Unlike most Irish Crochet, the separately-crocheted motifs were joined with needle and thread. Usually, Irish Crochet motifs were joined with a plain or fancy crocheted net background.

I used one collar around the v-neck of a fuchsia silk dress. In the third photo, I’m wearing the dress with the crocheted collar, about to attend the wedding of a childhood friend in the late 1980s.

The dress I wore to my own wedding featured a dropped waist that came to a point in front. I placed the group of three leaves of the collar at the dropped-waist point at the front of the dress. I hand-stitched the rest of the collar across the front and around to the back of the dress, following the seam where the bodice met the skirt. I think we could call that crocheted ornamentation “garniture.”

The crochet thread was a linen/cotton blend. I sewed both dresses.

This project was in The Irish Crochet Book No. 2, reprinted in 1981 by House of White Birches, page 25, Figure 65.

The original pattern book was titled Priscilla Irish Crochet Book No. 2, edited by Eliza Taylor, published in 1912 by the Priscilla Publishing Co., Boston, Mass. In 2025 the original was available for download from the Antique Pattern Library, https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/6-JA025PrisIrish2.pdf
]]> 26 1/4 inches around inside of collar
2 3/4 inches across Pinwheel motif
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