Old patterns from the 1840s to the 1920s, made workable today

Eleven old books, four new ones

The shelf holds fifteen books and 80 patterns. Eleven of the books, 65 patterns between them, start from public-domain pieces published between the 1840s and the 1920s: lace edgings, doilies, shawls, tams, baby jackets, beaded purses, 1920s sweaters and more. Each one is rewritten with modern yarns, needle and hook sizes, sizes and stitch counts.

The other four are Row & Round Originals: 15 new designs made in 2026. Baby knits, everyday wearables, cables and colourwork, small crochet toys. No history attached, which suits some weekends better than others.

What a Victorian page left out

Old patterns are short. A Victorian book may hand you a stitch, a length and a hint about the yarn, then leave the rest to you. The rewrites keep the shape of the original piece and add what a modern maker needs: written rows and rounds, modern yarn and needle or hook sizes, sizes for today, abbreviations (US terms for crochet), a chart for each pattern and notes on the history from the original books.

Some old habits stay because they are the charm. The 1890 tam is still knitted from the centre of the crown outwards. Cornelia Mee’s sugar-plum stitch keeps its name, though knitters now call it linen stitch.

Sources are credited by author and year: Eléonore Riego de la Branchardière (1846 and 1848), Cornelia Mee (1846), Miss Lambert (1843), Anne Orr (1918) and a 1917 knitting book edited by Olive Whiting. A few patterns come from a 1920s yarn-company booklet.

Choosing by what you want at the end

Start with the craft. Antique Crochet Doilies & Medallions, Antique Tunisian Crochet and Amigurumi Friends are crochet. Six books mix knitting and crochet: 1910s–20s Baby & Child Knits, Vintage Caps & Tams, Heirloom Bedspread Squares, Beaded Purses & Little Bags, Roaring Twenties Sweaters & Cloches and Everyday Wearables. The rest are knitting.

Then go by the object. Every pattern carries a level, from Beginner to Advanced, so a book can hold a gentle first project and a harder one side by side. Here is the whole shelf:

• Antique Crochet Doilies & Medallions: seven crochet doilies and medallions, rated Easy through Intermediate, worked in rounds from a chart.
• Fireside Comforts: six knitted pieces from a 1917 book, with socks, wristlets, a muffler, split-finger mitts and a hot water bottle cover among them.
• Victorian Lace Edgings: five narrow lace edgings from the 1840s, rated Easy through Advanced.
• 1910s–20s Baby & Child Knits: six knit and crochet baby pieces in three sizes from 0 to 12 months: sacques, bonnets, bootees and mittens.
• Vintage Caps & Tams: six knitted and crocheted hats in three sizes each, from a tam to a pillbox cap.
• Victorian Stitch Sampler Cloths: eight 9-inch cloths, each on one stitch, which you can join into a runner or blanket.
• Heirloom Bedspread Squares: six knitted and crocheted squares and blocks, each about 10 in, with joining and three layouts for a cushion, baby blanket or throw.
• Victorian Shawls & Wraps: six shawls, wraps and trims from the 1840s, rated Easy through Advanced.
• Antique Tunisian Crochet: five Tunisian pieces and a one-page guide to how a Tunisian row works.
• Beaded Purses & Little Bags: five beaded purses and bags, with bead counts for every beaded section.
• Roaring Twenties Sweaters & Cloches: two sweaters in five sizes, two crocheted cloches and a matching scarf.
• Little Sprout Baby Set: a hat, booties, a cardigan and a bib, our own design, in three sizes with no ties or cords.
• Everyday Wearables: a crochet mesh tee, a chunky poncho, toe-up ankle socks and a sweater for your dog, all our own design.
• Cables & Colour: two hats, a cowl and mittens, in cables, colourwork and brioche, at Intermediate.
• Amigurumi Friends: a sitting bunny, a striped bee and a pocket whale, crocheted in spiral rounds.

What to start this weekend

Knitting, plain and useful: the muffler in Fireside Comforts is the gentle first project in that book. If you would rather learn one stitch at a time, Victorian Stitch Sampler Cloths gives you eight cloths, each on a single stitch. The Hillside Poncho in Everyday Wearables is marked Beginner and uses knit and purl only.

Crochet: Antique Tunisian Crochet opens with a washcloth, and the one-page guide explains a Tunisian row before you meet one. Amigurumi Friends is worked in spiral rounds and offers a safety-eye or embroidered-eye option. Beaded Purses & Little Bags includes a no-bead pouch for beginners, so the beads can wait.

Lace, and the week you put it down

Victorian Lace Edgings suits knitters who like small lace and want to build up to the deeper edgings. Five of them, narrow, from the 1840s. Lace is where places get lost between evenings, and Row & Round’s bar is still on your row when you pick an edging up after a week.

Once an edging feels familiar, Victorian Shawls & Wraps is the next step: a lace shawl, a scarf or a shoulder cape, all from the 1840s.