A comment on the preceding post about the status of crochet in the 1820s sent me back to revisit Elisabeth Bayle-Mouillard (the second of the early 19th-century authors on whom this blog focused shortly after its inception). The first edition of her “Young Ladies’ Handbook or Arts and Crafts” (Manuel des Demoiselles ou Arts et… Continue reading French crochet and non-crochet in 1826
The word “crochet” designates both a tool with a hooked tip and a family of looped structures made with that tool. It additionally names the craft of producing fabric consisting of those structures, the fabric itself, and the objects into which it is worked. Each sense of the term has its own history and its… Continue reading Scottish crochet in 1567
I’ve devoted an inordinate amount of blog space to slip stitch fabric made with a hook, tracing it back along a number of paths to printed sources in the mid-18th century, and discussing objects made in that manner found in museum collections. I’m going to restore some balance with material and written evidence of European… Continue reading Diamond mesh
The January 1857 issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book includes the first in a series of “Full Instructions for Needle-Work of all Kinds.” It describes the basic elements of crochet and provides a good review of the mid-19th-century state of the craft. Without any indication of it being a recent innovation, an unillustrated and now unfamiliar… Continue reading The double chain stitch and mignardise crochet
The preceding essay considered differences between the descriptions of crochet by Elisabeth Bayle-Mouillard (writing as Madame Celnart) and Charlotte Leidenfrost, in their books published respectively in 1826 and 1828. The German text followed the disposition of the earlier French one and used the same illustrations. In her preface, Leidenfrost explained the otherwise extensive substantive differences… Continue reading Drawing a bead on the arrival of crochet in Germany
The 1823 volume of Penélopé is frequently cited as the first document that has yet come to light using the word crochet to designate the craft now commonly known by that name. Preceding occurrences of the term in similar contexts designate a hooked tool. The first mention of the new craft was in a German publication… Continue reading A purse in simple openwork crochet
I’m eager to spend some time away from 19th-century fancywork and am going to wrap up its discussion for now with a French description of purse making on a round knitting loom. It appears in Élisabeth Bayle-Mouillard’s Manuel des Demoiselles ou Arts et Métiers (Young Ladies’ Handbook or Arts and Crafts) from 1826, where the instructions for… Continue reading A French loom-knit purse
