Priscilla Irish Crochet Collar Worked in Cotton

2025.009

Priscilla Irish Crochet Collar Worked in Cotton

Thompson, Suzann

Late 1980s

4 1/2 inches wide at middle back of collar
27 inches along inside edge of collar
1 7/8 to 2 inches across five-petal flowers

My life-long fascination by Irish Crochet began in the 1980s. I wanted to try making an Irish crochet project in the traditional way:
• using fine crochet cotton to crochet padded motifs,
• basting the finished motifs right-side-down onto a stiff paper pattern, and
• joining the motifs with crocheted mesh.

I chose this collar from The Irish Crochet Book No. 2, reprinted in 1981 by House of White Birches, page 44, Figure 85, Coat Collar.

The collar was for my mother, Anna Wirth Thompson. Looking back, it seems likely she already had the periwinkle silk jacket and skirt, because I must have used the jacket to make a paper pattern so the crocheted collar would fit the neckline just right.

The bumps on the crocheted netting were meant to be Clones Knots, but I did not know how to finish them correctly. Later I learned how to make a Clones Knot properly. It should look more like a picot, and less like a thick spot in the chain.

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 this original was available for download from the Antique Pattern Library, https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/6-JA025PrisIrish2.pdf

Suzann Thompson