Moving into the 20th Century

Time to finish up the Victorian era. have one more booklet that has a few early 1900 patterns and then I'll move on to later decades.
The Crochet Designs Fashion & Accessories Reprinted from Victorian & Edwardian Sources was compiled by Gertrude Kuehl for the Knitting and Crochet Guild in London. This booklet was printed in 1990. It has 29 patterns from 1855-1917. 

It has a hook comparison chart along with a Bell Gauge and a list of yarn categories to tell you what "modern" yarn could be used in place of the older description. The introduction goes through a little history and explanation of terminology. It says one of the things I've discovered over the last year, "Generally speaking 19th century crochet patterns provide either a fest or famine in written details." They go on to say that one of the reasons that Victorian and Edwardian patterns often didn't give you the hook size or gauge is so the would be more open-ended. Most people that did needlework then could draft clothing patterns and would use patterns and stitches to make a fabric that they would then create to fit their hand drafted pattern. They would put in their own increases and decreases to fit that pattern. The patterns were much more adaptable even if they seemed vague to us.

I'll share the three from the Victorian era this week and then next week I'll move on to 1904-1910.

This collar is from 1848. The index says its from The Crochet Book by Mdlle Riego de La Branchardiere, 4th ed,. London. This pattern uses the word "plain" in place of single crochet (I think).

This purse is from Treasures in Needlework, by Mrs. Warren and Mrs. Pullan, London, 1855

The last pattern from the Victorian era in this booklet is this wrap. It's from Mrs. Leach's Fancy Work Basket Vol. 12, no. 137 February 1897. It's described as useful for an invalid or an evening wrap. While this is a long and detailed pattern it does say that you can change the size by, "varying the number of stitches and rows".

Next week I'll share the eight patterns from 1904-1910 and tell which one I'll attempt to make.