(Back when this pattern was named,
“gay” was still commonly understood to mean “merry”
& had no sexual overtones)
This mantilla fascinated me for *years*
(yes, I love calling it a “fascinator”!)
before I finally broke down & bought the pattern.
I got stuck with the very beginning & with the edges.
I looked for photos of the finished product that could help me figure it out.
I found none.
Not one!
Perhaps I’m not the only crocheter to get stuck on this one?
So I messed with it until I got it to work.
I adapted the decorations to my liking
(the flowers & cross are not a lock-step of what the pattern does).
And I determined that I’d finish it & post lots of pictures online
so other people could get it to work!
Here are my annotated photos.
I used size 30 crochet thread & a number 11 steel hook.
These are a little like “connect the dots” by number. The sequence isn’t entirely as expected.
From there, the pattern is tedious to work,
because you’re going into individual stitches all the time,
but it’s not difficult.
I did notice, partway through, that my dtc at the ends of rows
ended up shortening the “diamond” they finished,
whereas the ch 14 with which rows started did not (see photo).
I made a point of making my dtc looser & longer after that,
which helped,
but since the edging is the same all the way around, the short dtc makes the edging crowded.
I might add an extra wrap around the hook on those stitches if I make this again–
& just make it as long as I want it (which might mean fewer rows).
Then the trim didn’t work.
The pattern said “Repeat from*”, but there was no “*”.
And when I repeated from the most logical spot,
what I got didn’t look like the picture (wrong number of stitches).
So I messed with it again.
And I looked online again…and found a free scan of the original pattern!
A big THANK YOU to Kathryn Roloff, for donating the pattern,
to Yvonne DeBandi, for editing it
and to The Antique Pattern Library for posting it!!!
Perusing the relevant part of the scan revealed that a line had been omitted
when the version I purchased had been typed in (it’s not a scan).
That line includes the missing asterisk
and the instructions for most of the trim (*whew*).
I never did figure out the gathering.
How much of the center front should be gathered?
How much gather should there be (the picture doesn’t look gathered to me).
What’s the purpose of the gathering?
Is the 12″ from the end in the back measured straight up from the point,
or is it measured along the edge?
If you have any input, please share it in the comments!
My best guess is that the “gathering” is more like “stay stitching”,
so the crochet doesn’t stretch at those points.
I ended up “easing” from just past each of the outer three flowers at the center front
(top of the head)
& leaving the rest as is.
I wasn’t fond of the flower that came with this pattern,
so I just made one to photograph
& designed my own. I stopped at 20 flowers (the pattern calls for 41!)
My flower:
R1: ch 5, make 4 (dc, ch1) in first ch. Join with sl st to back loop of 4th ch of initial ch 5.
R2: ch 6, in same back loop as joining, *make 2 (trtrc–4 wraps around hook–ch 1), 3 (5 wraps around hook, ch 1), trtrc, ch 1, trtrc, ch6, sl st. Sl st into back loop of next dc on previous row (skip the ch 1 in between), ch 6. Rpt from * until there are 5 petals.
Center: attach center color thread (or keep going with the main color) to the front loop of any dc in the first round.
Ch3, sl st in same loop. Sl st into next available front loop & ch 3, sl st in same loop. Work around the outside of the center this way & then into the middle (I usually end up with about 5 little yellow “bobbles” around the edge & one in the middle).
The flowers are sewn on roughly in the center of each petal all the way around, to give them some dimension without letting them crumple.
I added the cross (inspired by this one from Maggie’s Crochet),
since this will be worn for Mass.
If anyone’s interested, I can try to turn my scribbles
into something recognizable as a pattern for my version of the cross :).
Please let me know if I can help in any way
to make this pattern crochet-able for you!
A Beauty-Hungry Soul at Play 