Tapestry Crochet - Here's What We've Discovered About It

We have several tapestry crochet patterns for sale in our Etsy store. Periodically we get questions about the tapestry crochet and the yarns that the patterns used. The patterns are from the early 1900s - around 1913. The yarns are no longer available, which isn't that surprising. Finding a substitute can be a pain. I know I want to see what the old (vintage) yarns looked like so I know what to look for when I am out and about shopping for the latest project.

So, here's what we have discovered about Tapestry Crochet & the yarns from the Fleisher's booklet.

Fleisher’s Germantown Zephyr was likely a worsted/light worsted weight, 100% wool yarn. The yarn was sold in 1 oz, balls. Compared with similar yarns made by the parent company the balls were likely about 100 yards per skein. If you are looking for easy care, an acrylic yarn would be the way to go. Many of the acrylic yarns are virtually indestructible and machine wash & dry. If you are looking to stay true to the pattern, then 100% wool is the way to go. It would be warm; but more of a hand wash item so it wouldn’t felt after all of your hard work. 

I’ve tried and really like the Loops & Threads Impeccable worsted acrylic yarn found at Michael's. It has a lot of body and softens up after washing. Lion Brand makes Wool Ease an acrylic & wool blend yarn. Plymouth Yarns makes a really nice acrylic/wool blend yarn with their Encore Worsted. Joann's Sensations acrylic worsted weight yarn is really nice too. I’ve made a couple of hats for my kids with the yarn and really like how it works up.

We have not yet tried tapestry crochet, but it seems to make a thick, dense fabric, so the crochet hook used is often smaller than those called for on the yarn wrappers.

As for the color options, Attached is a link to a color chart for color available during the time period. As for the color options, we found this Fleisher's Color Chart from 1929 at VintageKnits.com. While the color chart is not the exact time period, it gives a great view of the colors from back then.

When we started looking for information on how-to do the tapestry crochet we found several sources of information. This video by Carol Ventura provides a close-up showing the difference between crocheting back and forth or working the afghan with the front facing you at all times - you crochet right to left, then left to right.  It seems like you can work your project either way as long as you work the correct number of rows. I'm not sure I could get my head and my hands in sync to work the afghan with the front facing me at all times. It does look really cool though.

One of the problems we run into with vintage patterns, especially the really early 1900's patterns is that they rarely provided finished measurements. Once you have a swatch that you like the looks of, you will be able to calculate the stitches per inch and figure out the final measurements of your afghan. I don't have a link for doing this. I'm a lazy crafter and generally go with what the number of stitches the pattern tells me to use.The pattern doesn't provide for fringe, but it is super easy to add. Verypink.com has a bunch of tutorials - she's one of my favorites sources of information for knitting and crochet. Her fringe tut is located here.

Happy crocheting!