Grandma Smith's Crochet - Her sample bag of Pattern Swatches

Grandma Smith kept her Pattern Swatches along with her latest projects in her needlework workbag, a folding cloth bag with a built-in wooden stand to hold it open and upright. It was always near her favorite chair in her li
ving room. On the following pages, are images of Grandma’s Pattern Swatches. She used these instead of written patterns to guide her crochet projects. Although not represented in her swatches, the pillowcase edgings she made were often further embellished with a border of colored thread. As her grandson Robert said, “You felt extra special if you got one of the colored ones.” Grandma’s typical pillowcases she gave to our family used #30 cotton thread and a size 11 or 12 steel crochet hook. Some of her patterns used #40 or #50 thread and finer crochet hooks. It is recommended that the pillowcase laces be done using #30 cotton thread or finer and they be worked using a crochet hook size 10 or finer.

Grandma’s stitches were very fine and even. If the reader would like to make lace that closely resembles Grandma's, please note that Grandma made fine tight stitches and she often increased the height of her stitches by drawing up the lower loop (the thread that was pulled up after inserting the hook into the stitch of the row below, thread over, and then draw up through the stitch) very tall. This was particularly used when she crocheted with very fine thread.



Grandma usually used white crochet cotton for the main portion of the pillowcase lace. She often enhanced the lace with color by crocheting an extra border in a colored thread. Examples of such a border: single crochet along the whole edge; or make arches of appropriate length with chain stitches, attaching regularly along the edge with single crochet; or add scallops by crocheting clusters of 4, 5, or 6 double or treble crochet in a space, then span to the next space with a chain of appropriate length to work the next cluster.