Doilies: A forgotten Tradition

I have never been very skillful at crocheting doilies. In fact, to date I have only managed to make one, even though I enjoy crocheting, for some reason, I have never really taken to it. My grandmother, on the other hand, was quite adept at this delicate and time-consuming art. I well remember them on the tables around her home.  She never used patterns, and only had to look at a piece to be able to recreate it. One of her masterpieces was an eight-foot crocheted tablecloth in that pattern, which I remember well at family dinners. 

No one is quite sure when and where crochet got its start, probably sometime before 1880.   The earliest reference to crocheting was in 1819, in the Swedish magazine “Konst och nyhetsmagasin for medborgare av alla klasser”. John Mercer (England) created mercerized cotton in 1844. This process made the thread stronger and allowed for a much sturdier product and of great benefit to the crochet home industry. While there differing opinions on exactly when and where it got its start, research has suggested that crochet developed from Chinese needlework, which itself developed from a very ancient form of embroidery referred to as "tambouring," from the French "tambour" or drum in Turkey, India, Persia and North Africa, which reached Europe in the 1700s. Tambour evolved into what the French called "crochet in the air” by the end of the 18th century. In the early 1800s crochet began showing up in Europe and given a helping hand by Mlle. Riego de la Branchardiere, who was adept at taking old-style needle and bobbin lace designs and turning them into crochet patterns that could easily be duplicated. Mlle. de la Branchardiere published many pattern books in order for women to easily copy her designs. She claimed to have invented the "lace-like" crochet, today known as Irish crochet.

Crocheting was an art form for the upper class who felt that the working class and poor should use it only for necessary items like socks and clothing. They were appalled at the idea of using it as artistic expression or if they used crocheting to make “fancy” items to wear or display. This did not go over well with the lower classes who felt they could use crocheting in any manner they saw fit. Perhaps the elite felt that if the servant class was spending their time crocheting, they would not be working for them as much. We certainly don’t think of crocheting today as being anything controversial. Can you imagine what would happen now if someone told us we could not use a particular craft because of our financial background?  For this reason, crochet samples are not found among the many needlework methods taught in schools of the past, perhaps the crochet was left out to limit the types of crochet patterns available to the masses.

Crochet has evolved through the years. In the 1800’s, bead crocheted bags, clothing and decor were popular and bead crochet bags were popular throughout the 50s era. Trends in beaded and threaded crochet continued into the 70s, gaining popularity within the boho and hippy culture. But still was not as popular as when first becoming known in the 1800’s. From 1980 through 1990, there was a resurgence in bead and thread crochet items.

Today bead crochet is again becoming more and more popular and more innovative with many other bead and fiber techniques being used to create a unique art form. Today vintage thread crochet samplers of the 1800’s are available for study in various museums. Piecework Magazine continues to be an excellent resource for needlework sampler history including bead and thread crochet.

The Complete Book of Crochet, written in 1946, defined crocheting as a convent art.  In Ireland it was taught by the nuns to their students who then sold their crocheted wares in order to help alleviate existing miseries during the Famine of 1846. In the mid to late 1800s, it became a skill that the well-bred young ladies were taught with the end product being the doily that became a part of the most every Victorian home. The one item that became synonymous with crocheting was the doily. In the Victorian age, they were a necessity. A young lady was thus expected to have an ample supply of doilies in her hope chest. Doilies were used most often for plating food and protecting furniture. It is believed that the name for the product was first noted In 1866, in the instructional, Something For Everybody; and a Garland For The Year and featured a small wine-glass napkin which bears the maker’s name of Doiley.

According to a Good Housekeeping magazine from 1905, doilies were used when serving hot toast, rolls or muffins, and placed beneath the food, fit just inside the rim of the plate. Dessert doilies were used where the dessert is served on the doily and then on a small plate. A 1909 article from the New York Times, mentions that a doily was placed beneath a finger bowl. It states, “For less formal use the finger bowl is set upon a doily on the dessert plate and is removed with its doily and set at one side of the plate until needed. It is bad form to pass a finger bowl without a plate and doily under it. The latter should never be omitted, though it is sometimes done ignorantly.” doilies were made to protect furniture or china but there was another use for crocheted doilies.

Another crochet item were the Tussie-Mussies. A Tussie-Mussie was a particular grouping of flowers and herbs; the stems of which were wrapped with a doily and then tied with a ribbon. Eventually the pattern for the Tussie-Mussie doily was altered to have a hole in the center with the doily acting as a base for the flowers, flaring out around the flowers in the bouquet, to create additional design element and elegance.

As you can see, the simple doily enjoyed a rich history and played an important part in our social culture for over 100 years. Although we wouldn’t use them as they were purposed. Our society certainly does not place their food on doilies any longer. If we do, they are usually of the paper variety. Doilies are perhaps an underappreciated and undervalued as an art form. Today, many of them can be purchased for a song at yard sales and vintage shops. Others probably are collecting dust in drawers and closets.  

Grandma Goldie's Doily

While use of doilies has fallen to the wayside; it would be a shame for their beauty to be forgotten. in fact, they are quite lovely framed. This may be a way to enjoy them and value what they brought to society. I have in my home only about three or four doilies. Two of them were purchased, one I crocheted myself and the other is one that my grandmother made in the same pineapple pattern as her prized tablecloth. As I don’t have many things left me by my grandmother, it does hold special significance for me. 

 Got a photo of your crochet creations? Send a photo and we will post it here.  

Resources for Historical Information
Dooner,Kate, A Century of Handbags, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd, Atglen, PA, 1993
Ettinger, Roseann, Handbags, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd, West Chester, PA, 1991
Haertig, Evelyn, More Beautiful Purse, Gallery Graphics Press, Carmel, CA, 1990
Haertig, Evelyn, Restoring and Collecting Antique Beaded Purses by, Gallery Graphics Press, Carmel, CA, 2000
Holiner, Richard, Antique Purses, A History, Identification and Value Guide, Second Edition, Collector Books, Paducah, KY, 1987
Potter, Annie Louise, A Living Mystery, The International Art & History of Crochet, 1990, A.J. Publishing International, USA, ISBN 1-879409-00-3
Paludan, Lis, Crochet, History & Technique, 1995, Interweave Press, Loveland, CO, ISBN 1-883010-09-8
Schwartz, Lynell K., Vintage Purses At Their Best, Schiffer Publishing, Ltd, Atglen, PA, 1995