1920s Irish crochet lace edging

By: harrietbazley

http://www.burdastyle.com/projects/1920s-irish-crochet-lace-edging

The dress Im working on requires 64 inches of this black lace edging so while Im plugging away at that, I thought Id upload a description of how the lace is made. The pattern was originally published in Womans Weekly of November 27th, 1920, and obviously expected a fair degree of competence/experience on the part of its readers. I had a good deal of difficulty deciphering the instructions! What I give here is my own translation, made in an attempt to clarify the original pattern. In most cases I have scanned the crochet work directly, but in some places I have added pen-and-ink diagrams in the hopes of clarifying what is going on. Ive taken six hours so far to upload this I hope there is sufficient detail here to inspire someone else to emulate the project!

Materials
The original specified No. 36 crochet cotton with a No. 8 hook to produce a very fine edging. (This would be a 0.60mm hook or smaller.) Because I was edging a dress and not a handkerchief, I purchased a 1.25mm hook. Trial and error established that 3 strands of standard embroidery cotton (Anchor, DMC or Mouline) was about the right thickness to go with this size hook, which had the additional advantage that I could thus split the skein into two halves and use both in succession! My local shops only stock coarse crochet cotton aimed at constructing garments rather than lace; if you can obtain cotton of a suitable fine gauge, this would obviously be better than improvising with embroidery thread.

Step 1 Start base of pattern

Make 5 chain. Make loop by working 1 treble back into 1st ch. 5 more ch. Turn.

Step 2 Complete base row

 (Make another loop by working 1 tr. back through the loop of 5 chain you just made. 5 more ch. Turn.) Repeat from * three times until you have 4 loops. This forms the base row of the pattern.

Step 3 First row of scallop

For the scallop: skip the last loop of 5 chain that you just made, work 1 tr. through the second 5ch-loop from hook. 7 ch., 1 tr. through same 5ch-loop as before, forming the large central ring of the scallop. Create a second smaller ring by working 5 ch. and then 1 double crochet into next 5ch-loop. Make 1 ch. (1 loop of base row not used yet.)

Step 4 Join to previous scallop (step A)

If this is your first scallop, then simply turn the work and skip ahead to Step 6: you have nothing to join onto yet! If you are on your second or subsequent repeat of these instructions, then you will need to join this row to the previous scallop in the pattern. Work 2 d.c. into the remaining unused 5ch-loop of base row. Make 1 ch. Take out hook, and insert it through the last little 4ch-loop of previous scallop.

Step 5 Join to previous scallop (step B)

Draw through this 4ch-loop the stitch you just dropped, and turn the work. Make 3 ch, and prepare to continue the final row of your half-finished scallop.

Step 6 Final row of scallop

Into the loop of 5 ch. work 2 d.c., 4 ch., 2 d.c., 4 ch., 2 d.c. This makes two 4ch-loops. Into the loop of 7 ch. work 2 d.c., 4 ch., 2 d.c., 4 ch., 2 d.c., 4 ch., 2 d.c., making three 4ch-loops. Into the other 5ch-loop work same as into first 5ch-loop. You now have a large central ring with three small picots projecting from it, flanked by two smaller rings with two picots each.

Step 7 Start base chain for next scallop

To begin next scallop, work 1 d.c. into top of treble forming the end 5ch-loop in base row. (This should be visible as a little triangular shape at the base of the ring you have just created in the row above; the idea is to anchor this ring firmly. Do not work through the actual 5ch-loop itself at this stage, but through this stitch at its edge..) Make 5 ch. and now work 1 tr. back through the 5ch-loop. This forms the first of the four base loops of the next scallop in the pattern. Make 5 more ch.

Step 8 Complete base of next scallop, and repeat from start

Repeat from Step 2 and continue in this way, joining back to previous scallops as in Steps 4 and 5, until you have made as many scallops as needed to supply the length required. (I get slightly more than one scallop to the inch, using hook and cotton as specified.)

Step 9 Ready to add the heading

You may find the lace has a tendency to spiral at this stage (I think it depends on which direction you turn in when making the base loops). This doesnt matter. The next stage will tend to stabilise it as you add the heading row. To do this you will turn the lace upside-down and work around the end and back towards the beginning of the strip. The heading row forms a sturdy border which can be sewn onto the hem of the article for which the edging is intended.

Step 10 The heading row

To create the heading row on top of the scallops, turn the lace over as described, work 1 d.c. back into the last 5ch-loop of base row, work 2 ch., then 1 tr. back into same 5ch-loop. *(Work 2 ch., 2 tr. into next 5ch-loop) and repeat from * all the way back to the beginning of the lace, working one pair of trebles through each loop of the base row. This forms a row of neat square blocks along the edge of the pattern .

1920s Irish crochet lace edging