Crocheted Lace
Oval Leaves
This is a crocheted doily, Oval Leaves, I did from Decorative Crochet, July 2000/#76. Those leaves around the doily seemed to have no end. I thought I’d never finish it. It was marked challenging in the magazine, but I had no idea how challenging it was. It doesn’t look that difficult. Once I got it done, then came the challenge of stretching it. Even doing that is a pain. Those leaves want to curl as they are made, so every single one of them had to be carefully pinned out and forced to lie flat. The discolorations in the photo are a trick my camera played on me.
Here’s a closeup of the monster. I probably could have done a better job of pinning out the final edge, but by the time I got it this far, I thought I did well not to toss it. If you make this one, do carefully study the chart before you begin and be aware there is a mistake in the written directions to start it. Each leaf starts off as a chain. Then you turn the work and single crochet back in each chain stitch, turn the work, and do the clusters around each leaf. Don’t forget to attach the first and last cluster to the final row of chain loops as you go. It was an education in staying with a project once I’d started it; I’ll say that. It was done in #10 cotton, and it measures about 22″.
Leaf Doily
This doily has no name, but I call it the leaf doily. It was designed by Elizabeth Hiddleson, probably one of the best crochet designers the United States has produced. At one time she worked for Coats and Clark, and then she wrote designs for various magazines. Finally, she wrote designs and sold her own booklets of them. I love her designs.
This is a closeup of the doily. Her instructions are written out–not charted, and sometimes she makes small mistakes or she assumes that you know what to do next. So it does take someone with a little experience to follow her designs. She always includes good photos, though, and they help a lot. This was made in size 10 crochet thread. I also made this in size 30, and the size 10 is about 2.5″ larger than the smaller one.
1900 Rose
The Piecework magazine of March/April, 1996 had an article showing this doily pattern. It was originally published in The Modern Priscilla, Nov. 1900. The original doily was all white, and had big holes where you see the little star-like motifs I put on the doily. I thought the holes were just too large to leave. Also, in the original, the roses and leaves were sewn together and to the center. I didn’t like that. So I crocheted all of it together. The star-like motifs allowed me to do that. There were 42 loops around the edge of the white center, and there were 10 roses and leaves to attach. This was kind of irregularity was common with old patterns; to solve it, I left one loop on each side of the center unattached. It’s not perfect that way, but I didn’t want to completely revise the old pattern or make it larger. It’s about 12 inches across.
This is a closeup of the pattern. The article showed two colors of rose petals, and I thought that was nice, so I tried it that way too. I used a dusty rose and a burgandy instead of the reds the article showed. All the leaves are the same size. I think I must have dressed this a little irregularly.
My Rose Doily
I decided I’d like to make another rose doily with more white in it and make it larger, so I tried this one. It’s not exactly what I’d want, but I think it is a good start. I used an adapted center from another doily, and then I improvised the outer edge. This one measures about 15.5 inches across.
I thought this center was more interesting than the one in the 1900 doily. I adapted it from the Magic Crochet, Aug. 2001, Party Decor doily. All I really changed was the number of repeats in the center flower from 12 to 10 to fit the number of the roses in the 1900 doily better.
Again I used two shades of rose for the roses. I liked the look of the scalloped edge to this one. I think next time I will move the leaves out a little, though, or rearrange them completely with regard to the roses.
Sun, Moon and Stars
This doily is Sun, Moon and Stars. I stitched it in size 10 crochet thread. The pattern is by Delsie Rhoades in The Big Book of Doilies by the American School of Needlework. From the moment I saw this pattern, I wanted to stitch it. I just thought it was the prettiest one I’d seen. I thoroughly enjoyed making this doily. Doing the moons was a little tricky. Every place it joined the doily proper required that you mark that stitch. So when I began to attach the moons, I had markers all over the place, but it worked wonderfully well.
This is a detail shot of the doily. I’m beginning to be a real fan of Delsie Rhoades. Her doilies seem to be a lot of fun to stitch. I hope she does more along this line.
Wood Lace
This doily is the cover doily for South Maid’s booklet, Special Doilies for Special Times, Art. J16, Book 0137. I thought it was an attractive doily, and it was small, so I thought I’d try it to use up a partial ball of thread I had left. It only took two days to do. It would have been faster except that my hands had to have a rest. I found it interesting to do. The center cupped a little as I was crocheting it, but as I added other rows to it, it began to lay flat.
This is a closeup of the doily. You can see that the pinecone type motif is so thickly done that it really doesn’t want to lay flat. As I dressed this, I worked it down some. I could have pressed it to make it flatter, I guess. This doily measures about 13″ across. I did it in size 10 crochet thread with a #9 crochet hook. The pattern called for a #7 hook, but I generally have to crochet with a hook a couple of sizes smaller to make the gauge work out. That may be part of the reason that the center cupped a little as I worked on it. I liked the outside edge of this. That next to the last row is pretty with the little picots between the chain loops.
Melody of Love
I enjoy doilies and tablecloths with hearts on them, and when I saw this one, I thought it would be fun to have it in my collection. This doily is one of Elizabeth Hiddleson’s designs. It can be found in Vol. 34 of her designs. She called it Melody of Love. It is worked in size 10 cotton with a size 9 hook and measures 36″ in diameter. She called it a tablecloth, but I think it’s a bit small to call it that. There are some mistakes in the pattern, so if you work this design, be aware that there were some small omissions here and there.
This is a closeup of the Melody of Love. I thought the way she did the last few rows of the doily were interesting. She had shells of double trebles in the next to last row, and then on the final row, she worked double crochets into the center chain of the shells. When it’s all said and done, the outside edge appears to have rings of crochet on it. It’s a nice little bit of trim added at the last that I hadn’t noticed elsewhere. This is an easy doily to do.
Kitty Talk
This is another Delsie Rhoades design. It’s done with size 10 crochet thread. Delsie has a web site now where you can buy her designs. I know I hunted all over the place to find this pattern, and now she’s offering it on a CD. It’s an easy design, and it’s quite charming, I think.
Here’s a closeup of it. You’ll notice that the cats are crocheted with the rounds of the doily. They are not crocheted and inserted into the doily.
Pretty Kitty
Here is the second cat doily I’ve crocheted this year. I thought it was quite cute when I saw it somewhere online, and I happened to find it as a freebie from Annie’s Favorite Crochet Magazine for a short time. It has been removed now. Anyway, it’s easy to crochet as it is crocheted in rounds. There’s none of that crocheting small items and putting it together later.
Here’s a closeup of the Pretty Kitty doily.
Last Rose of Summer
This is what I hope will be the last rose doily similar to this that I do. This is the third one I’ve made, and I’ve had enough of them. This is made of #10 crochet thread and measures 18.5″ across.
It is a combination of patterns. The center comes from a doily seen everywhere, and the flowers are those from the earlier doilies I’ve made. The way I strung it all together was my own. I just used what was there and let it dictate where it wanted to go.