Knitting from an 1840s knitting book: An open stitch purse with beads.

Not long ago, I stumbled across an 1846 edition of My Knitting Book by Miss Lambert. Since then, I've embarked on an adventure - to knit different items from this book. This is my second finished piece, and by far one of the most ornate, beautiful and possibly pointless things I've made to date. 

I chose to make an Open Stitch Purse with Beads, a fun little pattern that seemed rather simple at first glance. The pattern has a simple 4-row repeat with nothing more than simple yarnovers and k2togs. What makes this project difficult are two things. Firstly: the beads. It requires prestringing hundreds, possibly thousands of seed beads. Beads which are easily spilled and lost down the sofa. Secondly: the finishing instructions for such a pattern were likely common knowledge at the time, and are conveniently left out of the pattern. Any finishing details were guesswork on my part, using pictures online, historical websites and (don't judge) AI to help me. For such a niche subject with little information out there, AI was surprisingly informed and helpful when providing historical context for this pattern. 

Each end of the purse is decorated differently. This is so you could tell which end contained gold or silver coins, by both look and by feel of the tassels.

Needles

The original pattern calls for size 20 needles. According to my vintage Archers Bell needle gauge, the modern equivalent would be around 1mm needles. These aren't widely available, so I chose instead to use 2mm lace needles with nice sharp points.

It's worth noting that whilst the Archers Bell gauge looks very similar to the Filière gauge tool in My Knitting Book, I don't have any true way to know if it uses the same or different sizings. I'll be using the gauge tool as a rough guide, but also considering the yarn weight and what seems most logical. 

Yarn choice

The pattern calls for second-size purse twist. Based on my research, this was a tightly twisted 3-ply silk thread—specially spun to withstand the heavy wear-and-tear that a coin purse would endure. Finding a modern alternative was difficult, and AI was very good at suggesting an appropriate modern equivalent. I chose Daruma Silk Crochet Thread #30, a Japanese yarn that has unfortunately been discontinued. For one purse, I bought a 20g ball (148m)and still had thread to spare at the end. 

Other suitable options are standard mercerised cotton crochet thread, or any silk threads with a tight twist. 

I bought 2 shades of silk crochet thread - red and green. I intend to use the green thread for another purse in the future. 

Beads and rings

I chose 11/0 seed beads for this project. To thread them, I bought special beading needles which made the stringing process much easier. I picked Gütermann beads in the colour garnet for the body, but later found out they'd also been discontinued - just my luck! I had to use the same beads in the shade amethyst for the tassels, as I couldn't source any more of the garnet ones. I bought 2 X 12g tubes for this project, and I had a small quantity leftover of each colour by the end. 

For the rings, I searched for some cheap decorative rings online. These were just women's fashion rings. I bought several styles to see what would suit best, and opted for ones with ruby red stones. The rings were sizes 5-7. 

 

Pattern

I have realised that the pattern in my 1846 edition of My Knitting Book is slightly different from the pattern in earlier copies of the book. I have attached a photo of what is in my book - it's a very simple 4-row repeat. 

Before starting the pattern, I pre-strung beads onto my silk thread. I used a whole 12g tube, although there were some leftover by the end. As this pattern is likely to be a Miser's purse, the fabric is knit until it is between 8-16" in length. I chose to knit my fabric until 10", after which point I cast off. 

To turn my lace rectangle into a purse, I firstly seamed along the side, leaving a 2" slit in the middle for the coins. After this, I added the rings before seaming each end. One end was seamed flat into square shape, and the other end was gathered. I did turn the purse inside out to seam it, and weaved my ends in as best as I could. 

To make the bead tassels, I pre-strung a smaller quantity of beads onto my thread and then sewed them along the edge, creating a nice loop. I created bigger loops on the flat, square end of the purse and narrower tassels of beads on the gathered end. This was the most fiddly part of making the purse, but also the most satisfying as it's a very elegant finish. 

Final thoughts 

This pattern required a lot of research (and bead threading), but it was absolutely worth it in the end. I'd recommend choosing a pretty ring to decorate it, as I feel like the choice of ring and bead greatly impacts the overall look and elegance of the purse. It's also worth researching if there are any suitable silk yarn/thread alternatives to my discontinued Daruma. The silk yarn gives it a lovely drape and shine. Embroidery or sewing thread might be a suitable alternative - I think Gütermann has a silk thread that could work, but I can't know for sure. You'd also need to check the meterage. Lucky for me, I stocked up on several balls of Daruma after learning it had been discontinued. There are several more purse patterns to make in the book, so I'll likely be making more Miser's purses in the future. 

Knitting from an 1840s knitting book: A Cephaline / Sontag

A few weeks ago, I found a knitting book dated from 1846. The 180-year-old book is called My Knitting Book by Miss Lambert (first series), and contains 80 patterns for a range of accessories, stitch patterns and quilts. As a lover of old knitting patterns, I quickly decided to try making some of the things in this book. This pattern, the Cephaline or Sontag, was the first one that I attempted. Confusingly, a sontag is a historical garment, but it's a shawl or wrap that gained popularity in the 1860s. The bonnet that I made bears the same name, but I believe this predates the wrap by about 20 years. This pattern sits right underneath An Opera Cap, and uses the same border, making it possible that this was an elegant evening wear. As mentioned in The Art of Dressing Well (1870), "if a bonnet is worn, it must be of the lightest, airiest fabric and construction". Alas, I am no historian, so please do correct me if I am wrong.

So, how did the knitting go? Here are my notes about making the Cephaline / Sontag.

Needles

The original pattern calls for size 15 needles. According to my vintage Archers Bell needle gauge, the modern equivalent would be around 2.75mm needles. I used exactly that, and it seemed to be the perfect size for both the yarn and the project. 

It's worth noting that whilst the Archers Bell gauge looks very similar to the Filière gauge tool in My Knitting Book, I don't have any true way to know if it uses the same or different sizings. I'll be using the gauge tool as a rough guide, but also considering the yarn weight and what seems most logical. 

Yarn choice

The pattern specifies German wool in white and up to 5 other colours. I decided that 4-ply or fingering-weight yarn would likely be the most appropriate, especially given the needle size. I chose Jamieson & Smith's 2-ply Jumper Weight for my project as I thought that a rustic yarn like that would be era-appropriate. I followed the pattern, using white yarn (shade 1) as a border, then alternated white stripes with 2 shades of green (141 & 65). The yarn was nice to work with, and the colour combination was subtle but elegant. Overall, I used less than a ball of each colour. 

Pattern

The pattern starts by asking you to follow the border instructions on the previous pattern, An Opera Cap. The border is later sewn down - I did consider folding the edge and knitting it together, but I decided to follow the pattern and sew it at the end, which was simple enough to do. 

The stitch pattern was easy to follow, although the decreases needed to be thought out. Given the number of rows (44) and the number of stitches to decrease (30), I calculated that a decrease should be worked at the start of every 2 in 3 rows. I charted this out on Stitchfiddle alongside the stripe colour I needed, and whether it was a knit/purl row. I worked the decrease into the pattern, knitting the first 2 stitches together and then continuing as per the normal instructions. The decreases themselves were easy enough to make, but I did accidentally add some stitches. I yarned over towards the end of the previous row without offsetting it with a k2tog, which ultimately resulted in too few decreases followed by some serious frogging. 

The main pattern repeat asked you to YO, k2tog and then k1. To make sure the stitch pattern lined up in the same place each row, I made sure that my K1 stitch (or P1 on the wrong side) was made in the YO stitch from the previous row. This resulted in neatly stacked columns of stitches with more lacey, open eyelets either side. I also alternated colour every 2 rows. I wonder if the pattern would look different if you placed your k1 in a different place

At the end of the pattern, it asks you to repeat the border. I chose to knit this in reverse as this seemed the most logical. To finish, I sewed the border and added a satin ribbon in the shade hunter. This was harder to sew on - I folded over the end and then sewed the ribbon to prevent fraying, and then sealed the other end of the ribbon with a lighter. 

Final thoughts

The sontag/cephaline pattern was easy and very quick to make. I will admit that the decreases are harder than you might think - not in their making, but rather in the keeping track of when to incude them. The lace stitch is very pretty and also looks nice both ways, making the bonnet easily reversible. It might not be the most practical garment for the 21st century (I was very shy taking photos in it outside), but it's a lovely piece that is great for historical dress. I'd love to see what it'd look like in the traditional 5 colours.