Antique Lace Adventures

Today, I am in a lace mood.

If we're being completely honest, I've been in a lace mood for weeks. And nothing satiates my hunger for lace like some good shuttle tatting. In the interest of working on my Dream Fairy costume, I thought I'd look for some nice antique tatting patterns to use as edgings. Due to the pandemic, I can't go browse the stacks of my university's library like I'd like to, but archive.org is really just as good an option. There are dozens of handcraft/needlecraft books available there in the time period I'm interested in, so needless to say I was in heaven searching through it all. 

One of the books I found most interesting was Beeton's Book of Needlework, an instructional guide for knitting, crochet, tatting, netting, and embroidery published in the year 1870. The instructions are quite detailed, and it has dozens of patterns for each craft. I tried out four of the tatted edging patterns, to see if any would be appropriate for my costume.

Friends, I don't know if you've ever read 150-year-old instructions for anything before, but things change. Especially the terminology. Most of the techniques (for tatting at least) are pretty similar to what I've learned as a 21st-century crafter, but I had to relearn a lot of the terms in order to read these patterns. Plus, the Victorians were not shy about mixing crafts. Something like half of the tatting patterns have you grab a crochet hook at one point or another.

Not that I mind that. I always have my hooks handy!

In the interest of making these beautiful old patterns more accessible to modern tatters, I've written up my own interpretations of them below. BIG DISCLAIMER: I am not a historian, and I have no expertise whatsoever in interpreting historical patterns. I am, in fact, a computational biologist, which I'm pretty sure is about as far removed from historical lacemaking as anything conceivably could be. So if you care about historical accuracy, take my interpretations with a big grain of salt. With that said, let's get on to the patterns. 

Note: All samples were worked in Lisbeth size 40 cotton thread. A 0.75 mm hook was used for the crochet sections. Crochet instructions use US terminology.

No 3 – Lace Edging in Tatting

 

Tatting Section:

 

Wind shuttle, and do not cut thread from ball.

 

*R 10 ds, p, 10 ds, cl r. Turn work.

Ch 8 ds, p, 8 ds. Turn work.

R 10 ds, j to p of previous ring, 10 ds, cl r. *

 

Repeat until edging is desired length, then cut and tie.

 

Crochet Section:

 

Ch 1, sc into picot of first tatted chain, * ch 6, sc into picot of next tatted chain*

 

Repeat between * until all picots have been worked. Tie off. Weave in ends.

 

 

No 4 – Lace Edging in Tatting

 

Tatting Section:

 

Wind shuttle, and do not cut thread from ball.

 

* R 10 ds, p, 10 ds, cl r.

R 10 ds, p, 10 ds, cl r. Turn work.

Ch 12 ds, p, 4 ds, j to p of previous ring, 4 ds, p 12 ds. Turn work.

R 10 ds, j to p of previous ring (the same p that you just joined the chain to), 10 ds, cl r.

R 10 ds, j to p of the first ring, 10 ds, cl r. *

 

Repeat until edging is desired length, then cut and tie.

 

Crochet Section:

 

Ch 1, sc into picot of first tatted chain, ch 4, sc into picot of second tatted chain, * ch 6, sc into picot of next tatted chain, ch 4, sc into picot of next tatted chain *

 

Repeat between * until all picots have been worked. Tie off. Weave in ends.

 

 

No 5 – Border in Tatting with Crochet Edging

Tatting Section:

 

Wind shuttle, and cut thread.

 

R 9 ds, cl r. Turn work.

Leave approx. 1/6 in (0.4 cm) between previous ring and next ring.

R 4 ds, p, 3, ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Turn work.

* Leave approx. 1/6 in (0.4 cm) between previous ring and next ring.

R 9 ds, cl r. Turn work.

Leave approx. 1/6 in (0.4 cm) between previous ring and next ring.

R 4 ds, j to last p of previous large ring, 3, ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Turn work. *

 

Repeat between * until edging is the desired length, then cut and tie.

 

Crochet Section:

 

Row 1: Ch 1, sc into first small tatted ring, *ch 6, sc into next small tatted ring* Repeat between * until all rings have been worked. Ch 2, turn work.

Row 2: Dc into first st of previous row * ch 1, skip st, dc into next st * Repeat between * until end of row. Ch 2, turn work.

Row 3: Repeat the Decorative Edge Stitch (see below) to the end of the row, ending on a dc.

 

Tie off. Weave in ends.

 

No 6 – Border in Tatting and Crochet

 

Tatting Section:

 

Wind shuttle, and cut thread.

 

R 4 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 4 ds. Close ring partially, leaving about 1/8 in (0.3 cm) open.

* Leave approx. 1/8 in (0.3 cm) between previous ring and next ring.

R 3 ds, j to last p of previous ring, 3 ds, j to second to last p of previous ring , 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r.

Leave approx. 1/8 in (0.3 cm) between previous ring and next ring.

R 4 ds, j to last p of previous ring, 3 ds, j to second to last p of previous ring, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 4 ds. Close ring partially, leaving about 1/8 in (0.3 cm) open. *

 

Repeat between * until edging is the desired length, then cut and tie.

 

Crochet Section:

 

Row 1: Ch 1, 3 sc into first partially closed ring, * 3 sc into next space between rings, 3 sc into next space between rings, 3 sc into next partially closed ring * Repeat between * until all rings and spaces have been worked. Ch 2, turn work.

Row 2: Dc into first st of previous row * ch 1, skip st, dc into next st * Repeat between * until end of row. Ch 2, turn work.

Row 3: Repeat the Decorative Edge Stitch (see below) to the end of the row, ending on a dc.

 

Tie off. Weave in ends.

 

 

Decorative Edge Stitch:

 

Dc into next stitch.

 

Remove hook, leaving a live loop.

Without picking up live loop, insert hook into next stitch and draw up a loop.

Chain 1.

 

Note: It is possible for the dropped loops to unravel if pulled. To prevent this, thread a piece of scrap string/yarn through each loop after the stitch is completed. When attaching the edging, make sure that each loop is secured to the base fabric.