Victorian Crochet by Weldon and Company

The Weldon and Company edition I’m working from was published in 1974. It contains the first through nineteenth series that were originally published around 1895 in London. Fortunately, the editors included explanations of some of the terms for the garments themselves along with stitches and some substitutes for the yarn mentioned in the series.

I'm starting at the beginning with Weldon’s Practical Crochet. (First Series) How to Crochet 36 Useful Articles for Ladies, Gentlemen, and Children. Forty-Five Illustrations.
The First Series starts out with “Details of Crochet” where they give a very brief history of the craft as they know it and descriptions and diagrams of some of the stitches including chain, single crochet (slip stitch), double crochet (single crochet) and more. They include directions for increasing and decreasing and special stitches like Tricot Stitch (Tunisian/Afghan stitch) and Krotchee Crochet (Hair-Pin).
The 36 Useful Articles include:

• Hats and hoods – Turban Hat, Crochet Hood, Comfortable Hood, Lady’s Hood, Baby’s Hat, Nicely Fitting Hood, Boy’s Hat, 2 versions of a Tam O’ Shanter
• Coats – Girl’s Crochet Coat, Stylish Walking Coat, Baby’s Jacket
• Shawl, Half Square Shawl in Russian Crochet, Woolen Crossover
• Skirt
• Baby’s Long Crochet Boot, Baby’s Bib
• Child’s Frock, Frock for a child of Two
• Child’s Petticoat, Baby’s Crochet Petticoat with knitted body
• Crochet and Bead Purse
• Child’s Crochet Ball
• Other items like crocheted imitations of fur, edgings, insertions, motifs and stitch patterns

The directions for the basic stitches are shown in the photo below. They seem pretty clear to me but I'm also familiar with the stitches they're using so I can't say this would be easy for someone who hasn't done it before. This is where I could confirm that not only are they using Victorian terms but also what we would now think of as UK terms for the basic stitches. That makes sense since these were published in England.

Here are two interesting projects from the first series that I won't be making because they're pretty involved and I could never get them done in a week. These black and white inserts show so much detail!

Child's Frock

Stylish Walking Costume

Not every pattern has a photo or drawing but there are photos of stitch patterns and occasionally they'll give you a close up of the stitch pattern instead of the finished item.

For next week, I'll be working on a baby's hat that doesn't have a photo so I won't have any idea what it should look like before it's done.