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Vintage pattern · Priscilla · 1915

Star Plate Doily

Free vintage crochet plate doily: a 15-petal star, a solid ring and six rounds of loop netting

Star Plate Doily — original 1915 photograph of the crochet plate doily
Original photograph, The Priscilla Crochet Book — Centrepieces and Doilies (1915), Fig. 42, pp. 21-22.
Finished size
not given in the 1915 text
Hook
US Steel #9 or #10 (1.15–1.40 mm)
Thread
Size 50 crochet cotton (quantity not given in the 1915 text)
Level
intermediate (estimate)
Rounds
20
From
The Priscilla Crochet Book — Centrepieces and Doilies (1915)

✓ Stitch counts checked row by row — all 20 rounds were replayed by our stitch simulator and every count below comes from it. This pattern has not been crochet-tested: tension and final size are up to your hands.

Materials

Original (1915): No. 50 crochet cotton and No. 9 or 10 crochet needle.

Modern hook: US Steel #9 or #10 (1.15–1.40 mm, Craft Yarn Council range).

Notes

  • Worked in joined rounds. The center is a star of 15 solid petals, then a solid ring of 240 dc and 6 rounds of ch-12 netting.
  • Ch 3 at the beginning of a round counts as a dc.
  • Round 7 is the only round left unjoined: round 8 starts in its last dc.
  • US terms. The 1915 text used d = sc, t = dc.

Doily

Rnd 1 to Rnd 20 — tick each round as you go.

  1. Ch 8, sl st in first ch to form a ring. Ch 3 (counts as dc here and throughout), 14 dc in ring; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3. 15 dc
  2. Ch 5 (counts as dc and ch 2), *dc in next dc, ch 2; rep from * around; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beginning ch-5. 15 dc, 15 ch-2 sps
  3. Ch 6 (counts as dc and ch 3), *skip next ch-2 sp, dc in next dc, ch 3; rep from * around; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beginning ch-6. 15 dc, 15 ch-3 sps
  4. Ch 1, sc in same st as join, sc in each ch and in each dc around; join with sl st in first sc (60 sc, as the 1915 text says). 60 sc
  5. *Ch 5, skip next 3 sc, sc in next sc; rep from * around, 15 times in all: the last sc goes into the sc at the base of the first ch-5 (15 ch-5 loops). 15 sc, 15 ch-5 loops
  6. Sl st in next ch-5 loop, ch 3, 4 dc in same loop, ch 3, *5 dc in next ch-5 loop, ch 3; rep from * around; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3 (15 groups of 5 dc). 75 dc, 15 ch-3 sps
  7. Ch 3, dc in each of next 4 dc, dc in next ch-3 sp, ch 3, *dc in same ch-3 sp, dc in each of next 5 dc, dc in next ch-3 sp, ch 3; rep from * 13 more times, dc in same ch-3 sp as the last dc: this completes the first group (15 groups of 7 dc). Do not join. 105 dc, 15 ch-3 sps
  8. Ch 3, dc in the last dc made (at the base of the ch-3), dc in each of next 6 dc, 2 dc in next ch-3 sp, *dc in each of next 7 dc, 2 dc in next ch-3 sp; rep from * 12 more times, dc in each of next 7 dc, dc in last ch-3 sp; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3 (135 dc: 15 groups of 9 dc with no ch between). 135 dc
  9. Ch 3, dc in each of next 8 dc, ch 3, *dc in each of next 9 dc, ch 3; rep from * around; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3. 135 dc, 15 ch-3 sps
  10. Sl st in next dc, ch 3, dc in each of next 6 dc, ch 5, skip next dc, next ch-3 sp and next dc, *dc in each of next 7 dc, ch 5, skip next dc, next ch-3 sp and next dc; rep from * around; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3. 105 dc, 15 ch-5 loops
  11. Sl st in next dc, ch 3, dc in each of next 4 dc, skip next dc, ch 4, dc in 3rd ch of next ch-5, ch 4, *skip next dc, dc in each of next 5 dc, skip next dc, ch 4, dc in 3rd ch of next ch-5, ch 4; rep from * around; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3. 90 dc, 30 ch-4 loops
  12. Sl st in next dc, ch 3, dc in each of next 2 dc, skip next dc, ch 5, skip next 3 ch, dc in last ch of the ch-4, dc in next dc, dc in first ch of next ch-4, ch 5, *skip last 3 ch of that ch-4 and next dc, dc in each of next 3 dc, skip next dc, ch 5, skip next 3 ch, dc in last ch of the ch-4, dc in next dc, dc in first ch of next ch-4, ch 5; rep from * around; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3. 90 dc, 30 ch-5 loops
  13. Sl st in next dc, ch 8 (counts as dc and ch 5), skip next dc and next 4 ch, dc in last ch of the ch-5, dc in each of next 3 dc, dc in first ch of next ch-5, ch 5, *skip last 4 ch of that ch-5 and next dc, dc in next dc, ch 5, skip next dc and next 4 ch, dc in last ch of the ch-5, dc in each of next 3 dc, dc in first ch of next ch-5, ch 5; rep from * around; join with sl st in 3rd ch of beginning ch-8. 90 dc, 30 ch-5 loops
  14. Ch 3, dc in each ch and in each dc around; join with sl st in top of beginning ch-3 (240 dc, as the 1915 text says). 240 dc
  15. *Ch 12, skip next 4 dc, sc in next dc; rep from * around, 48 times in all: the last sc goes into the dc at the base of the first ch-12 (48 ch-12 loops). 48 sc, 48 ch-12 loops
  16. Sl st in each of next 6 ch (to the middle of the next ch-12 loop), *ch 12, sc in next ch-12 loop; rep from * around, 48 times in all: the last sc goes into the loop that holds the sl sts. 48 sc, 48 ch-12 loops
  17. Sl st in each of next 6 ch (to the middle of the next ch-12 loop), *ch 12, sc in next ch-12 loop; rep from * around, 48 times in all: the last sc goes into the loop that holds the sl sts. 48 sc, 48 ch-12 loops
  18. Sl st in each of next 6 ch (to the middle of the next ch-12 loop), *ch 12, sc in next ch-12 loop; rep from * around, 48 times in all: the last sc goes into the loop that holds the sl sts. 48 sc, 48 ch-12 loops
  19. Sl st in each of next 6 ch (to the middle of the next ch-12 loop), *ch 12, sc in next ch-12 loop; rep from * around, 48 times in all: the last sc goes into the loop that holds the sl sts. 48 sc, 48 ch-12 loops
  20. Sl st in each of next 6 ch (to the middle of the next ch-12 loop), *ch 12, sc in next ch-12 loop; rep from * around, 48 times in all: the last sc goes into the loop that holds the sl sts. 48 sc, 48 ch-12 loops

Finishing

Fasten off and weave in the ends. Wet the doily and pin it out round on a towel, one pin in each outer loop, and let it dry (starch if you like) — our advice, not in the 1915 text.

What we changed from the 1915 text

The original wording is kept wherever it works. These are the only changes, each one checked by the stitch simulator:

  • 2d-6th rounds — the joins are not written in the 1915 text; every round is joined in the top of its beginning chain, which is what the next « Ch 3 … » needs
  • 5th and 15th rounds — the first loop starts at the join; the last « d over next d » falls in that same st and closes the round
  • 7th-8th rounds — round 7 is not joined and round 8 starts in the last dc made: only this way does « Ch 3, 7 t over 7 t, 1 t over ch » give groups of 9 dc centered over the groups of 7, as round 9 requires
  • 10th-13th rounds — « Sl to second t » = 1 sl st; the chain then bridges the last dc of the group, so each petal loses 1 dc at each end and stays centered (9, 7, 5, 3, 1 dc)
  • 16th-20th rounds — « Sl to middle of 12 ch » written as 6 sl sts; « 17th round to 20th, inclusive — like 16th » written out round by round, each checked by the simulator
  • Rnd 15 — the 1915 photograph shows about 45 loops a round; the text (240 sts, miss 4) gives exactly 48, and we follow the text
  • finishing — « Pin out each loop » is our advice, not in the 1915 text: the 6 netting rounds keep 48 loops, so they open up as they grow and need pinning to lie round
  • all — 1915 terms → US: d = sc, t = dc

Source and copyright

The Priscilla Crochet Book — Centrepieces and Doilies, The Priscilla Publishing Company, Boston, 1915, Fig. 42, pp. 21-22. Scan: https://archive.org/details/priscillacrochet01robi. Published 1915 — public domain in the US (published before 1931).