The Art of Crocheting -- a Book Review

Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Art of Crocheting A Book Review
The Art of Crocheting, published by The Butterick Publishing Co., Vol.1, No. 1, September, 1895, Metropolitan Art Series. I just acquired a reproduction of this fascinating pattern book, Copyright 2009 by Iva Rose Vintage Reproductions. The wording is very .... well ... wordy, making it fun to read and try to figure out the essential message among all the flowery descriptions.

The patterns it contains are luscious, to say the least. Many of them, especially the edgings I recognize and realize they have been passed down thru the generations.I also saw some stitches I had never seen before, such as the Upward-Chain Picot Stitche (page 7), and the Downward-chain picot stitch. There is also a new vocabulary for me -- tidies, fascinators. I think Tidies might be handkerchiefs. Fascinators are head scarf turbans. The Tunisian stitch is called the Tricot Stitich. On page 11, there is the Double Gobelin Stitch which looks like a variation of the Tunisian stitch, but the name is intriguing. There is also a Scollop Edging which resembles of bunch of bananas in the middle of lacey wheels.The following blurb is taken from page teaching the Chain Stitch The methods of beginning a chain are numerous, and varied according to the manner of holding the thread or the proficiency of the work; and generally, if the method is awkward, it is the outcome either of incorrect instruction or none at all. This is the tone of the whole book

.The patterns for dresses, coats and all sorts of aparel reveal the elaborate fashions of the day. There is a pattern for a child's petticoat which looks like a party dress to me. In Sherlock Holmes films there are women wearing these ruffled capes tied at the neck with a bow. There are a few patterns of these which probably could be adapted for use today, and certainly would be a show-off, one-of-a-kind, conversation piece. Some of the hats for children are not of this day, especially the Tam O'Santer Cap. There is a cute child's toboggan Cap and a striped scotch cap.I guess the most unusual pattern is the one for crocheted horse's reins trimmed with small jingle bells. Maybe I could make these for Chicago's police horses!!! Seriously, tho, a Russian Apron pattern draws me to it. Tho the illustrations are all in black and white, it is obvious by the differing designs in the apron that this could result in a bright, colorful apron. There are also patterns for "Four-In-Hand Neck-Ties", an umbrella case, a silk watch fob, foot warmer (not slippers) and beatiful crocheted bags. There is also bead crochet used on a miser bag and a crocheted garter (ouch). On page 83 there is a crocheted shawl with Princess' Feather" border. This border is breathtaking with its circles and swirls - it looks like a piece of art even in black and white.There is a little bit of all kinds of crochet work here...the stitches are the same -- there is a saying that nothing stays the same -- but the stitches are the same. The love of crocheting is the same, the fashions and yarns are different. Judging from this delightful 1895 book, crochet is here to stay, and the single crochet st whatever its name might be, will be here as long human kind. And I am CrochetKookie.