Do you enjoy vintage crochet patterns? I love going through the old magazines and seeing all the many uses of crochet hooks and working with yarn, thread, and rags, yes that is right; they even used rags to make rag rugs. I still remember the rag man coming to our house to buy old clothing by the pound. He carried a scale with him and paid by the pound.

It seems they took more time back than to personalize their homes. Not that we don’t put our own personal touches in our homes today, but how many times do you find a crochet hot pad in today’s kitchen? A finely crocheted tablecloth on the dinning room table or chair arm and head covers crocheted from a beautiful filet crochet pattern? The doilies were always a thing of art and a fine touch for the homemaker.

There were crocheted curtains, potholders, shelf edgings, place pats and table runners. Beautiful bedspreads were my favorite. This is not to mention any of the clothing the women of days gone by made for their families.

Ok I admit some of the touches of the 1970s were a bit wild and I am very glad those years and patterns are long gone. No I never had a desire for a crocheted toilet tank covered to match my orange and green toilet paper cover. I am not sure where those pattern ideas came from, but I can guess.

But lets move back into the 1930s, 1940s and the 1950s. I think these were the times when a home was a warm safe haven to be decorated and cared for with love and pride. There was more time to create and it was common for a woman to know how to knit and crochet. Now don’t misunderstand me, I don’t think today’s woman is any less of a homemaker than back than. But the women had more time to put themselves into the creating of the home environment and the many personal comforts and special touches.

I would like to have this section for free vintage crochet patterns. There is so much history and beauty in the crochet past to find and share. We don’t want the patterns to disappear with age and be forgotten. Some of the old patterns will be a bit confusing because of the abbreviations they use. So hopefully this list will help a little in those cases.


ac....across
bgr....beginning of rnd
Bl.......Block
bt....between
Ch.....Chain
chlp...chain loop
D tr.....Double Treble
Dc..... Double Crochet
Dec....Decrease
dec....decrease
Dtr.....Double Treble
h d tr....half double treble
H dc....Half Double Crochet
h tr....half treble crochet
Hdc....Half Double Crochet
hdtr....half double treble
Inc......Increase
inc....increase
Incl.....Inclusive
indl....inclusive
kcl...knot chain loop
ltr....long treble
O.....Thread or Yarn Over
o.m......open mesh
P.....Picot
pa....pineapple
pc popcorn stitch
pc....popcorn st
pcl....picot chain loop
prr.....previous rnd
pt....point
r....ring
rf....repeat from
Rnd.....Round
s st.....Single Stitch (sc)
s.m.....solid mesh
Sc .....Single Crochet
scp....scallop
sec....section
Sh....shell
sk....skip
Sl st.....Slip St
slp....small loop
Sp.....Space
St(s)...Stitches
Sts....Stitches
Tog.....Together
Tr tr....Triple Treble
Tr.....Treble
x st....treble cross stitch
Yo.....Thread or Yarn Over