Create airy and delicate lace designs for table, bed, and wardrobe using the time-honored technique of Irish Crochet. This handsome handicraft, known for its raised floral motifs and intricate background patterns, probably originated in the convents of Ireland, where diligent nuns prepared beautiful ornaments for use in church services. Today, this stunning form of lace-making has been adapted and simplified for dozens of day-to-day uses: decorating curtains, tablecloths, pillows, bedspreads, lingerie, collars, children's clothing, doilies and more.

Rita Weiss, a noted needlework designer and best-selling author, has collected the finest, easily workable examples of Irish crochet from rare American thread company booklets of more than fifty years ago. Step-by-step instructions, stitch and hook charts, metric conversion charts, and forty clear illustrations allow you to make magnificent accessories in these lovely patterns: My Wild Irish Rose, Popcorn, Rose of Sharon, Cinderella, More Than a Touch of Blarney, Beauty Rose, "Smilin’ Through," Tournament of Roses, Wedding Ring, Dublin Beauty, Irish Springtime, and others. No skills beyond a familiarity with ordinary crochet techniques are needed to create these beautiful patterns. In addition, expert tips on blocking and finishing make it certain that your final product will be nothing short of a work of art.

With this versatile, inexpensive guide, the beauty of Irish Crochet - once thought too difficult to achieve by any but the most experienced needleworkers - is now within reach of even beginning crocheters.

Patterns in this publication were selected from the following vintage publications:

American Thread Book 7	Star / American Thread Book 18	Star / American Thread Book 22	American Thread Book 30
Edgings	Book of 100 Edgings	Star Book of Doilies	Tatted & Crocheted Designs
coming soon!			coming soon!
Star / American Thread Book 34	American Thread Book 59	Star / American Thread Book 65	American Thread Book 68
Star Bedspreads	Ruffled Doilies	Flower Edgings	Spreads That Are Different
	coming soon!		coming soon!
The Spool Cotton Co Book 85	The Spool Cotton Co Book 122	The Spool Cotton Co Book 152	The Spool Cotton Co Book 184
Bedspreads	Bedspreads	Table Treasures	Doilies
The Spool Cotton Co Book 205	The Spool Cotton Co Book 212	The Spool Cotton Co Book 214	The Spool Cotton Co Book 232
Old and New Favorites	Crochet Your Gifts	Home Favorites	Bedspreads
	coming soon!	coming soon!	coming soon!
The Spool Cotton Co Book 320	Lily Mills Book 1800	Lily Mills Book 2000	Bernhard Ulmann Book 106
Edgings	Decorating with Crochet	Crocheted Bedspreads	Bucilla Cottons
coming soon!	coming soon!	coming soon!	coming soon!
Royal Society Book 1	Royal Society Book 4
Hand Crochet by Royal Society	Hand Crochet by Royal Society
coming soon!	coming soon!

These vintage pattern books have been digitally restored, recreated as a downloadable pdf file and offered to you at the low price. Download is immediately available to you when payment is received.

Please note: An eBook is an electronic, downloadable book. You will not receive a hard copy in the mail.

The Spool Cotton Company

The Spool Cotton Co Book 204	The Spool Cotton Co Book 284	The Spool Cotton Co Book 292
Victory Barnyard	Dolls of the Americas	Presenting Dolls from Old American Songs

The American Thread Company

Star / American Thread Book 39	Star / American Thread Book 84	Star / American Thread Book 90
Toys...	Dolls and Dolls	The Big Top in Crochet

Doreen Knitting

Doreen Book 102	Doreen Book 104
Dolls	Dolls

DMC

DMC Corporation Volume 403	DMC Corporation Volume 406	DMC Corporation Volume 409
Dolls of Many Nations	Dolls of Famous Women in History	Dolls of France
		Coming soon!

Fashions in Wool

Fashions in Wool Book 99
Clothes for Fashion Model Dolls

Browse and print the patterns for free, or buy the ad-free eBooks. Purchase of these eBooks and bundle packs help defray the costs of the websites. Thank you for your support!

Please note: An eBook is an electronic, downloadable book. You will not receive a hard copy in the mail.

Feel free to try out a free eBook first to see what you can expect.

These vintage DMC Corporation pattern books have been digitally restored, recreated as a downloadable pdf file and offered to you at the low price of only $1.49 per book. Download is immediately available to you when payment is received.

If you prefer, you may follow the links to each restored eBook and print the patterns individually from the websites for free instead!

DMC Corporation Volume 403	DMC Corporation Volume 405	DMC Corporation Volume 406	DMC Corporation Volume 409
Dolls of Many Nations	Crochet Gifts and Bazaar Novelties	Dolls of Famous Women in History	Dolls of France
			Coming soon!

A silver wreath, about 16" high, made of crepe-backed foil paper. The wreath is a cardboard circle with a revolv­ing pinwheel star in center.

   Materials: Norcross green-and-silver Fashion Foil paper (a crinkly paper that is green on one side and silver on the other); lightweight cardboard; glue; scrap of green yarn; three tiny jingle bells; three small Christmas bells.
   Directions: Cut a cardboard circle, 13½" across; cut a 12" circle out of the center of it, leaving a rim 1½" wide. Cut a cardboard 5-pointed star (see directions below), 9" across. Using cardboard patterns, cut two stars and two rims from foil paper; make foil paper rims 1¼" wider, inside and outside, than cardboard. Glue one foil star to cardboard star and one foil rim to cardboard rim, green side out. Score along dotted lines and slash along solid lines pinwheel fashion (Fig. 3). Place star inside rim (Fig. 4), card­board sides up, and glue a cord across them, forming cord into a loop at top. Glue remaining foil star and rim, silver side up, onto uncovered side of cardboard shapes. Cut pinwheel slashes of stars through this foil covering, then bend slashes outward along scored lines (Fig. 3). Fringe inner and outer edges of rim diagonally. Tie a bunch of jingle bells to center of star (when star spins, bells will jingle). Make a large loop of foil paper and tie it to top of wreath. Tie three Christmas bells to center of foil loop.

HOW TO MAKE A STAR

1. Draw a circle desired size of star. With compass or dividers, find 5 equidistant points A on circumference of circle. Draw lines to connect points to form a pentagon.
2. Using same center of circle, draw another circle as illustrated (distance of inner circle from outer circle controls depth of star points). Find centers of 5 sides of pentagon (points B). From these centers, draw a line through center of circle to opposite points A.
3. Draw lines from points A of pentagon to where dividing lines intersect inner circle (points C) to form star.

A golden tree, about 13" high, made of crepe-backed foil paper. The tree is pleated and fringed, stands on a cardboard cone and base.

   Materials: Norcross green-and-gold Fashion Foil paper (a crinkly paper, gold on one side and green on the other); silver flitter; lightweight cardboard; glue.
   Directions: For base, cut a 9" circle of cardboard and two 10" circles of foil. Paste foil circles, green side out, onto both sides of cardboard circle, letting edges of foil circles extend ½" beyond edge of cardboard. Fringe ½" extension.
   For support, make a cardboard cone 11" high and 3" across bottom. Cover with foil, green side out. Glue cone to center of base.
   For tree, cut a foil-paper circle, 20" in diameter. With gold side up, fold into sixteenths (Fig. 1), folding solid lines out and dotted lines in. Cut three curved notches along each outside fold (indicated by solid lines in Fig. 2). Fringe each notch from edge to dotted line. Fringe bottom edge of tree ½" deep all around. Curl all fringes outward slightly so that green underside will show. Place tree on supporting cone.
   Cut two stars (see directions below) from foil paper. Glue together, gold side out. Brush one side of star with glue and sprinkle with silver flitter. Mount on tree with a pin.

HOW TO MAKE A STAR

1. Draw a circle desired size of star. With compass or dividers, find 5 equidistant points A on circumference of circle. Draw lines to connect points to form a pentagon.
2. Using same center of circle, draw another circle as illustrated (distance of inner circle from outer circle controls depth of star points). Find centers of 5 sides of pentagon (points B). From these centers, draw a line through center of circle to opposite points A.
3. Draw lines from points A of pentagon to where dividing lines intersect inner circle (points C) to form star.

Crepe paper garland is fringed and gathered, tipped with blue "snow," caught with ribbons and Christmas balls.

   Materials: Dennison's crepe paper, green (1 package will make almost 3 yds. of garland); needle and heavy-duty thread; glue; silver flitter; La France bead-bluing; green spool wire; 1½" Christmas balls; red ribbon 3" wide.
   Directions: Cut folded crepe paper into 4" strips, across folds (7 strips make 4 yds. of garland). Open strip and refold to 8 thicknesses. Pin through center, cut 1½" deep fringe along both edges. Before unfolding strips, dip tips of fringe in "Christmas Blue" (directions below). Open and let dry. Brush fringe tips lightly with glue and sprinkle with silver flitter. When dry gather strips through center with needle and thread. Twist and push together to form garland. Loop garland gracefully wherever desired. Catch with ribbon bows and wired Christmas balls.
   Christmas Blue: Pour 1 cup of La France bead-bluing into a small, deep bowl. Add ¼ cup cold water. Beat with egg beater into creamy consistency.

CHRISTMAS TREE

Materials: Plaster of Paris; ½" dowel stick 12" long; oblong sardine can or flat round tuna fish can; airplane cement; stiff wire; thin spool wire; 1 package green crepe paper; cotton batting; Star Silateen Sansil crochet cotton, green; C•B Tatting Cotton in a variety of colors; gold or silver flitter; steel crochet hook No. 10.

TREE: Fill oblong or round can with wet plaster of Paris. Place dowel stick upright in center of can and let plaster harden for one hour. Glue and wind dowel tree trunk with ½" strips of green crepe paper.
   Branches: Cut six 4" pieces stiff wire for top row, seven 5" pieces for next row down, seven 6" pieces for next row down, eight 7" pieces for bottom row.
   To make green needles on branches, wind crochet cotton around 2 fingers 6 times, hold at center. Clip loops at both ends and fold in half. Dab glue on folded ends of yarn, place flat on wire branch and wind over folded ends with green thread to hold in place. Fill branch with yarn needles, keeping all cut ends in same direction, to within 1" of end of wire. Put yarn needles on all branches in same way. Fasten branches to dowel trunk in rows, by wrapping ends to trunk with spool wire. Wind trunk again with ½" strips of wire. Use crepe paper to cover joints. Cover base of can with cotton.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Crocheted Trimmings: All made with tatting cotton in colors. Dip in glue all decorations except balls and canes and sprinkle with flitter.

Balls: Ch 4, join to form a ring. Ch 3, make 16 dc in ring.
Rnd 2: Work in dc, increasing to 24 sts in rnd. Join.
Rnds 3 and 4: Work even in dc.
Rnd 5: Work in dc, decreasing every 3rd st, join. Stuff with cotton.
Rnds 6 and 7: Work in dc, decreasing every 3rd st.
Ch 6, sl st in first ch to form loop.

Bells: Work the same as for balls through rnd 2. Then work 7 rows even of sc. Roll edge up 1 row. Starch and stretch over thimble.

Round Decoration: Ch 5, join. Work 20 dc in ring.
Rnd 2: Ch 5, dc in next st, * ch 2, dc in next st, repeat from * around, join.
Rnd 3: Ch 3, dc in first sp, * ch 2, 2 dc in next sp, repeat from * around, join. Circles may be finished with a round of plain sc or sc and picots.

Half Circle Decorations: Start same as circle to rnd 2.
Rnd 2: Work dc and ch 2 halfway around circle and end off.

Top Star: Ch 4, join. Ch 3, make 14 dc in ring.
Rnds 2 and 3: Ch 3, dc in same st. Make 2 dc in each dc around (30 dc in rnd 2, 60 dc in rnd 3). Ch 3, turn.
Points: Ch 3, dc in next 10 dc, ch 3, turn. Skip first dc, dc in next 7 dc, skip next dc, dc in last dc. Dec in same manner for 4 more rows to form point. Break thread. Skip 1 st at base of point and attach thread. Make 4 more points the same as first.
Stars can be made smaller by using less stitches and working in same manner. Use any number of stitches divisible by 5.

Cane: With white, ch 20. Work 2 rows of sc. Break off white and attach red. Work 2 rows of sc in red. Wrap crochet around wire in diagonal fashion, glue in place. Bend wire to form cane.

Many other decorations may be made, such as sc worked over bone rings.

Exciting designs & patterns from the past to make today's crocheting interesting!

Magazine developed to bring back designs and patterns from the past. Distributed in quarterly issues from 1979 to 2002.

Pattern List