And Now, a Little Bit about Crochet…

August 11, 2009| Lindy| 0 Comments | 7:51 pm

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I have been very focused on knitting for the last couple of years. Which means I have done very little crocheting and I have never written about crocheting in this blog.

It’s one of those things, I suppose, when you are someone who does both. I seem to have times when I just am not motivated to knit or not motivated to crochet – or I am very interested in knitting, but not crocheting or visa versa. Eventually I come across something that will whet my creative appetite and I will feel a strong urge to go find my supplies and begin working on a project in the craft I have been ignoring.

The crochet urge has bitten me once again! Never mind that I have four knitting projects currently in process – one of which is the baby blanket for my coming grandchild – I find myself needing to satisfy this urge to crochet again. So, I now have five projects in the works – Yep, I added a crochet project this weekend.

DresserScarf_1 I have decided it is time to take up the task of re-creating two or three vintage crochet edgings from dresser scarves I have from my mother. These dresser scarves were made from cotton percale or muslin fabric, embroidered and then finished with a hemstitched hem and a crocheted edging. I am only beginning to appreciate the amount of work that went to into the making of these items and I will explain more in coming posts. Right now, I am tackling the task of developing written explanations for how to do a hemstitched border and then begin a crocheted edging using that border. I will post information about this once I have it worked out and I plan to have it available on my website. Also coming will be the re-created pattern for the vintage crochet edging.

1 thought on “And Now, a Little Bit about Crochet…”

Amanda (SparkeeSpud) says:

August 12, 2009 at 5:00 pm

That is an amazing thing, the dresser scarves. So intricate and lovely.

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Progress on Re-creating the Vintage Crochet EdgingProgress on Re-creating the Vintage Crochet Edging

CrochetEdging1_Rd1
I have made progress on re-creating the Vintage Crochet Edging from my mother’s dresser scarf. I have determined that the edging is made using double crochet stitches in a filet crochet type pattern. It is only three rounds.

For this project, I am using muslin fabric that I have cut into a rectangle that is approximately 20 inches by 15 inches. I have done the hemstitching around the edge and made a single crochet foundation around the fabric by single crocheting through each hole in the hemstitching. The foundation was crocheted using white crochet thread, size 10.

CrochetEdging_Rd1_2
The first round of the crochet edging consists of a mix of 2 double crochet, chain 5 and 3 double crochet stitches around the edge. For this edging I am using an aqua size 10 crochet thread. It is progressing nicely as you can see from the photos

Re-created Vintage Crochet Edging PatternRe-created Vintage Crochet Edging Pattern

I have finished the first re-creation of vintage crochet edging. This really is a simple 3 row edging, which makes a lovely lace edge on a dresser scarf or other table linen pieces. The pictures in this post are of a placemat that I made using muslin fabric, measuring 16 inches by 21 inches. I did a very narrow hem and then hemstitched along the inside edge of the hem.

Once hemstitched, I then crocheted a foundation of single crochet using white thread around the placement edges – going through the holes created by the hemstitching. To crochet the edging, I used an aqua crochet thread. The result is a decent replication of the original edging.

Re-created Vintage Crochet Edging

Original Vintage Crochet Edging

I have written up instructions for hemstitching, along with the instructions for the crochet edging. The pattern is available for free. Vintage Crochet Edging #1 Pattern

You may electronically copy and print to hard copy portions of this pattern for the sole purpose of using materials it contains for informational and non-commercial, personal use only. Any other use of this pattern — including any commercial use, reproduction for purposes other than described above, modification, distribution, republication, display, or performance — without the prior written permission of Lindy’s Knits & Laces is strictly prohibited

Vintage Crochet: A Motif from My MotherVintage Crochet: A Motif from My Mother

I inherited my mother’s stash of crochet thread several years ago. The stash filled two large plastic bins with lids and I simply placed the bins in with the rest of my stash. From time to time, I have pulled a ball of thread from one of the bins, but I never really inventoried the contents.

Recently, my MIL asked me to help a woman who had contacted her looking for help in locating off-white crochet thread that might match what she had. The woman was trying to finish up a crochet project that had been started by her mother, but not finished. So, I went to the stash and pulled out all of the off-white crochet thread (about 10 balls). I gave the woman all of thread and it looked like there were several balls that closely matched her project.

While I was doing pulling the balls from the stash, I picked up a ball of green crochet thread and noticed that there was something tucked inside the ball…

I pulled it out and found this:

Pretty, isn’t it? Now why my mother tucked this little doily into that ball of crochet, I have no idea — but it was a pleasant surprise. I am guessing about how old this bit of crochet is — the ball of crochet thread it was tucked into is at least 20 years old, so it’s at least that old and I suspect that the pattern it was made from is even older.

So, I set about trying to recreate this motif. Mom’s is on the left and mine is on the right. It’s pretty close, but I am redoing it a couple of times more to make certain I have the stitches correct. I will be publishing the pattern when I’m finished, so check back here in a week or two.