Skirt with Crochet and Rickrack Insertion
Identifier
2025.027
Title
Skirt with Crochet and Rickrack Insertion
Creator
Unknown
Date
Estimated as early as 1910s
Format
Waist circumference: 25 1/2 inches
Waist to hem: 39 1/2 inches
Ruffle width: 3 1/2 inches
Hem circumference above ruffle: 67 inches
Crochet inserts: 2 1/2 inches wide each, going all the way around the skirt
Waist to hem: 39 1/2 inches
Ruffle width: 3 1/2 inches
Hem circumference above ruffle: 67 inches
Crochet inserts: 2 1/2 inches wide each, going all the way around the skirt
Description
This skirt featured hand- and machine-sewing, two courses of rickrack with crochet insertions, and a hand-embroidered eyelet ruffle. The rickrack was 1/4 inches wide. The cotton crochet thread was a little thinner than size 30, and significantly thicker than size 75.
The crocheter stitched into sixteen points of the rickrack. Decreasing the number of stitches in the next two to three rows of crochet pulled the rickrack into a raindrop shape.
If you thought of the first drop falling down, now imagine the crocheter stitching the drop together at its narrow top, and moving around to the next group of sixteen rickrack points to crochet an upside-down raindrop. Shaped in this way by the crochet stitches, the rickrack formed a curve similar to ribbon candy.
The crocheter repeated these steps many times to make enough trim to go around the skirt twice. The trim was hand-sewn to the skirt fabric, through the rickrack points across the long edges of the insertion. The skirt fabric did not show behind the rickrack and crochet insertion.
Judging by the skirt’s frayed waistband, its owner wore it frequently. See the public side and underside of the eyelet ruffle in the third and fourth photos.
My friend Hazel picked up the skirt in 2023 from the giveaway table at a meeting of the Town ‘n’ Country Quilt Guild in Stephenville, Texas. Hazel told me, “When I saw this crochet trim, I thought you could really -do- something with it!”
When I uploaded the skirt to CKC’s Community Collection in 2025, I did not have any specific plans for using the rickrack and crochet trim. Whenever I ran across the skirt from time to time in my collection, I was reminded how kind and generous fellow needlecrafters can be.
In 2025, antiquepatternlibrary.org had patterns for crochet and rickrack projects in several publications, including the following:
The Home Art Crochet Book, by Flora Klickmann, Frederick A. Stokes Company, Publishers. I couldn’t find the publication date, but books.google.com lists 1913 as the publication date for the eighth impression of the book (unfortunately there was no scan of the book to confirm that).
https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/6-JA031KlickmannCro.pdf
Note: Klickmann referred to rickrack as Vandyke braid. A search for “vandyke” in the Antique Pattern Library brought up projects and trims with zigzag edges.
Nufashond Rick Rack Book, Volume 1, The Narrow Fabric Co., Reading, PA, 1916.
https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/K-HW001.pdf
Nufashond Rick Rack Book, Volume 3, The Narrow Fabric Co., Reading, PA, 1917.
https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/K-HW002.pdf
The crocheter stitched into sixteen points of the rickrack. Decreasing the number of stitches in the next two to three rows of crochet pulled the rickrack into a raindrop shape.
If you thought of the first drop falling down, now imagine the crocheter stitching the drop together at its narrow top, and moving around to the next group of sixteen rickrack points to crochet an upside-down raindrop. Shaped in this way by the crochet stitches, the rickrack formed a curve similar to ribbon candy.
The crocheter repeated these steps many times to make enough trim to go around the skirt twice. The trim was hand-sewn to the skirt fabric, through the rickrack points across the long edges of the insertion. The skirt fabric did not show behind the rickrack and crochet insertion.
Judging by the skirt’s frayed waistband, its owner wore it frequently. See the public side and underside of the eyelet ruffle in the third and fourth photos.
My friend Hazel picked up the skirt in 2023 from the giveaway table at a meeting of the Town ‘n’ Country Quilt Guild in Stephenville, Texas. Hazel told me, “When I saw this crochet trim, I thought you could really -do- something with it!”
When I uploaded the skirt to CKC’s Community Collection in 2025, I did not have any specific plans for using the rickrack and crochet trim. Whenever I ran across the skirt from time to time in my collection, I was reminded how kind and generous fellow needlecrafters can be.
In 2025, antiquepatternlibrary.org had patterns for crochet and rickrack projects in several publications, including the following:
The Home Art Crochet Book, by Flora Klickmann, Frederick A. Stokes Company, Publishers. I couldn’t find the publication date, but books.google.com lists 1913 as the publication date for the eighth impression of the book (unfortunately there was no scan of the book to confirm that).
https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/6-JA031KlickmannCro.pdf
Note: Klickmann referred to rickrack as Vandyke braid. A search for “vandyke” in the Antique Pattern Library brought up projects and trims with zigzag edges.
Nufashond Rick Rack Book, Volume 1, The Narrow Fabric Co., Reading, PA, 1916.
https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/K-HW001.pdf
Nufashond Rick Rack Book, Volume 3, The Narrow Fabric Co., Reading, PA, 1917.
https://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/pub/PDF/K-HW002.pdf
Provenance
Suzann Thompson
Collection
Citation
suzannthompson, “Skirt with Crochet and Rickrack Insertion,” Center for Knit and Crochet Digital Repository, accessed July 16, 2026, https://digital.centerforknitandcrochet.org/items/show/41038.
Added by suzannthompson
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