The vintage doilies shown on this page are the first four of a set of ten vintage crochet patterns contained in the BEETON'S BOOK OF NEEDLEWORK, written by Isabella Beeton and first published in 1870.
The invention of the doily is credited to Mr. D'Oyley, a successful 17th century milliner. Mr. Doyle created and sold small fringed pieces of cloth to place under finger bowls, thus protecting the table from water marks.
Doilies are still used today to protect the surfaces of furniture from scratches or stains, but they also offer a feminine style element to any room from the boudoir to the basement.
The Beeton Book of Needlework uses the word "D'Oyley" in all its crocheted doily patterns, but regardless of how you spell the name, the intricate designs in these doilies are clearly heirlooms in the making.
If you look at the doilies shown here, you'll see many of the design elements are repeated, but in such a way that each doily remains, like a snowflake, a uniquely beautiful creation.
If you'd like to try a vintage crochet pattern, these ten doilies offer an interesting variety of stitches and design combinations.
Used reprints of the original Beeton's Book of Needlework are usually available through Amazon. You can also view or download the entire book for free from Project Gutenberg, but the download is huge, especially for those on dialup.
The Antique Pattern Library, dedicated to free access to vintage patterns, has made copies of the book available in three separate PDF files, thus dividing the downloads into more manageable chunks. I have copied and uploaded the second of these, so that readers can now access Beeton's Crochet Patterns, including illustrated crochet instructions, all ten of the doily patterns, and a variety of other Victorian crochet projects, directly from All Free Crafts. This is still a sizeable PDF ebook of 7449kb.
Please remember that these patterns are provided under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. You can copy, give away or re-use the patterns, but they are not to be offered for sale or profit.
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Used reprints of the original 
are usually available through Amazon. You can also view or download the entire book for free from 
