Time Travel Trip: Crochet is The New Fashion

What’s on our hook today or should I say pen? That’s right, we are going to go back in time to learn about the origins of one of the famous hobby of women, including myself, crochet.

Let us understand where the word ‘crochet’ came from. The word is derived from Old French crochet, a diminutive of croche, and the Germanic croc, which both mean “hook”. The 17th century French term crochetage is designated to the meaning “a stitch used to join separate pieces of lace.

And now, we delve into the past to know about the hobby that made a fashion statement.

It Was A Mystery

The traces of where and when crochet originated is unknown up until this day, but many researched about the possible origins.

The first evidence was found in 1812 .Elizabeth Grant, who wrote the journal “The Memoirs of a Highland Lady“ (1797-1830), referenced crochet as “shepherd’s knitting”, also known as slip stitch crochet in modern terms.

Also, the first crochet pattern was written by a French named Mademoiselle Riego de la Branchardiere, who was born in 1829. But, she is mostly credited for the invention of Irish crochet.

The Irish crochet was introduced in the Great Irish Famine (1845-1849), where it was used for famine relief. During the mid 1800s, Irish crochet or Irish crochet lace emulated the Venetian point laces, and by that point, teachers taught around 16,000 women about crochet by 1851.

The New Fashion Statement

Due to the news of the handicraft slowly gaining popularity, the higher class of society decided to make a much advanced form of Irish crochet, and Queen Victoria is the inventor.

Queen Victoria doing crochet

To make crochet more fashionable, Queen Victoria bought Irish crochet lace from the women in Ireland and learned the handicraft herself; and then, she made eighty crocheted scarves to give to each one of the veterans in the South Africa war! With her actions, she boosted crochet’s popularity and helped the women earn more money.

Next, the next huge milestone for crochet was in the 1920 to 1930s, because of the Edwardian period in the United Kingdom. They used crochet to design more decorative and embellished clothes. Examples of these are the cloche hat and the evening gown.

War Relief Fashion

In the 1940s, during the World War, the governments encouraged women to hand out crocheted items to aid soldiers in battle, mostly in Britain and the United States. An example of crochet used in war is the ear protector, which was used by the army back then.

Fortunately, after the war ended, crochet evolved in the 1950s and was used in more fashionable purposes, and it also became popular alongside with other fiber arts. Crochet was used in making dresses, and even wedding gowns at that time.

However, the famous hobby did not just stop there, it flourished more in the 1960s and 1970s by introducing the granny squares, which became trending. The granny square was simple and was almost made for everyone, for it could be used in most stylish clothes and accessories.

Granny Square

Now, where technology is evolving, crochet also developed throughout the years. This handicraft made with love has now appeared regularly on the runways, leading it to have a massive community interested, and give rise to blogs and tutorials.

So remember that whenever you purchase a crochet item, know that it has history and can be passed on to your future generation. It was made with lots of love, prayers and time of the artist.

Were you hooked with our trip? Feel free to your crochet ideas that you would like us to craft especially for you!