Vintage 1940s Crochet Pattern Help

[Knp03]

Hello! I’ve been working on a beautiful 1940s bed jacket pattern, but I’m confused as to what the pattern is directing me to do in my upcoming rows. So far, I’ve crocheted up to the point where the pattern is labeled “next row.” If you look, I’ve highlighted in blue the parts of the pattern that I am confused with. Would someone mind clarifying these steps for me?

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Back Yoke. Ch 100, work 1 d c in 4th st from hook, 1 d c in each remaining st of ch (1st row of d c should measure about 15 inches).

2nd Row—Sl st to 4th d c, ch 3 and work a row of d c omitting the last 3 d c (ch 3 counts as 1 d c).

3rd Row—Sl st to 2nd d c, ch 3, work a row of d c omitting the last d c. Work 21 rows even ch 3, turn. Next row work 27 d c for shoulder, work 1 row even. Next 19 rows increase one st at neck edge.

Next Row—increase one st each side, ch 5 at under­arm edge, turn, d c in 4th st from hook d c in next st and continue across row, working neck edge even, break yarn and work other side to correspond start­ing at shoulder edge. Join Yoke at underarms.

Body of Jacket. This is worked in knot st starting in front, *pull up a ⅜ inch loop on hook, s c over the single loop, repeat from *, skip 1 d c, s c in next d c, repeat knot sts in every other d c across row. Work a 3 loop knot st to turn each row.

2nd Row—*S c in center s c of knot st in previous row, double knot st and repeat from * across row. Repeat 2nd row for 9 inches or the length desired. Sleeves: Join yarn at underarm seam and work 1 knot st at underarm, 1 knot st over every other row 7 times, 1 knot st over every row 16 times, 1 knot st over every other row 7 times, 1 knot st at underarm. Continue working rows of knot sts, 1 st in each st until sleeve measures 10½ inches (about 28 rows).

Next Row—*Ch 1, 1 s c in center of next loop, repeat from *all around.

Next Row—Ch 3 and work 2 d c in each ch 1 loop. Work 3 more rows of d c. Next row, work a knot st in every other d c and work 4 more rows of knot sts.

Beading. Starting on the wrong side of lower edge of front yoke, ch 3, d c in same space, *ch 2, skip 1 row, 2 d c in next row, repeat from * around entire yoke, ch 3, turn.

Next Row—2 d c in same space, * s c in next d c, ch 3, 2 d c in same space, repeat from * around yoke. Lace ribbon through beading leaving an end to tie.

[Granny Square]

Welcome to the 'ville!

Vintage patterns can be challenging--not necessarily difficult but they're often pretty terse.

Is this a free pattern on the 'net that you can link to?  I learned on hand-me-down vintage patterns, sometimes to solve a confusing spot looking at the finished item can answer questions of how something is put together.

First, the knot stitch - I'm not familiar with the mechanics of this stitch; I'm not a fan of loopy stitches but I THINK it sounds like the Solomon's knot , hopefuly the video can give a clue, or someone else will chime in.

"Join yoke at underarms' would make sense if it started like a top down raglan cardigan, which starts at the neckline and increases until it looks like a short cape, where the 'join yoke at underarms' would come in -- you'd work across what will become the back, chain a few stitches which becomes the underarm, skip a huge number of stitches (which become the stitches around the sleeve at armpit level), resume stitching across the front, chain a few stitches for the other underarm, skip the same large number of stitches, and resume across the back (if it's worked in a spiral, otherwise there's probably a join and chain up somewhere).  Below is a diagram I drew for a similar question a while to explain how this works, the top pic is how it looks before you fold and join the front and back at the underarm, the bottom pic shows after it's folded and joined - this is a solid pullover not an open-front thing, just imagine the front is open.  The diagonal lines are raglan type increases.  Sometimes the yokes are oval instead of rectangular and the increases aren't lined up like that, but it's the same principle (oval ones I've seen are usually for sleeveless things)  Again, I'm not POSITIVE that this is how your pattern is worked, but it is a construction that makes sense with 'join yoke at underarms'.

The above description would also work if you omitted the underarm chains, if the armholes were roomy enough.  Did the pattern tell you to put a stitch marker in 2 places that will be the 1 underarm stitch?

 

 

 

[Granny Square]

I reread this and realized I forgot to complete my thought on the 'join yoke at underarms' -

My guess would have been plausible if the yoke was deep enough, however the 'join yoke at underarms' only happens on row 4 from the info you gave, so something else must have happened before that (for several inches, neckline to underarm distance).  So knowing what it's supposed to end up looking like would probably help, or whether there was a 'neckline' section you've already completed above the yoke section.

[Knp03]

13 minutes ago, Granny Square said:

I reread this and realized I forgot to complete my thought on the 'join yoke at underarms' -

My guess would have been plausible if the yoke was deep enough, however the 'join yoke at underarms' only happens on row 4 from the info you gave, so something else must have happened before that (for several inches, neckline to underarm distance).  So knowing what it's supposed to end up looking like would probably help, or whether there was a 'neckline' section you've already completed above the yoke section.

Granny Square -

Thank you so much for your thorough explanation and diagram! I’m linking the pattern below, it is featured on a free vintage crochet pattern website. It’s my first vintage pattern, and let me tell you, it’s been quite a wild ride! I can’t believe people back then were able to comprehend these patterns, let alone use them! What a crazy time, haha. I appreciate your help!

https://freevintagecrochet.com/free-coat-pattern/star15/bed-jacket

[Granny Square]

Scratch what I wrote above, and I just realized you did post more than what I was focusing on (the blue rows), sorry I missed all that (but the sketch above isn't totally useless, read on).

You start with the back yoke a bit below the armpit (mid undersleeve area), work up to the shoulder and down ONE front to the bottom front edge of the yoke to the same undersleeve distance as the back, cut the yarn and reattach at the work down the other front to the corresponding row on the other side. 

This is so far all in DC, and will look like my above sketch where it is folded--except the center front is open, and the underarms are not yet connected at the bottom, but you can see where that spot will be.

Now, you will be working around the body, from center front 1, across back, to center front 2, then turn and repeat in the other direction using the knot stitch.  I don't know why it specifically says to join the front to the back first before starting the knot stitch - maybe they thought 'spot welding' the underarm area there would give it more stability than just connecting it via a knot stitch row...maybe because the knot stitch is less substantial than DC?  I think if I were making this I'd just turn after the last front row and add a joining row of DC from front to back to other front and then start the not stitch from that point to the length I wanted.

 

[Knp03]

16 hours ago, Granny Square said:

Scratch what I wrote above, and I just realized you did post more than what I was focusing on (the blue rows), sorry I missed all that (but the sketch above isn't totally useless, read on).

You start with the back yoke a bit below the armpit (mid undersleeve area), work up to the shoulder and down ONE front to the bottom front edge of the yoke to the same undersleeve distance as the back, cut the yarn and reattach at the work down the other front to the corresponding row on the other side. 

This is so far all in DC, and will look like my above sketch where it is folded--except the center front is open, and the underarms are not yet connected at the bottom, but you can see where that spot will be.

Now, you will be working around the body, from center front 1, across back, to center front 2, then turn and repeat in the other direction using the knot stitch.  I don't know why it specifically says to join the front to the back first before starting the knot stitch - maybe they thought 'spot welding' the underarm area there would give it more stability than just connecting it via a knot stitch row...maybe because the knot stitch is less substantial than DC?  I think if I were making this I'd just turn after the last front row and add a joining row of DC from front to back to other front and then start the not stitch from that point to the length I wanted.

 

Okay! That makes so much more sense, thank you!

Previously you mentioned that you’ve had experience in working with older patterns. I’m curious to see if you could answer one later question regarding the sizing of these patterns.

I’ve followed what you said so far, but I noticed that the arm holes are no larger than 5 inches wide! That’s when I realized that the number of rows that the pattern instructed me to do were likely for the original size, not for people like me who decided to make it larger. At the beginning of the pattern, it says to add 6 chains for each size larger that you’d like to make. I did this. As I followed the pattern, finished crocheting the yoke, and attached the yoke to create the arm holes, I realized that the pattern didn’t mention how I should go about increasing the rows to make the arm holes larger. I hope my description hasn’t lost you, haha. So I was wondering, have you had any experience with sizing up vintage patterns? And if so, when you do size up, how do you go about calculating the number of rows to add as well?

Thank you so much for all of your amazing help!

[Granny Square]

US size definition has changed over time for 'vanity' reasons.  They have changed at least once since I've been sewing clothes and crocheting, and 1940 vintage patterns I've seen, if they give a measurement, were in the neighborhood of a 32 to 34 bust.  My size is in the current 'medium' range but would probably have been extra-extra large in 1940.

So, looking at the bottom part of my diagram above, where it is folded to make armholes, there are 2 sides to the armhole (shoulder to armpit), front and back - are you saying the front side of the armhole is 5", and the back side is 5"?--that would accommodate a 10" upper arm circumference, which is kinda small. 

Do you have a cardigan or blouse with an armhole that you'd want for your bed coat to be?  Lay it out on the bed and measure 1 side of the arm seam, shoulder to armpit.  Let's say that measurement is 10", so that would accommodate 20" of your arm and 'extra room'  (that's the measurement I got on a couple of my medium sized cardigan sleeves)

To lengthen the size of the arm opening of the bodice, very fortunately this pattern construction luckily would be easy to tweak -- add more yoke rows front and back until front and back are both are (example) 10" to give a 20" opening (or whatever you think a comfortable armhole and sleeve roominess  would be for you)  

The sleeve is made by attaching the yarn to the sleeve opening and stitching evenly around the opening, working in rounds heading toward the end of the sleeve.  I would start it at the armpit, if you have to fudge stitch spacing very end, the armpit is a good place to hide a fudge.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Granny Square