Saturday, September 22, 2012

Old Netting Patterns and Books Now Online


I've looked for books containing netting patterns ever since my mother gave me a copy of Nelson Netting Patterns, Beautiful New Advanced Doilies (supplement #3) for Christmas in the 1960s.   I was sorely disappointed when I found no books and very few patterns dealing with netting in the library of the college I attended.

I was elated when I discovered old netting books on-line in a digitized format.  I downloaded all I could find but never had took the time to look through the files very thoroughly.  It was one of those projects I was always going to do.  A few months ago, I don't remember why, I started looking through one such file.  The book was published in 1847.  I discovered, to my amazement, that there were drawings of nine netting stitches.  Stitches I knew!  Some of these stitches like Plain Net, Grecian Net, Leaf Netting, Dotted Net, and Honeycomb Net I had learned from my grandmother.  Others like Round Net, Open Plain Net, Single Diamond Net, Diamond of Five Stitches, and French Ground Net I had learned from more modern books.

As I continued browsing through the file, I saw patterns for items I had wanted to make but had not had the time to design. Looking through other files I had downloaded to my computer, I realized that I needed to create a listing of which patterns were found in which books.

I decided to enter them in this blog so others could also find the netting patterns they wanted.  Besides a list of netting patterns found in each book, I will include the title, author, publication date, and link where I found the book.

Here's the first book.  It had to be first.  It was the one that captured my attention and made me decide to make this list.

The Lady's Assistant for Executing Useful and Fancy Designs in Knitting, Netting, and Crochet Work by Mrs Gaugain, 1847.  It was also published in 1840, 1842, and 1845.  The patterns for netting were the same, regardless of when the book was published.

Netting patterns and stitches found in this book:

Long Net Purse for a Lady
Long Net Purse for a Lady (different pattern)
Round Netting for a Gentleman's Long Purse
Honeycomb Netting for Veil
Honeycomb Netting for a Veil, Purse, &c
Grecian Net for a Veil
Very Pretty Long Grecian Net Purse for a Lady
Single Diamond Netting
Diamond of Five Stitches for a Long Purse
Leaf Netting
Raised Net
Dotted Net
French Ground Net
Scollop for Borders of Veils, Collars, &c
Scollop
Another Scollop for Border
A Netted Garter
Netted Mitten of Purse Silk
A Pretty Fringe for the above Mitten
Cravat of White and Blue Wool
Net Scarf
Flat Net Scarf
A Long Net Purse of Two Colours, united in Points
Very Handsome Long Net Purse

In case you think I have forgotten about my Circular Netting class, I have not.  I finally made the first two videos and checked to see if all the pattern instructions were ready.  They were.  If you want to see what videos and patterns will be included in the class, you can look at the class syllabus.

No comments: