks a lot like the photo.  I think something like this would make an interesting valance for a window or a lot of these together could make a fun curtain.
Now for the rating: Is the pattern easy to understand? Partly 0.5 Does it look like the illustration? Yes (or it would if I added the extra center and pendants) 1.0 Would someone use this? Yes. 1.0 Did I enjoy making it? Yes. It went pretty quickly even though I had to make some adjustments along the way. 1.0 The total is 3.5 out of 4 Next week it's a series that is all borders! There are two series in the book that use "moulds". This post pulls from both series to show a sampling of the different kinds of trims they make with the shapes. The shapes are sold by, "Messrs. Carl Mez and Sohne, whose goods are stocked by every fancy depot and art needlework establishment." This company still exists today as Mez. Their history page says the company was founded in 1785 and is responsible for major innovations in thread making. They were first taken over by JP Coats in 1932 and in 2020 they became a part of LEVITO AG, a Swiss investment company. While they don't appear to sell the forms anymore they are the parent company for other well known yarn and thread brands like Opti, Red Heart, Schachenmayr, Regia and Milward. There is quite a bit of the history of the different brand on their website. There are sections for the history of sewing, embroidery, knitting and crochet. The history sections are found at the bottom of the linked page. Crocheting around these forms makes some very pretty edgings. I think these would be pretty heavy on clothing depending on what the molds are made from. They say that, "though stiff, are not at all heavy nor cumbrous." They are very specific about the threads they think you should use and use multiple paragraphs to describe the wonderful qualities of thread you can get from Messrs. Carl Mez and Sohne of Aldermabury, London. They warn against using cheap sorts of gold thread since they can tarnish and, "make the work look shabby before it is half worn out." These two series are basically an ad plus patterns for the thread. Below are some of the examples of the patterns using the molds.
 I found some plastic rings that seemed like they'd be a good size for something that used a round form and I'm going to try to make part of the Triple Wheel Border pictured at the top.
Late edit to this. My sister found some articles about the moulds that were made of pasteboard. They can be found here, with the two specific articles being, "The Latest Novelty in Crochet Work" from the 1892 Ladies' Home Journal and "Modern Crochet Work" from Cassell's Family Magazine, 1894 In July, I took a quick trip to Asheville and while there I saw a lot of crochet. I found it in antique stores, in art sale booths, in the Wolfe Memorial house and even on a passenger on my flight home (no picture of that though). Because this is "Craft Across Time" we'll start with the more vintage crochet and end with some modern art. Here are a few of the things I saw in antique stores. Several bedspreads that were in ok condition. They had broken threads and stains. Clearly used and loved.
A few tablecloths and runners in surprisingly good shape. They were probably only brought out for special occasions.
A few acrylic blankets that will never fall apart. I was a little surprised by the $39 price on the first one but, it would probably cost that to make it new even without including the labor involved. We have a similar chevron blanket in the same colors in the second photo. It's a classic.
The Thomas Wolfe Memorial house had crochet in almost every room. I was having trouble with my phone that day so I only ended up with two photos from the dining room.   There were several places that had a lot of different booths with art to buy and there was crochet in both of the ones I went to. In some cases the prices seemed right on. In others, I was skeptical that they sold anything. I've included the prices below so you can make your own judgement.
The biggest and my favorite crochet surprise was the one I found at the Asheville Art Museum.   Caitlin has very interesting and cool fiber art sculptures and other artwork. Here is a quote from her website; "Caitlin McCormack (b. 1988) is a Philadelphia-based artist who utilizes textiles to explore queerness, isolation, loss, and existential dread through an uncanny, occasionally humorous lens. Their sculptures contemplate societal reluctance to view gendered craft as art and regard crochet as a behavioral response to apocalyptic conditions." The art on the specimens page of the website were my favorites. To see those and more here is the website: caitlinmccormack.com
Asheville has a lot of art and the fiber arts were definitely not left out of the mix. It was a fun trip! |
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