About Weldon's Practical Needlework

From Interweave Press:

About 1885, Weldon’s began publishing a series of fourteen-page monthly newsletters, available by subscription, each title featuring patterns and instructions for projects using a single technique.

About 1888, the company began to publish Weldon’s Practical Needlework, each volume of which consisted of twelve issues (one year) of several newsletters bound together with a cloth cover.

Each volume contains hundreds of projects, illustrations, information on little-known techniques, glimpses of fashion as it was at the turn of the twentieth century, and brief histories of needlework. Other techniques treated include making objects from crinkled paper, tatting, netting, beading, patchwork, crewelwork, appliqué, cross-stitch, canvaswork, ivory embroidery, torchon lace, and much more.

From 1999 through 2005, Interweave published facsimiles of the first twelve volumes of Weldon’s Practical Needlework.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Project 21: Knitted Fascinator

Time for another "mystery" project!

The Knitted Fascinator from Weldon's Practical Knitter Thirty-Second Series (1896) and republished in Weldon's Practical Needlework Volume 11.  This is one of those projects with no illustration, and with 181 rows of written instructions for a lace pattern.

"Fascinators have for some time past been popular when made in crochet; our model here is a pretty and new shape, and, moreover, is made entirely in knitting.  Two ounces of Andalusian wool, any preferred colors, will be needed, also a pair of knitting needles No. 7."

What I should end up with is a long head scarf in an open lacy pattern, with tassels on the ends.

I'm going to use a lace weight yarn and US #7 needles.  Maybe I will try my "McClellan Lace" in Skye from Three Irish Girls:


I have a 500 yard skein, which I tried using on a lace shawl with a complicated pattern.  Fail, the color repeats on this yarn are too short to work well with a complex lace design.  I'll try it and see if I like it.  If not, I have some solid color lace  yarn here somewhere...
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