[Obligatory disclaimer: this is a re-edit of a post from our old website from December 2023. Links have been updated, and grammar has been cleaned up for readability.]
This is my brief tale of two crocheted 19th-century purses, or what they would have called “reticules.” These little purses were called reticules because they were so ridiculously small and could barely hold anything. Considering that back when these were made, a lady did not have so much to carry with her when she left the house, they didn’t need to be that big. She only needed a purse large enough to hold a few coins and maybe a front door key.
My inspiration came from today’s video upload by Just Vintage Crochet. [They uploaded the video on 11/29/2023; I’m a little behind.} Corinna’s channel is one of my guilty pleasures, YouTube viewing, and, quite frankly, the driving force for my refocus on my historical costuming and getting back into vintage knitting and crochet. I lost most of my sewing mojo after Costume College in 2022 and found it difficult to drag myself into the”Ministry of Sewing and Time Travel” because the gentle whirl of the sewing machine motors was not especially migraine-friendly… but I digress.
Not that long ago, as part of my refocusing efforts [and a little pro-active “Swedish Death Cleaning” on my part; no, not dying, just trying to get ahead of the curve as I’m in my sixties], as vintage knits need natural fibers to get the correct feel and drape, I gifted Just Vintage Crochet with a substantial portion of my man-made fiber yarns. As she said in her video, it was an unsolicited gift to her as a thank-you for the inspiration to get back into my vintage knitting. As anyone who sews, knits, crochets, quilts, or makes historical costumes knows, one’s stash can be immense. I sent two yarn shipments to Corinna; the last one was rated and mentioned in her “Happy Mail” video. I also promised not to send her anything until after the first of the year with the last set of boxes. Again, I digress.
Returning to the original video, which was initially titled “The Actual First Crochet Pattern |⏳ 185 Years Old | Just Vintage Crochet” and is now titled “The 1st Ever Printed Crochet Pattern From 1837,” how could I ignore something touted as the first crochet pattern? I watched the video and decided it was simple enough to see if it was something I could quickly whip up and do a little research into. So, I started with the blog that provided the video’s information and patterns. The website is Little World of Whimsy, and her specialty is amigurumi. She wrote a post about “The Real History of Crochet,” where she breaks down the history of the origins of crocheting. It’s a brief and well-written read. She links the original instruction books and screen captures of the two oldest patterns. [I downloaded both sets of the instructions.] There are no examples of the finished bags on the Little World of Whimsy’s post. That’s where Just Vintage Crochet comes in, as they made the purses for their videos.
As I watched the video on the first purse, as is the case of most knitting patterns of the Victorian era, the instructions can be more than occasionally vague to the modern crafter, as a lot of assumed knowledge has been passed down from mother to daughter. This was one of my biggest complaints about researching source material for the 1960s yarn craft lecture that I gave at Costume College several years back; the other was the context within the section of the “receipts,” or to use our modern terminology, patterns.
The first purse comes from an 1837 book, The Ladies’ Knitting and Netting Book: Second Series by Miss Watts, page 51. The instructions are in French, which Little World translated into English. I tried double-checking the translation using Google Translate, which was close enough. As a bonus, a modern version was included on Little World’s website. I watched with interest as the tiny purse was fashioned according to the translated instructions, and while it ended up being useable by Victorian standards for a little bag to hang from one’s wrist at a ball, like a Tussey-mussy. However, there appear to be some instructions missing, like how many rows the finished bag should be tall or how to finish off the top opening. Knowing the history between France and England, it wouldn’t surprise me if the French creator had purposefully omitted instructions.
The second purse comes from an 1840 book titled “The Lady’s Assistant for executing useful and fancy designs in knitting, netting, and crochet work” and from Archive.org. It is a bit vague, but again, it assumes knowledge and context of the instructions for purse assembly in the book rather than a standalone pattern. Here is the link to Just Vintage Crochet’s version of the second purse. I think it came out very cute.
I must confess that this purse had me a bit perplexed, and thus, the historical costumer in me had to dig through the sourcebook for this pattern to give it some context. The first clue to what type of purse this should be is what the pattern calls it. It is called a “Long purse of open work of single tambour,” or as it is more commonly known as a “Miser’s Purse,” and it has been around since the Georgian era and used up to the turn of the 20th century. The best way to describe a Miser’s Purse to the modern audience is that it is a long skinny tube that is closed at both ends, with an opening in the center and two metal rings that act as closures. Based upon the other patterns in the book, I propose that after one has created a piece that is roughly 5-7 inches wide, you would fold it in half and slip stitch each side up 2-1/2 inches from each end towards the center, and then cinch up the ends to close them.
This concludes my introduction to my “brief” tale of two purses. My deep dive into these bags will include some speculations on my part about what they should look like, and the finished final products, which will be for sale in my shop, will follow before the month’s end.
Thanks for reading. Now go and support Just Vintage Crochet on YouTube and subscribe to her channel.
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