Tag: 1920s

Parties and Visits · Vintage Entertainment

Vintage Halloween Party Menu

VintageJenny
Halloween menu list bordered by a jack o'lantern, a bet in a spider web, and a cake with a witch on it.

Bring vintage entertainment right into your living room when you host a vintage Halloween party. This is the second installment of a series on throwing a Halloween party, Twenties style. If you missed the first part, you can find it here. This time we’re going to focus on food: adding a vintage Halloween party menu to your plans.

When you plan a vintage party menu, the first thing you have to remember is to keep it simple. Gathering people together for an evening of fun trumped ornate, formal entertaining. Most party hosts bought some crepe paper in the appropriate holiday colors (in this case, black and orange). They then spent a few evenings crafting party decorations at home.

Although paper companies released catalogs and idea books filled with ways to decorate with pre-packaged paper items, most party hosts preferred a handmade touch. While a vintage homemaker might buy a printed crepe paper with pumpkins on it, she would be likely to cut out those pumpkins and use them as part of a larger decorating scheme. It created a handmade I cared enough for you that I made it myself touch. Plus, those preprinted sheets of crepe were eye-crossingly busy. A partygoer could only take so much.

Your vintage Halloween party menu

1924 brings you not one vintage Halloween party menu, but two. The first one is very informal and would welcome breaking into the popcorn table centerpiece mentioned in the first Halloween party section.

Menu One

  • Jack O’Lantern Salad
  • Brown Bread Sandwiches
  • Cake of Fate
  • Orange Ice
  • Witches’ Brew

Jack O’Lantern Salad

For Jack O’Lantern salad, select as many large, red apples as there are people to be served. Cut off the top of each one and scoop out the inside. Carve eyes, nose, and mouth on one side like a Jack O’Lantern.

Chop the apple you removed and mix it with an equal amount of diced celery and chopped ripe (black) olives. Put the mixture back into the shells and serve with a dollop of mayonnaise dressing piled on top.

Note: If you want to keep your apple from turning brown, dip it in a little lemon juice. Mix a small amount, a teaspoon at a time, into the cut apple before you combine it with the other ingredients.

Brown Bread Sandwiches

You can use whole wheat, rye, or any other bread that you think would go well with the filling. A bakery loaf is best for this recipe, because you want it whole when you begin.

Slice the bread very thin (in about 1/4-inch slices) and cut the slices into circles with a round biscuit or cookie cutter. For the filling, use 8 oz cream cheese mixed with 2-3 Tbsp drained, shredded pineapple and 1-2 Tbsp chopped pecans.

The Cake of Fate

1920s illustration of a Halloween cake. Layer cake covered in white icing, with a bat, cat, and owl drawn onto the side with chocolate. On the top a witch cut from black paper flies vertically over the top of the cake which is designed like a sundial.
The Cake of Fate……

To make the Cake of Fate, make a two layer cake from any recipe and cover it with firm, white icing. After the icing sets, pipe or draw the clock face, cats, bats, and owls with either a fine clean paint brush dipped in melted chocolate (semi sweet chocolate chips would work well), or chocolate icing in a decorating bag with a fine round tip. The paint brush and melted chocolate is traditional; the cake decorating bag with tip is a modern application.

The witch decoration for the cake is made from black card stock. Print the illustration below and use it to trace onto the sheet of card stock. Cut two witches, and glue them back to back with a wooden chopstick or skewer between. Stick that in the top of the cake.

Traditionally, three items were placed inside the cake: a ring, a thimble, and a silver coin. They were placed inside after baking, as the cake was assembled. Often they rested in the icing between the two layers.

If you want to continue this tradition, you can cut small pictures of a ring, thimble, and silver coin into about 1″ x 1″ squares. Wrap them in Saran wrap or a comparable cling wrap, and slide them between the two layers in three different places before icing the final covering layer over the cake. If you do this, you must tell your guests to look for a piece of paper in their cake. I don’t recommend using the real items because they are all serious choking hazards for a population not accustomed to looking for metal or plastic items in their desserts.

Another option is to get an assortment of cake decorations in the shape of rings, thimbles, and coins and use those to decorate the top of the cake outside the clock. That way everyone gets a “fortune” and they can see it as soon as they look at their piece of cake.

Witch illustration for the Cake of Fate.

Orange Ice

Mold the orange ice in cone shapes. You can get paper ice cones at Amazon. If you look during the summer you can probably find them locally and stash them away for Halloween ice treats. If you want to use a silicone mold that’s cone shaped, Wilton has one but it forms a cone only 2.5 inches high.

To mold an ice, you will make the mixture by the directions and then pack it solidly into whatever mold you are using. In a pinch, a muffin tin would work. Cover the top of the mold with wax paper and then put it into the freezer to freeze for at least two hours. Unmold by turning the container upside down on a platter and wrapping each section with a towel dipped in hot water and wrung out.

In the top of each cone put a crepe paper (or card stock) cutout of a bat, a witch, or an owl.

Since you probably don’t have a recipe for Orange Ice sitting around in your household cookbook, here’s one:

Orange Ice Recipe

2 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups orange juice
4 cups water Grated rind of one orange
3 Tbsp lemon juice

  1. Boil the sugar and water together for five minutes.
  2. Cool the syrup mixture, and then add the fruit juices and orange rind. Let stand an hour.
  3. Strain, and then freeze in an ice cream maker.
  4. Pack into molds as described above or place in a freezer-safe container with a lid. Cure in the freezer at least 2 hours before serving.

Witches’ Brew

For the Witches’ Brew, use any cider punch recipe that you have and love. If you need a recipe, you can use this one:

Cider Punch

2 oranges, juice 1 quart grape juice
2 lemons, juice 1 cup sugar
1 quart cider 2 quarts water

  1. Grate some of the lemon and orange peel, and set aside.
  2. Juice the lemons and oranges. Add the grape juice.
  3. Add the peels to the juices.
  4. Stir in the cider, sugar and water.
  5. Pour in a punch bowl in which you have floating a block of ice.
  6. Serve in small punch glasses.

Menu Two

The second menu is a bit more formal than the first.

  • Creamed Chicken in Cream Puffs
  • Apricot Ice
  • Gold Cake with Chocolate Icing
  • Nuts
  • Popcorn Balls
  • Coffee
  • Cider Punch

Creamed Chicken in Cream Puffs

Creamed Chicken in Cream Puffs is the autumn version of chicken salad in cream puffs. If you don’t know where to find cream puffs locally, and you are up for some invigorating stirring, A Pretty Life in the Suburbs posted a good, doable recipe. I have made cream puffs before from scratch, and this looks similar to the recipe I used.

Creamed Chicken Recipe

3 cups cold cooked chicken, diced
2 1/2 cups milk
5 Tbsp flour
1 pimiento cut into tiny pieces (optional. This is a roasted red bell pepper.)
1/8 tsp pepper (feel free to use more if you like)
5 Tbsp fat (oil, butter, ghee, etc)
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon celery salt

  1. Scald the milk.
  2. In another saucepan or skillet, melt the fat/heat oil over medium heat and add the flour, salt, and pepper. Use a whisk to get the lumps out.
  3. Add the milk slowly to the flour mixture. Stir constantly until the mixture bubbles and thickens.
  4. When thick, add chicken and cook long enough to heat the chicken. Add the pimiento last if you are using it.
  5. To fill cream puffs with the creamed chicken, cut the top off the puff, hollow out the puff leaving 1/4 inch or so around all the edges, and fill with a spoon of warm chicken mixture. You can replace the top of the puff or leave it off, as you please.

Apricot Ice

A fruit flavored ice provided a unique, light dessert for the vintage host.

You will need:

1 1/2 cups apricot pulp, 1 20 – 28 oz can or 2 15 oz cans
2 cups sugar
3 cups water
1/2 cup lemon juice

Use canned apricots and put through a coarse sieve. If you have neither the patience nor the equipment for that, give them a whir in the blender or food processor.

Boil the water and sugar together for ten minutes in a large saucepan. This makes a syrup.

Cool the syrup and add with the lemon juice to the apricot puree.

Freeze in an ice cream freezer to a mush. Transfer to a freezer-safe container let stand one hour or more in the freezer to ripen. Or freeze in individual molds as detailed in the Orange Ice instructions above.

Gold cake with chocolate icing

This is simply a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Use whatever recipe you have. Even a boxed cake with canned icing will work. Keep it simple.

Nuts and coffee

Meals like this typically ended with nuts or mints, little nibbles to clear the palate. Serve whatever nuts you like as long as your guests aren’t allergic to them. They can go in a small bowl in the center of the table or into individual nut cups at each place setting.

Coffee is self explanatory. Serve whatever you like, however you like it.

Popcorn balls

The original article offered no recipe for popcorn balls. This recipe from Taste of Home is pretty standard. Popcorn balls last for several days wrapped in cling wrap film, so you can make them in advance.

Cider punch

See the recipe above under Witches’ Brew.

Next time

Now that you have the decorations and your vintage Halloween party menu under control, the next thing we need to discuss is games for the evening. Stay tuned for the next installment!

Vintage Needlework

Crochet a Twenties Wrist Bag

VintageJenny

Everyone needs a wrist bag. These little objects hold little but make a nice vintage fashion statement. I made this one in a few hours, following a Twenties pattern that I reproduced for you below. Now you can crochet a Twenties wrist bag, too.

As you can see, this bag nicely holds a small ball of thread. This one is designed specifically for that purpose. This crochet Twenties wrist bag is a thread holder for crochet, tatting, or knitting (if any of us are bold enough to knit with crochet thread.) It keeps the ball secure and close so that you don’t spend half your time chasing it as it bounds across the floor.

Make your own

Crocheted wrist bag with a rose emblem. Next to it sits a ball of peach thread and a size 11 crochet hook.
This little wrist bag holds a spool of thread or other small items.

The original instructions direct you to make this with a thread and hook size that will give you about 5 squares to the inch. I used size 40 thread and a size 11 crochet hook.

You will need:

  • Size 40 crochet thread, which you can get from the Tatting Corner.
  • Crochet hook size 11

Instructions:

Here is how to make your own crochet Twenties wrist bag:

Make a chain of 74 stitches, turn.

  1. Double crochet (dc) in 5th stitch from hook; then chain 2, skip 2, dc in next chain all the way across, 22 times. You will have 23 open squares. Turn.
  2. Chain 5, skip 2 ch on row below, dc in dc; then chain 2, skip 2 ch in previous row, dc over dc all the way across. 23 open squares. Turn.
  3. Ten open squares, 4 dc over next 4 stitches, 7 open squares, 4 dc over next 4 stitches, 4 open squares, turn. [The last dc of an open square becomes the first dc of a solid block of crochet. In the same way, the last dc in a solid block of crochet becomes the first dc of your next open square.]
  4. 3 open squares, 7 dc, 3 open squares, 4 dc, 2 open squares, 7 dc, 10 open squares, turn.
  5. 2 open squares, 10 dc, 4 open squares, 10 dc, 2 open squares, 7 dc, 1 open square, 13 dc, 2 open squares, turn.
  6. 2 open squares, 13 dc, 1 open square, 10 dc, 1 open square, 13 dc, 2 open squares, (7 dc, 1 open square) twice, turn.
  7. 2 open squares, (7 dc, 1 open square) 3 times, 4 dc, (1 open square, 10 dc) twice, 3 open squares, turn.
  8. 6 open squares, 4 dc, (1 open square, 7 dc) twice, (1 open square, 4 dc) 3 times, 4 open squares, turn.
  9. 4 open squares, 10 dc, 1 open square, 10 dc, 3 open squares, 7 dc, 1 open square, 7 dc, 4 open squares, turn.
  10. 2 open squares, 19 dc, 7 open squares, 4 dc, 7 open squares, turn.
  11. 4 open squares, 10 dc, 1 open square, 4 dc, (1 open square, 7 dc) twice, 1 open square, 13 dc, 3 open squares, turn.
  12. 7 open squares, 10 dc, 1 open square, 10 dc, 2 open squares, 4 dc, 1 open square, 7 dc, 3 open squares, turn.
  13. 2 open squares, 7 dc, 2 open squares, 4 dc, 2 open squares, 25 dc, 6 open squares, turn.
  14. 6 open squares, 10 dc, 5 open squares, 7 dc, 1 open square, 13 dc, 2 open squares, turn.
  15. 2 open squares, 7 dc, 2 open squares, 13 dc, 1 open square, 10 dc, 1 open square, 4 dc, 7 open squares, turn.
  16. 5 open squares, 7 dc, 1 open square, 16 dc, 1 open square, 13 dc, 5 open squares, turn.
  17. 5 open squares, 13 dc, 1 open square, 10 dc, 1 open square, 4 dc, 1 open square, 7 dc, 5 open squares, turn.
  18. 4 open squares, 4 dc, (1 open square, 4 dc) twice, 2 open squares, 7 dc, 1 open square, 10 dc, 6 open squares, turn.
  19. 6 open squares, 13 dc, 1 open square, 10 dc, (1 open square, 4 dc) twice, 5 open squares, turn.
  20. 7 open squares, 7 dc, 3 open squares, 13 dc, 7 open squares, turn.
  21. 8 open squares, 7 dc, 1 open square, 13 dc, 8 open squares, turn.
  22. Repeat row 2.
  23. Chain 3, dc in next dc in previous row (to narrow), 21 open squares, dc in next dc to narrow, turn.
  24. Narrow like the previous row, 19 open squares, narrow like previous row, turn.
  25. Same as 24th row, decreasing 2 squares.
  26. Same as 24th row, decreasing 2 squares.
  27. Same as 24th row, decreasing 2 squares.
  28. Narrow, 5 open squares, 4 dc, 5 open squares, narrow, turn.
  29. Narrow, 3 open squares, 4 dc, 1 open square, 4 dc, 3 open squares, narrow, turn.
  30. Narrow, 1 open square, 4 dc, 3 open squares, 4 dc, 1 open square, narrow, turn. This row gives the width for the handle.
  31. 2 open squares, 4 dc, 1 open square, 4 dc, 2 open squares, turn.
  32. 3 open squares, 4 dc, 3 open squares, turn.
  33. Repeat Row 31.
  34. 1 open square, 4 dc, 3 open squares, 4 dc, 1 open square, turn.
  35. Repeat Row 31.
  36. Repeat Row 32.
  37. Seven open squares, turn.
  38. Seven open squares, turn.
  39. Repeat Row 32.
  40. Repeat Row 33.
  41. Repeat Row 34.

Now repeat from Row 31 until you have 5 complete patterns of the handle decoration, and have worked 6 rows on the 6th pattern. This brings you to Row 89.

89. Chain 5, dc in dc to widen, 1 open square, 4 dc, 3 open squares, 4 dc, 1 open square, chain 2, dc in the same stitch to widen, turn.

Now work from Row 29 back to Row 1, widening at each end of every row as you narrowed, until you reach the width of 23 open squares once again. Then work without any increases to Row 1.

Note: In case you need more English and fewer numeral notations to complete the increase rows: When creating the second side of the bag, you can chain 5 at the beginning of the row and dc into the base of that ch 5. Complete the solid blocks and spaces according to that row. At the end of the row, complete the last open block by skipping two chains as you always do, and dc into the 3rd chain of the previous row’s ch-5, as you always do. Then ch 2, and make another dc into the same ch you just used. This makes the enlarging triangle at the other end. In this way you will be making two extra open squares for each row.

Attaching the two sides together

When you finish Row 1, do not break the thread. Put the two pieces together, right sides out, and place 3 sc along the bottom of each open space, crocheting front and back together. At the corners, add an extra 2 sc or so to make a nice turn.

Turn, and going up the side, sc 3 into each open square until you reach the first reduction row. At this point, separate the two halves and continue, with 3 sc in each small triangle that forms the side of the bag. Work up one side of the handle.

As you progress up the handle, create a ch-3 picot between every six squares or so. To do this, make 3 sc into the first square, ch 3, and then make 3 sc into the next square. The 3-ch becomes a floating picot along the side of the handle. Quite nifty and period-appropriate.

When you reach the beginning of the divide again, join to one of the sc where you first divided for the top and handle, and finish off, leaving a tail to be worked in later.

Work the other side of the bag in the same way. If you want all the stitches to face the same way, You will want to begin the second side at the back side of the bag, where the narrowing begins. Work up through the narrowing triangles, across the handle (don’t forget your picots to match the other side) and down the front. When you get to the side of the bag, take both front and back together like you did on the other side, working down to the corner where the edging began. Join to the first sc and finish off. Work in your ends using your favorite method. With size 40 thread, it’s just as easy to use a needle as it is a hook, maybe easier.

Closeup image of a small crocheted bag that hangs from the wrist. A rose pattern decorates the bag. In peach on a dark wood background.
An up-close look at the completed wrist bag.

Change the size

Perhaps you want your crochet Twenties wrist bag to be a bit larger. Make it three squares bigger on the sides and bottom, and you have a bag that’s a little more than 1 inch bigger all around. This is large enough to hold keys, a credit card, and a business card holder with a few folded dollars. If you want to use it for anything other than thread, though, you will want to line the bag. Here’s how to do that:

  • Find a piece of scrap fabric that when folded is a little larger than your bag — including the strap. A fat quarter works nicely for this.
  • Place your completed bag on the folded fabric and trace around it 1/2 inch from the outside edges of the bag. This gives you a 1/2-inch seam allowance for sewing. You can place the top edge of the handle on the fold of the fabric if you want to reduce some of your sewing time.
  • Cut along your traced edges.
  • With the wrong sides of the fabric together, and right sides out (if there’s any difference), sew 1/4-inch seam along the bottom and sides of the bag. Also sew a 1/4 inch seam across the very top if you cut the lining in two pieces instead of one, on the fold.
  • Turn your bag inside out and sew another 1/4 inch seam next to the seam you just finished. If you make it a hair larger than 1/4 inch, it will catch your raw edge inside the new seam.
  • Congratulations. You just made a French seam. This will keep your bag lining from unraveling.
  • Turn your bag right side out so the seam runs along the bottom and side of the bag. Slip it inside the crocheted shell and, folding a 1/4 inch hem (1/4 inch and then another 1/4 inch) tack the lining to the top and handle of the bag.

I hope you enjoyed these instructions for Crochet a Twenties Wrist Bag.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Tatting with Rings and Chains

VintageJenny
Wooden table surface with three strips of handmade tatted lace.
You can tat all these with two threads.

If you’ve been following my series on introductory tatting, you’ve spent the last several installments working with only one thread. If you missed prior sections, you can find the last one here. Personally, I love shuttle-only designs for their airiness and their portability, but one cannot live by shuttle alone. So today I bring you a few options for tatting with rings and chains.

There are two ways to tat with two threads. You can keep the thread connected to the ball of thread after winding your shuttle. You then make your chains using the ball thread while you create rings with the shuttle thread alone. While this is a traditional way to tat, it offers drawbacks as well as advantages. It allows you to suspend the ball from your wrist in a holder if you like. This keeps it close yet lightens the weight on your hands. A negative, however, is that when you run out of shuttle thread you have to cut both threads, rewind the shuttle, and attach both threads as you continue. That, in a word, is a pain.

An alternate way to tat with two threads is to use two shuttles. I thought this was a relatively recent way to tat until I came across a 1925 pattern calling for two shuttles. The benefit here is that everything is very portable. Two shuttles fit into your pocket or bag as easily as one, and off you go. Plus, since your remaining thread waits for you on the ball, you can refill an empty shuttle at any time. I have found two drawbacks to this method, however. First, the extra weight from a loaded shuttle can be trying for my hands over time. And second, the two shuttles tend to wrap around themselves and tangle if my attention wanders or I try to go too fast.

However, the two-shuttle method remains very popular. Lots of tatters use it and love it. Experiment a bit, if you haven’t yet, and decide which method is better for you. You should also know: in some modern patterns two shuttles are required because they include techniques that simply cannot be completed with only one shuttle and ball thread. So if you regularly tat modern patterns, or you plan to, the habit of tatting with two shuttles may be a good one to acquire.

Instructions: tatting with rings and chains

These patterns are all straight edgings. Done two-sided they would make splendid bookmarks. As they are, they would look nice on handkerchiefs, towels, shirts, jackets, bedsheets, hats, handbags, or whatever you fancy. Usually I present these in time order, oldest to newest, but today I’ll give them in simplicity order. All these threads are tatted with size 10 thread so you can see the detail. You make them in whatever size thread you like.

Abbreviations you will need:

  • r: ring
  • cl r: close ring
  • ds: double stitches, the basic tatting stitch
  • p: picot
  • ch: chain
  • rw: reverse work. Turn the thing upside down so the ring facing north is now facing south
  • turn: flip the work over side to side, like looking at the front and back sides of a PopTart, or turning the page of a book

Edging 1

tatted lace in white on wood background. Clover, circle, clover, circle, joined with arcs at the top.

This first edging dates from 1959/1960. As you look at it compared with the others you can see that it’s very simple. This is the next step up from a beginner’s pattern of tatting with rings and chains. I really liked the little ring in between each clover leaf. In a fine thread (size 40 or 80) this would make a lovely edging for a handkerchief, special dinner napkin, or scarf – if you use scarves to dress up your 1950s wardrobe.

This would look lovely made in two colors. The chain thread could be a light version of a color, like lavender or pink or yellow. Then use a darker version of that same color, like purple or rose or deep yellow for the rings. Here’s how to make it:

  1. First, wind a shuttle and leave attached to the ball, OR wind two shuttles splitting 6 – 8 yards of thread evenly between them, OR use a wound shuttle and a ball thread or second shuttle thread, knotting the ends together before you begin. Your choice.
  2. Make a ring of 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3ds, cl r.
  3. R of 3 ds, join to last p of last ring, 3 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r.
  4. R of 3 ds, join to last p of last r, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r. [You have now made one of the clover leaves.]
  5. Rw. Make a chain of 6 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 6 ds. Pull up tight and rw.
  6. Make a r of 3 ds, join to 2nd p of last r, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r. Rw. [This is the small ring in between clovers.]
  7. Ch of 6 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, p, 6 ds. Rw.
  8. R of 3 ds, p, 3 ds, join to last p of previous r, 3 ds, p, 3 ds, cl r.
  9. Repeat from step 3 for the length of the lace.

Edging 2

White tatted lace on wooden background. It looks like a row of little figures holding hands, their arms raised next to their heads. Below the arms the lace terminates in a circle with five picots.

This lace dates from 1925. You can see that it’s more elaborate than the one above it. This would be a great edging for all the uses described above, especially handkerchiefs. It would be nice by the yard to trim underthings or pajamas. This edging would probably look best in one color, unless you use a variegated thread. That might be really pretty. Here’s how to make it:

  1. First, wind a shuttle and leave attached to the ball, OR wind two shuttles splitting 6 – 8 yards of thread evenly between them, OR use a wound shuttle and a ball thread or second shuttle thread, knotting the ends together before you begin. Your choice.
  2. Make a r of 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, cl r. Rw.
  3. Ch of 7 ds. Do not rw.
  4. R of 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, cl r. [You are making a ring of 2 ds, (p, 2 ds) 5x, cl r.]
  5. Rw. Make this next ring as close as possible to the base of the last one. R of 7 ds, join to last p of first small r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 7 ds, cl r.
  6. Rw. Chain of 7 ds. Rw.
  7. Small r of 2 ds, join to last p of large r, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, p, 2 ds, cl r. Rw.
  8. Repeat from Step 3 for length of lace.

Edging 3

A sturdy scalloped lace. White tatting on a wooden board background.

This lace also dates from 1925. This is one sturdy lace. If you look closely you can see that almost every picot attaches everywhere else. It does not move. If you make a row of this, the only picot that hangs free is the one at the bottom point. This is a lace for bedsheets, towels, the ends of runners. I’m thinking about making a length of this for the edge of my fireplace mantel or a piano scarf.

It would be gorgeous in holiday colors, whatever colors say holiday to you. Taking pink and green for example (are there any pink and green holidays?), rings of pink with chains of green would look like flowers winding up and down, up and down. Very nice. Here’s how to make it:

  1. First, wind a shuttle and leave attached to the ball, OR wind two shuttles splitting 6 – 8 yards of thread evenly between them, OR use a wound shuttle and a ball thread or second shuttle thread, knotting the ends together before you begin. Your choice.
  2. R of 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
  3. Ch 6 ds. Rw.
  4. R of 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
  5. Another r of 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. This should be close to the base of the last one so they sit bottom to bottom. Rw.
  6. Ch 6 ds. Rw.
  7. R 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r.
  8. Maka a r of 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r.
  9. R of 4 ds, join to last p of last r, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. [You have just completed the clover at the bottom. Now you will work your way back up.]
  10. Rw. Ch of 6 ds. Rw.
  11. R of 4 ds, join to last p of clover, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
  12. Another R of 4 ds, join to 2nd ring made, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rs.
  13. Ch of 6 ds. Rw.
  14. R of 4 ds, join to last p of last r made, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. Rw.
  15. R of 4 ds, p, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, cl r. [You are back where you started, completing the first ring at the top of the lace.]
  16. Repeat from Step 3 for the length of the lace, being sure to join the third ring of the second scallop to the seventh ring of the first scallop as you go.

What do you think?

If you enjoy tatting with rings and chains and would like to see more patterns like these, drop me a comment and I’ll hunt them up for a future post. I really enjoyed making these and found a new favorite pattern or two along the way. If you’d like to check into this series from the beginning, you can take a look at Easy Vintage Tatting Patterns. If you need basic tatting instructions, Making Lace with Shuttle and Thread links to some beginning tatting videos that I found very clear.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Embroider the Ship of Dreams

VintageJenny
The Ship of Dreams in embroidery. A bird sits on the bow of a ship while water swirls below. Text: The Ship of Dreams.

Recreate this 1927 project and embroider the Ship of Dreams for yourself. This Dream Ship would go great in any vintage-style decor, especially if you have a room decorated in 1920-1940 style.

The Ship of Dreams was the original project designed to show off outline stitches and their potential. Even through the original black and white photo above, you can see the amazing texture that outline stitches provide. This is a project you can be proud of when it’s completed.

Sometimes you want embroidery to look smooth. A king’s cloak, the soft rose petal, the velvety down of a bird’s feathers. These things would look odd with a lot of texture. Color, yes. Texture, probably not.

But when it comes to the billows of an unbridled sea, texture adds interest. Intrigue. Wonder. I want to join that bird on the ship and go wherever that ship is headed. Texture keeps your eye on an object longer than it might be there otherwise. And using outline stitches in creative ways can build that texture.

Using all those outline stitches

In the last Embroidery Lesson installment, the first half of Lesson 3, I talked about variations of outline stitches. You can find that lesson here if you haven’t already read it. While the 1920s needleworker had access to far more threads than we have today, and more types of threads, that worker didn’t always have access to technique.

People were busy in the Twenties. Not everyone had hours to pour into the Perfect Satin Stitch as they did ten to fifteen years before. Radio, movies, automobile rides, picnics, parties, evenings with friends –– all these ate into the schedule of the needleworker, not to mention the daily toil of cooking, cleaning, sewing, and perhaps a full or part time job on top of all that. Enter more simple embroidery methods!

The original instructions suggest that you embroider this in wool. If the worker only has access to worsted weight yarn (commonly known as Germantown), the worker could separate the four worsted strands. Then they would use two of those strands for the embroidery.

While you can do that, if you have an abundance of multi-colored wool at hand, you also have other options. Embroider the piece with perle cottons. Or use 3-6 strands of 6-strand embroidery floss. Use one strand of sock (4-ply) yarn. Use whatever you have an abundance of. I happen to have a small bag of yarn used for punch-needle embroidery. It dates from the late 1970s – early 1980s. One or two strands of that would make a delightful pillow.

What you will need

To make this pillow, you will need:

  • Two pieces of tan medium weight fabric (heavy muslin, linen, etc.) that measure 15 x 15 inches.
  • An assortment of colored threads or yarns (see below).
  • A sharp embroidery needle that has an eye big enough for your threads or yarns.
  • The pattern, downloaded from below.
  • Your favorite method of transferring a pattern. See here for some options.
  • Your favorite embroidery hoop.

Colors you will need

You’ll need a handful of different colors to make this as it was designed. Here’s the original list:

  • Apricot for the boat sail
  • Light green to outline the diamond on the sail
  • Deep red-orange (called Chinese Red) for the diamond on the sail
  • Light sea-blue for the center of the diamond and the waves
  • Heliotrope (light lavender) for the waves and an outline around the green on the sail.
  • Cedar brown for the ship hull

How to make it

Here’s how to embroider and assemble the pillow.

The sail

  1. Download and transfer the pattern below. It should measure 6 1/2 inches high by 7 1/2 inches wide when you print it out.
  2. Center the design in your hoop. The embroidery starts with the sail and moves downward in the instructions.
  3. Outline the sail with apricot in chain stitch. Fill in the sail with the slant snailtrail stitch. Keep the stitches close together, but loose enough that the fabric doesn’t pucker. Stop when you get to the oval.
  4. Outline the oval with heliotrope (lavender). Fill in the four lozenges (flat ovals) that make up the oval with general outline (stem) stitch.
  5. At the diamond outline or right outside it, do two rows of chain stitch in light green.
  6. Inside the light green, fill the diamond with the red-orange. Use a chain stitch.
  7. The very center of the diamond is outline stitch in sea blue. I marked it with an X because that’s how it looked to me. If it looks more like a circle or a small diamond shape to you, fill it as you like.
  8. Work the pennants and the masts in snailtrail with the red/red-orange.

The boat

  1. Use the red (red-orange) to fill the hull. Use three rows of chain stitch. Then backstitch over the top row of red-orange with the apricot thread or yarn. This is what gives the deep color contrast at the top of the hull.
  2. The rest of the hull is also in chain stitch. Use the brown, and make the rows up and down instead on longways like the top of the hull you did in red. If you work one row with the chain stitches facing up and then back the other way when you reach the end, this will make the texture more obvious.
  3. Now let’s do the bird. This little guy sits on the prow of the ship, but he also functions as a figurehead. Work the bird solidly in outline (stem) stitch. Use green for the head, with tiny dots of heliotrope for the eye. Use apricot for the rest of the bird. His beak is red.

The waves

  1. Use the darning stitch to fill the waves solidly with sea-blue. Use the light green to whip the upper edges of the waves, like an overcast running stitch.
  2. On the lower edges of the waves there is an extra row of darning stitch using heliotrope.
  3. For the lines that represent the sea spray, use green and heliotrope side by side. First use outline stitch in green, and then a row of heliotrope in darning stitch.

The pattern

Here’s the pattern for the Dream Ship. Download it and print it. You may have to play with your settings a bit to get the design to measure 6.5 x 7.5 inches, or you may not. If you want a larger picture or cushion, download the design at a larger size. Remember to size up your fabric accordingly.

Outline drawing of a ship on the water. The ship has one mast, and it sits on billowing waves. A bird sits on the prow of the ship.
This is the embroidery pattern. Print it out and transfer it to your fabric.

If you enjoyed this project you might like projects that go with Embroidery Lesson 1 and Lesson 2.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Embroidery Lesson: Outline stitches to fill

VintageJenny

What do you do if you have an outline of something and you want to fill it with color? You could use another fabric and appliqué the center. You could use a satin stitch and embroider the center. Or you could use variations of the versatile outline stitches from the last lesson to fill your design. This third embroidery lesson shows you how to use outline stitches to fill your embroidery design.

Embroidered ship on the water. An owl sits on the prow, and embroidered waves swirl below the ship.
This ship uses outline stitches to fill the design.

This ship became the center of a cushion. The entire project was embroidered with outline stitch variations. These stitches are incredibly useful, yet little used today. The outline stitches give this piece wonderful texture and interest. Best of all, the stitches are easy to do and you can use them for any size project.

You will need

Like all the embroidery projects, for today’s embroidery lesson on outline stitches to fill, you will need

  • an embroidery needle with an eye large enough for your thread
  • six-strand embroidery floss for practice
  • an embroidery hoop to hold your fabric taught

Take a running stitch… and whip it

Embroidered running stitch that has another thread wound through it. Use this outline stitch to fill a large area. Text: Overcast running stitch.

Here you see a whipped or overcast running stitch. First you follow the line with the running stitch. Then you stitch a second line, starting at the beginning. Instead of going through the fabric you overcast, or whip, the running stitches. Always place the overcast stitches in the same direction so that the design stays consistent. You can make this in one color, or use two contrasting colors for increased interest.

Slanted snailtrail stitch

Snailtrail embroidery stitch made with the needle entering the fabric at a sharp angle. Use this outline stitch to fill a large area of embroidery. Text: Slanted snailtrail.

In the last lesson you learned how to make a snailtrail stitch by passing the needle perpendicular to the design line. This time the needle passes through the fabric at a deep slant or angle, like you see in the illustration. When the needle follows the direction of the line instead of working at a right angle to it (as you did in Lesson 2), you see a very different effect from the stitch.

Backstitched chain stitch

Embroidery illustration of a line of chain stitch. Over the top of the chains a needle passes a second time making back stitches at each loop join. Use this outline stitch to fill a large area. Text: Chain stitch with backstitch.

In this version of the chain stitch, you take a small back stitch over the chain. Using a different color is most effective. You might try this with either a different weight of thread for the backstitch, or the same thread in the same color, and see how you like it. To make this, complete the row of chain stitch as normal, and then go over the embroidery a second time with small backstitches.

Darning stitch

illustration of long running stitches that fill an area. Perfect outline stitch to fill a large embroidered area. Text: Darning stitch.

This stitch is easy and quick. You take long stitches that cover the embroidered area and combine them with short underneath stitches. As you go, alternate so that the new row’s stitches always span the last row’s space between stitches. If your stitches were further apart it would look like a brick wall. Worked closely, the stitches have a satin-like effect. Keep your stitches even as you work for the best overall effect.

Try it yourself

Grab some fabric and thread and give these stitches a try. Most of us don’t even think about using anything but a satin stitch, or maybe a long and short stitch, to fill areas like embroidered flowers, leaves, and figures. Using outline stitches to fill embroidered spaces opens up a whole new world of texture, color, and possibility. Best of all, these are easy and relatively quick stitches.

Next time I’ll give you the pattern for the Ship of Dreams above, and you can make it yourself with the stitches you learned. Drop me a note and let me know how you liked these stitches! I look forward to hearing from you.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Embroidery Lesson: Outline Stitches

VintageJenny

Welcome to the second lesson in our series. This time we concentrate on an embroidery lesson for outline stitches. In this first installment I’ll introduce the outline stitches. A second post will give you some simple patterns you can use for practice. If you missed the first lesson you can find Part 1 here.

This was the article that changed my attitude towards outlining in embroidery. For years I’d used the simple stem stitch. It worked for stems, curves, straight lines, basically anything I needed to outline. However, it does get boring after awhile. You look at this thing you want to outline, and think… Again? Four colors, all lines. It goes fast, but it’s kind of boring. No? It was just me? Maybe I need to get out more.

During the Twenties through the Forties, many designs were embroidered by covering the outline only. In fact, unless you followed a pattern with cross stitches, the term embroidery often meant outline stitch. This meant that lots of beautiful line patterns were produced during this time period that still look very effective today.

Perhaps because of this, Needlecraft Magazine produced an embroidery lesson specifically for outline stitches. This introduces the general outline stitch but takes you beyond that so you can be as creative as you like.

The Outline Stitch

When we think of following a line in embroidery, we usually think of the stem stitch, also called the outline stitch. An illustration of the outline stitch appears below.

You always work this stitch from left to right, and you keep the needle pointed to the left. Start the embroidery without making a knot in your thread. Hold the end of the thread behind the fabric and take three or four short running stitches along the design line. Make the stitches in the direction of your beginning embroidery point. These stitches will be covered by the embroidery, and you can clip any hanging end later.

Looking at the illustration, place your needle along the dotted line a short way and take a stitch. Usually an outline stitch measures between 1/4 and 1/2 inch long. Bring your needle up close to the end of the first stitch, staying on the line. Now the outline stitch really begins.

The needle goes down on the dotted line, your design line. It comes back up, still on the line, at the end of the last stitch. Keep your thread always to the left of your work so that it will make a nice, even outline. If your thread falls to the right for a stitch you will instantly know; something looks off as you look at your finished work.

Changing the effect and turning corners

If you want the effect of your thread always on the right side rather than the left, you can do that. It will look a bit more twisted if you embroider that way, and it’s a perfectly acceptable effect. Whichever way you use, stay consistent within one piece or it will “look” wrong.

When you turn a corner or a sharp curve, you shorten your stitches accordingly. Sometimes they will need to be very short in order to follow a line. Otherwise, the outline stitch uses the same length of stitch all the way through a project.

The length of your stitches ultimately depends on your working materials. Embroidery with wool on burlap requires much larger stitches than using one strand of embroidery floss on fine linen. If you make the stitches too small, the delightful detail of the embroidery gets lost.

The Snailtrail

This outline stitch can be called the snailtrail, the beading stitch, or the knotted outline. It looks a bit like a couching stitch and is very effective in a thread like perle cotton. It gives you little beads along the thread. Very nice.

While the outline stitch is worked from left to right, this stitch is the opposite. Always work the snailtrail stitch from right to left.

Hold the thread on the line with your left thumb and take a short slanted stitch underneath it. The illustration above shows how. Make the slanted stitch from top to bottom. This makes the thread coil around in a loop –– perfect. Gently pull the thread up and you should get a knot around your working thread. Leave it somewhat loose. That’s part of its beauty.

You notice that the needle goes in further above the thread (which we assume is held along the embroidery design line) than it comes out below it. This helps to get the nice round beads but at the same time you don’t stray too far from the outline’s path.

A few practice stitches will show you where to place the needle. Draw a line on some spare fabric and make a few snailtrail beads. You’ll quickly see the best way for you to make the stitch.

The Running Stitch

This stitch is used in plain hand sewing, in crafting with felt, and in quilting. The running stitch is a good general stitch to master. This might be the easiest stitch in this embroidery lesson for outline stitches.

This stitch looks very nice as a companion to heavier stitches. It also provides an ethereal look to clouds and a nice broken look to grass. It’s nice to use when you want a light effect.

The running stitch is worked from right to left, and its beauty depends on the evenness of the stitches. They should all be the same size with the same distance between. The stitches are a little longer than the space between them. If you want to be creative, placing the stitches in a long – short – long – short pattern could be beautiful. Keep the same distance between all the stitches, though, to accent your creativity.

As you can see in the illustration, you can make several running stitches at a time. In fact, this helps to keep the stitches and spaces even.

The Back Stitch

The back stitch appears similar to the running stitch, but with no fabric showing between the stitches.

This uses more thread than the running stitch because it covers each stitch length twice. This is important if you have limited access to threads. Working with vintage threads that you can’t replace once you run out, or an out-of-production thread that you love, may dictate embroidering with a stitch that uses less thread.

The back stitch produces a nice straight outline, whether you’re following a curve or a line. It’s also a sturdy stitch. Unlike stem stitch or the chain stitch mentioned later, this stitch does not move once you place it unless your stitches are very long.

To make this stitch, bring your needle up on the dotted line (the design line on your fabric). Return the needle to the fabric 1/8 – 1/4 inch to the right, as shown above. Bring the needle back out 1/8 – 1/4 inch to the left of where your thread comes out. Then place your needle back into the fabric to the right, almost touching the first stitch. (In counted cross stitch, your back stitches do touch one another when done on a fabric like Aida. In Twenties-style fabric embroidery, the stitches almost touch, with a strand or two of the fabric between stitches.)

Follow the design line from right to left. A full 2/3 of your thread will lie under the fabric surface. A back stitch is often used in place of an outline/stem stitch. It gives nice variety to your embroidery.

The Chain Stitch

When you want the effect of a heavy line, the chain stitch can work very well.

The endless loops of the chain stitch make an interesting outline. As you can see in the illustration, the needle always points towards you. The chain appears link by link, drawing closer to you as it covers the design line.

To make the chain stitch, bring your needle up on the dotted line. Hold the thread down with your thumb, and insert the needle again where it came out of the fabric. Pass the needle under the fabric for a short space and bring the needle point back up. At this point your needle should pass over the thread your thumb holds down. You can see what that looks like in the illustration.

Draw the thread through the hole. Be careful to leave it a bit loose so that it forms a nice chain link. You are now in the position to hold the thread down again while you put the needle back into the fabric where it came out. Continue creating your chain.

I hope you found this embroidery lesson on outline stitches useful. Next time I’ll give you the project that came with this article: adorable animals and a border for outline stitches.

Vintage Entertainment

Stereoscopes and Stereograph Cards

VintageJenny
Stereoscope with stereograph card. The double image card depicts a soldier during World War I. A partially visible card lies under the stereoscope.
Taking a break from life with some well-loved stereograph cards. This one is from a series on WWI.

So what do you do when the weather is questionable, the day is quiet and lonely, or you have guests over with nothing planned? Simple! You bring out the stereoscope and your stereograph cards. Guaranteed to bring a smile, this is good entertainment alone or with a small group.

Sounds almost like an advertisement, doesn’t it? Stereoscopes were inexpensive enough that almost every family had one –– I’ve seen advertised prices for the viewers as low as 24 cents. At that price, a family could afford to splurge on a set or two of cards once in a while.

Closeup image of a stereoscope, looking through the eye pieces at a blurry card beyond.
A closeup look through the stereoscope.

Far away places right into your living room

The stereoscope brought far away places into your sitting room or parlor. You could see photos of India, Japan, or Ireland. You also could look at mountains, rivers, or famous architecture. In fact, regardless where you lived, the stereograph card could introduce you to new places and new technologies.

Downtown market day in St. Petersburg, Russia. Circa 1898-1910.
St. Petersburg, Russia.

Perhaps you didn’t attend the latest World’s Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri. Maybe you weren’t even born yet. (It did, after all, occur in 1904.) However, your parents or grandparents might have, and their stack of stereograph cards commemorating the occasion helps you feel like you were almost there yourself.

Stereoscope card image of four women in Japanese kimono standing next to beds filled with chrysanthemums. Probably dates 1904-1910.
Women at a chrysanthemum show in Japan.

In case you missed the experience, here are 161 cards from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 that you can view thanks to the Library of Congress. See Theodore Roosevelt’s log cabin. View the Manufacturers Building lit at night with electric lights. Gaze at a gaggle of gondolas as they paddle across the Grand Basin.

Stereoscope card image of a deer standing in the middle of tall grasses. A mountain towers in the background.
Animals figured prominently in the cards as well.

The most popular viewer

While many different versions of the stereoscope viewer exist, one stands out above the rest. You can see a version of it in the photos above. Several inventors tried their hands at the stereoscope viewer, but the one that endures was invented by Oliver Wendell Holmes. You may have heard of him. He was a physician, novelist, poet, essayist, and improver of the stereoscope viewer. He called his version the American Stereoscope, and refused to patent it so that it could be copied freely. And copied freely it was!

If your family attic fails to hold one of these visual wonders, they are plentiful in local antique stores and on eBay. A stereoscope and stereograph cards really are fun as you while away an hour or two looking at the past.

Operating it is simple. You drop the 2-image card into the wire card holder and then look through the viewer. If the image is fuzzy, move the bar towards or away from you a little at a time until it clears. Voilá! A mountainscape. Or a city street. Or maybe even two children feeding their horse.

Two children stand outside a barn and feed a horse through a window opening. A small boy holds a basket filled with hay up to the horse so he can eat. A larger girl stands next to a bale of hay and watches as she holds strands of dried grasses for the next course. Both children are dressed circa 1900.
Some cards were endearing, while others hoped to bring a smile.

Another option is to unearth your childhood possession of the updated stereoscope. They called it the Viewmaster, and you can read my article about it here.

But what about capturing today’s views in the same way? You can definitely make your own stereograph cards with modern photography. If you would like to try your hand at making your own stereoscope or stereograph photos, try this tutorial from Instructables.

Poems from the Pages · The Magazine Rack

Tatting Poem: A Summer Idyl

VintageJenny
Vintage illustration of an outdoor window with a large pot of clover on the sill. Four swallows circle around the side of the window and swoop below on the right side. Scrollwork and blue flowers frame the left side of the window.
Flowers blooming, birds singing – a sure sign of summer.

Not many poems exist that extol the glories of tatted lace. Well, actually, there might be more than you think. This tatting poem, A Summer Idyl, is one of… well… a few.

Usually I open these poetry selections with an outline of the author’s life and a link to other works if I can find them. This time, though, a lengthy search turned up nothing on the poet who wrote this tatting poem, A Summer Idyl. His name was Allan C. Stewart. And while his name may be lost to time, this poem can live on.

This is a nice poem to enjoy with your own shuttle, or crochet hook, or knitting needles in your lap. Or fix yourself a nice cool beverage, sit outdoors, and enjoy.

A Summer Idyl
by Allan C. Stewart

Swinging in a shaded hammock,
   Watching Phyllis at her lace,
Life seems dowered with richest promise,
   Filled with tenderness and grace.
Flowers are blooming, birds are singing,
   Bowered in leafy tents of green,
I have eyes for naught but Phyllis,
   Busy little household queen.

In and out her shuttle flashes,
   While the dainty fabric grows
Like a dream of fairy weaving,
   Smooth and lustrous, row on rows.
Chains and picots, rings and roses
   One by one I see arrayed,
Fashioned by the slender fingers
   Of this winsome, 'witching maid.


All intent upon her tatting, 
   Still she sits, demure and cool,
Never once her eyes are lifted––
   Deep-fringed, like a woodland pool,
How I wish I knew her fancies...
   Phyllis tilts her saucy face,
Saying sweetly, "I was thinking
   My new thread makes lovely lace!"

As you can see, there’s a bit more going on here than a young lady at her tatting shuttle. We have to wonder if Phyllis is as enamored with her companion as her companion is with her? Don’t you wish you could continue to chapter two, and find out what happens when the autumn leaves fall?

I think many of us have been like Phyllis at one time or another, so wrapped in our current task that we focus on nothing else. I know I have! In fact, tatting thread in a new color takes me there almost every time.

If you enjoyed this poem, you may also like A Song of June. Do you know of any poems from the Teens through the Twenties that you’d like me to share? Drop me a comment and let me know.

The Creative Corner · Vintage Needlework

Edgings Crocheted Widthwise

VintageJenny
Five crocheted edgings on a table with their ends tucked under a vintage crocheted placemat.
All these were created by crocheting short rows, working back and forth.

Today I have something that I hope will intrigue some of you. When I posted the article on Five Great Vintage Crochet Edgings, I promised you this one, too. Today I bring you Edgings Crocheted Widthwise. Four of these date from the 1920s and one from the 1940s.

Why crochet using the narrow side?

Edgings Crocheted Widthwise? What does that even mean? Well, most of the time when you crochet an edging, you make a really long chain or you work a base row of single crochet onto an item and then build your edging upon that. These are the two ways you usually create an edging. But there’s another way.

Some edgings build from the narrow side, row by row. You start with a foundation of 20 stitches, a few more or a few less. Then you crochet one row at a time back and forth, back and forth on those few stitches until you have an inch of edging. Then two inches. Five inches. A foot. A yard. And so on.

This is how knitted edgings and many tatted edgings are made, and it’s a nice way to create an edging. Most knitted edgings historically start with a few stitches and work back and forth until you reach the length you need. Many tatted edgings start with one ring and work back and forth, back and forth, to make a yard or two of lace. You create the length that you need, and you’re finished.

Give one or more of these a try

Give one or more of these edgings a try. Some go faster than others. If you need speed, look for an edging that either uses shells in its construction or open squares, called filet. Those are generally the quickest to make.

On the other hand you can create an edging like this that’s as involved and deep as you like. I’ve seen patterns for edgings three or more inches deep using fine thread that you work widthwise rather than lengthwise. A crochet hook can turn out very elaborate edgings this way.

If your time is at a premium, the first three edgings go fairly quickly. The latter two took more time to create per inch of length. All these edgings are crocheted with size 10 Aunt Lydia’s crochet thread. However, the original instructions called for a much finer thread if they specified any thread at all. Make sure your thread and your hook size match so that the edgings are sturdy without being too tight. Size 10 thread = size 7 metal crochet hook. Size 80 thread = size 13 or 14 metal crochet hook.

You will need

For these edgings crocheted widthwise, you will need:

  • crochet thread (If you have no access to threads you can find many different sizes at The Tatting Corner.)
  • a corresponding size steel crochet hook

Remember, thick threads or yarns need bigger hooks than the narrow threads.

Edging 1

Crochet edging that looks like leaves on an open square background. This edging is crocheted widthwise, from the narrow end.
Edging one is a quick and easy filet pattern.

As you can see from the family photo at the top, this edging looks like leaves on an open background.

  1. Make a chain of 17 stitches.
  2. Make a double crochet (dc) stitch in the 8th stitch from the hook, then (chain 2, skip 2 chains below, and 1 dc in the next ch) 3 times. Turn. You now should have a row of four open squares.
  3. Chain 5, dc over the next dc, chain 2, dc over the next dc, 6 dc.
  4. Chain 5, skip 3 ch on your hook, and make 1 dc in the next 2 chains, then 10 dc in the next 10 stitches of the previous row, ch 2, skip 2, 1 dc.
  5. Chain 5, dc over the next dc, chain 2, dc over the next dc, 6 dc.
  6. Make a double crochet (dc) stitch in the 8th stitch from the hook, then (chain 2, skip 2 chains below, and 1 dc in the next ch) 3 times. Turn. You now should have a row of four open squares.
  7. Repeat from Step 3.

This is an example of an easy filet edging. Once you get the hang of filet it’s relatively quick. It was extremely popular in the 1910s and 20s. As the use of netting as a needlework technique declined, filet crochet took its place.

Edging 2

Crocheted edging that has small rectangles of solid crochet set into a lacy heading. An unusual edging from the Twenties.
An unusual modified filet crochet edging that ends on the diagonal when completed.

This edging is unusual because the pattern ends on the diagonal. Not many Twenties patterns looked like this.

  1. Chain 20 stitches.
  2. Make a double crochet (dc) in the 6th stitch from the hook, dc in each of the next 2 stitches, chain 2, skip 2 stitches, dc in next stitch, ch 2, skip 2 stitches, dc in next stitch, 6 dc. [Those empty squares are called spaces in filet crochet, and the filled squares are called blocks.]
  3. Chain 3, then 6 dc in the next 6 dc of the previous row (you will skip the first stitch. The chain 3 counts as the first dc.), chain 2, skip 2, dc, chain 2, skip 2, dc, ch 2, 3 dc under the chain-3 at the beginning of the last row, chain 2, and then a treble stitch (tr) under the same chain as the 3 dc.
  4. Chain 5, 3 dc under the 2-chain, chain 2, skip 2, dc, ch 2, skip 2, dc [2 spaces made], 6 dc.
  5. Repeat from Step 3.

This is a two-row pattern that’s easy to memorize once you get the hang of it.

Edging 3

Simple crocheted edging in white with a jagged pointed lower edge.
This pointed edge lace from the Twenties would look great on towels, aprons, or linens.

This edging consists of two easy-to-memorize rows, and it goes fairly quickly. The original instructions called for a size 60 thread and a metal crochet hook size 13, which would make it tiny.

  1. Chain (ch) 11.
  2. 1 sc (single crochet) in the 2nd chain from hook, 1 dc (double crochet) in next three ch. Chain 2, skip 2, dc in next ch. Ch 2, skip 2, dc in next.
  3. Turn, ch 5, dc in 2nd dc, ch 2 dc in next dc, ch 4, turn.
  4. Repeat from Step 2.

Edging 4

Lacy crocheted edging with small scallops along one side.
A lacy edging from the Twenties, crocheted side to side.

This edging is a bit more complicated and requires some concentration to get into the flow of the stitches.

  1. Chain (ch) 9, turn.
  2. 1 double crochet (dc) in 5th chain from hook, skip 2 ch, dc in next, ch 2, dc in same chain. Chain 3, sc in end of chain. This sets up the foundation row for the rest of the lace.
  3. Turn, ch 1, in 3-chain loop make 2 sc, 2 ch, 2 sc, 2 ch, 2 sc, 2 ch, 1 sc. (This will be tight and you may need to stop and scrunch the stitches up to fit them all in.) Then chain 5, dc into the next 2-chain loop, and in the 5-chain loop at the end make 1 dc, 2 ch, 1 dc.
  4. Turn, chain 5, 1 dc into 2-ch loop, in next 5-ch loop make 1 dc, 2 ch, 2 dc, 3 ch, 1 sc.
  5. Repeat Steps 3 and 4 for the length of the lace.

Edging 5

Half-completed lace edging showing the making of the lace as well as a second row of chain stitches across the top that makes a header.
This Forties edging is a bit more complicated than the others.

This edging is made in two stages. In stage one you make the lace itself, and in stage two you come back across the length with a chain, picking up the top loops as you go. This creates a header chain for sewing the lace onto something else. Here you see the lace completed and the header chain half-done.

  1. Chain 6.
  2. In 6th chain (ch) from hook make 2 dc (double crochet) ch 2 and 2 dc (shell made). Ch 5, turn.
  3. In 2-chain space of shell make a shell as before (2 dc, ch 2, 2 dc), ch 9, sc (single crochet) in next turning loop.
  4. In ch-9 loop make (2 sc, ch 3) 6 times; then 2 sc in the same loop. Ch 2, shell in space of next shell, chain 5, turn.
  5. Shell in space of next shell, treble crochet in 2nd 3-chain picot. Chain 5, turn.
  6. Shell in space of next shell, chain 5, turn.
  7. Shell in space of next shell, chain 9, sc under previous treble-bar. Turn.
  8. Repeat Steps 4 to 7 for desired length, ending with Step 4. Do not turn work when you’re finished, and work the heading by (sc in next ch-5 loop, ch 5) repeating this across to the beginning.

You choose the size

I hope this intrigues you enough to attempt edgings crocheted widthwise. These patterns lead to a very different edging look. Best of all, you can make these with any size thread and hook that you want. I did them all in size 10 thread because it makes the details easier to see. I wrote an article about making crochet in various sizes here. Check it out.

Recipe Collections · The Vintage Kitchen

Making Ice Creams, Ices and Sundaes

VintageJenny
1020s photo of a round platter holding there spoons and two ice cream sundaes in glass dishes. A glass filled with a whipped cream fruit mixture sits beside them.
Enjoy a vintage Pineapple Marshmallow Sundae, South-Pole Sundae, or a Marshmallow Parfait this summer.

During the warmer months sometimes the weather gets really hot. Short of dumping ice water over your head, how do you stay cool? Before the advent of air conditioning, cold drinks, hand and electric fans, and ice creams helped to bring temperatures down. Not really, but it’s hard to be sad while you eat a nice bowl of ice cream. So today I’m going to talk about making ice creams, ices and sundaes –– straight from a Twenties source.

It’s relatively easy to make all sorts of fancy ice creams at home. You can go beyond bowls of plain chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and peach, which were the Ice Cream Standards of the 1920s. Instead of a plain bowl of ice cream, why not serve a sundae? Even the most fancy version starts with a base of vanilla ice cream and then adds syrups and whipped cream. In the Twenties a sundae might also be decorated with preserved, fresh, or candied fruit.

Ice creams and sundaes from your own kitchen

This article will tell you how to make a Pineapple Marshmallow Sundae, South-Pole Sundae, Marshmallow Parfait, Caramel Ice Cream, and a Cafe Frappe. It assumes you already know how to make basic vanilla and chocolate ice cream. I have a recipe for those somewhere that I will post a bit later in case you need it.

Ice cream was classified three ways when sundaes were new. A French ice cream was made with eggs. Today we often call that an ice cream custard and we make it with egg yolks only. A Philiadelphia ice cream was made with thick whipping cream. American ice cream was made with fresh or condensed milk with a little whole cream added. 100 years later we are still making French ice cream with eggs, but the American ice cream has replaced the condensed milk with half and half (light cream) or simply milk with a bit of cream. Even in the Twenties, commercial ice creams contained gelatin to help it maintain its consistency.

Other options for frozen desserts included water ices. We call them granitas, and sometimes they were called granites. In some recipes cream was frozen without stirring in an ice cream maker. This created a parfait or a mousse (have you ever had frozen chocolate mousse? 1000 calories of pure heaven!).

Suggestions for great results using your ice cream freezer

If you use an ice cream freezer that requires ice and salt, you might want to try kosher salt instead of rock salt and crushed ice instead of larger ice chunks. Actually, the instructions suggest that you pulverize your rock salt, but I don’t know anyone who wants to sit outside with a bag of rock salt and a hammer when you can get kosher salt instead.

Most ice cream maker instruction manuals tell you to pour in a layer of ice and then top it with a thin layer of salt, and repeat. Why not try mixing the ice and salt thoroughly in a large pan before putting it into the freezer? One part salt to three parts ice keeps it very cold. Add the ice and salt to the freezer before you add the ice cream mixture. If you add the mix to the container and then add the ice and salt, the mixture begins to freeze at the bottom before the top is cold. It then freezes unevenly.

Avoiding that grainy consistency

Have a problem with grainy ice cream? This often happens when the crank turns too rapidly at the beginning of the freezing cycle. Turn the crank slowly but keep up a steady motion. When the dasher starts to turn hard (and you’re beginning to get tired from all the turning) that’s when you beat hard and steady for one full minute.

Then remove the crossbar that holds the contraption together, remove the container lid and take out the dasher. (I always tried to find a small child who wanted a taste. The little ones are very willing to hold the dasher and try the ice cream for you while you attend to the rest of the procedure. Voilá! You no longer need to find a place to set the dasher.)

Pack the ice cream down, replace the lid on the canister, and plug the hole with a cork. Remove the icy, salty water from the pail and repack it with salt and ice to ripen the ice cream. This ice can be larger than crushed, and use about half the salt you used before. If the weather is very warm (assuming you are doing this outdoors because it creates a mess) you may have to redo the ice and salt before the ice cream is ripened.

Covering the ice cream freezer with an old blanket or a thick cloth helps to keep the cold in. If you get it wet before laying it over the freezer, it will help keep it that much colder. The original instructions said to keep the blanket wet with the brine from the ice cream freezer, but I can’t imagine what that level of salt water would do to old fibers in a blanket. Maybe this is where all the old quilts went.

And on to the cold treats!

Now that you have an idea of some of the forgotten advice on ice cream making, let’s make some warm weather goodies. Making ice cream and sundaes at home can be great fun. Like most Twenties recipes, some of these may sound a little odd at first. Give one or more of them a try and you can have your own Old Fashioned Ice Cream Social.

All of these recipes should serve from four to six.

Pineapple Marshmallow Sundae

You will need:

  • Vanilla ice cream
  • Marshmallow cream filling (like Fluff or Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Cream. Look for it at your grocery store.)
  • One slice of canned pineapple per person
  • Shredded coconut (packaged. Moist. Not dried coconut. Available in your baking aisle.)
  • Whipped cream
  • Juice from the canned pineapple

Instructions:

  1. Half fill a sherbet glass with vanilla ice cream.
  2. Top this with a dollop of marshmallow cream filling.
  3. Press a slice of canned pineapple onto the marshmallow cream.
  4. Top with a tablespoon or so of the soft shredded coconut.
  5. Finish off with a topping of whipped cream.
  6. Pour a little of the pineapple syrup over the top of the sundae.

South-Pole Sundae

You will need:

  • Vanilla ice cream
  • Real chocolate fudge. You don’t have to make it fresh for this; if you made chocolate fudge in the past couple days you can reheat it and pour it over the ice cream. Melt it enough to pour by placing it in a pan set in a larger pan of boiling water. It shouldn’t be very hot. A double boiler works, too. Or [Sh!! Don’t tell!] even a quick zap in the microwave.
  • Candied cherries or Maraschino cherries

Instructions:

  1. Place a tablespoon of vanilla ice cream in the bottom of a glass. I would use a six or eight ounce glass Pyrex dessert dish.
  2. On top of this pour a just a little of the soft chocolate fudge.
  3. Heap the glass bowl with ice cream.
  4. Give it a thin topping of fudge.
  5. Decorate with candied cherries.

This tastes a little like the chocolate covered ice cream bars that were all the rage in 1922. The secret to this is to make the fudge layers thin, like a frosting.

Marshmallow Parfait

You will need:

  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 2 Tbsp sugar or to taste
  • 2 bananas
  • 1 orange
  • 1/4 lb marshmallows
  • 2 Tbsp shredded pineapple
  • Candied cherries/ Maraschino cherries

Instructions:

  1. Whip the cup of cream and sweeten with the sugar. Set into the freezer to chill while you make the rest of the dessert, or set on ice in a bowl.
  2. Cut the bananas, orange, and marshmallows into small pieces. Stir in the pineapple.
  3. Remove the cream from the ice or freezer. Beat the fruit lightly into the cream and fill tall glasses with the mixture.
  4. Decorate with candied cherries or maraschino cherries.

If you find that you like this parfait, which is not actually frozen, you may also like this recipe for Fruited Cream. It’s similar.

Caramel Ice Cream

You will need:

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 4 cups half and half
  • 4 cups whole/heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

  1. Heat the brown sugar into a small frying pan and stir over medium heat until it melts and begins to smoke a little. You want it melted and hot enough that it tastes caramelized but not dark enough that it tastes burned.
  2. Heat together the half and half (light cream) and cream, mix the liquid sugar with them and flavor with vanilla.
  3. Remove the mixture from the fire and stir until it cools.
  4. Strain the mixture to remove any large sugar particles.
  5. Freeze in an ice cream freezer as usual.

The flavor of this ice cream is varied by the length of time the brown sugar is cooked. Be very careful –– hot melted sugar like this can cause dreadful burns.

Cafe Frappe

This is the original method of making a frappe, without the help of a blender. It’s more of an ice than an ice cream, since 3 of the five cups of liquid are water based.

You will need:

  • 3 cups strong black coffee
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Whipped cream for serving

Instructions:

  1. Scald the cream and dissolve the sugar in it.
  2. Set aside to cool.
  3. Mix coffee with the sweetened cream. Add the vanilla.
  4. Pour into an ice cream freezer and freeze slowly until it reaches a mushy consistency.
  5. Serve in glasses with a spoon of whipped cream on top.

I hope you enjoyed these recipes for making ice creams and sundaes in your own kitchen.