DIY Victorian Lace Parasols

Parasols come from when pretty meant pale.

Victorian parasols were meant to protect a woman's skin from the Sun. The lace routinely covered and edged a solid fabric covering. In the 21st Century, combine lacy crochet panels with fabric rated for ultraviolet-ray protection and make the work more manageable. A late pattern, from 1917, called for size 30 thread — finer than modern sewing thread — but crossed the larger expanses of the parasol cover with long chains of thread.

Things You'll Need

• 3 yards sunscreen fabric
• Scissors
• Umbrella frame with rib tips
• Threaded sewing machine
• 600 yards size 5 crochet cotton
• Size D (3.25 mm) crochet hook

Instructions

1. Cut a 5-inch-wide band along each selvage edge of the fabric. From these bands, cut wedged pieces to fit the sections of the umbrella frame plus a 1/2-inch seam allowance on each side. Cut out fabric wedges on the cross grain of the fabric and also with a 1/2-inch seam allowances to reach from the top of the umbrella to 5 1/2 inches from the ends of the ribs.

2. Sew the wedges, wrong sides together, using a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Trim each seam, turn it right sides together, and stitch it again at another 1/4-inch seam. Clip the corners of these French seams.

3. Turn 1/4 inch of fabric twice to the wrong side along each cut edge, but not along the selvages. Top-stitch the hems on the sewing machine.

4. Attach crochet cotton just inside the hem alongside any of the seams on the top edge of the narrower fabric assembly by poking the hook through from the right side and drawing up a loop of thread. Knot the thread on the inside. Catch the thread through the loop on the hook and work five chain stitches. Slip the hook out and use it to reach from the inside of the upper part of the umbrella at a point corresponding to where you started on the lower part and pull that loop through to the inside.

5. Catch the working end of the thread from the outside and work five chain stitches. Turn back to the lower band and attach this chain 1 inch away from the start of the first chain. Chain five and attach to the upper section 2 inches from the last stitch on that edge. Continue around, connecting the sections, to within 2 inches of the seam on the lower band. Chain five and attach near the seam on the upper section. Break off and knot the thread. Repeat these two steps on each additional panel of the parasol.

6. Attach the crochet cotton in the selvage edge at one of the seams. Chain 9 and attach the chain to a point 2 inches along the edge. Repeat around the parasol, attaching at each seam.

7. Chain three. Double crochet into the picot formed by the first-round chain. Chain 2 and double crochet, chain three and work three double crochet in the tip of the picot. Work the chain-2, double-crochet pattern twice more in that picot. Chain one and single crochet once in the last chain of that picot and once in the first chain of the next picot. Continue around, working the picots in the same pattern of chain-2, double-crochet mesh on the sides and three double crochet in the tips.

8. Fit the completed canopy to the umbrella frame. Check that each seam reaches the end of a rib. Attach the rib tips to the fabric seams as they were attached to the original canopy. Fit a small ruffle of fabric, or one crocheted on a chain-stitch ring, to cover the rough center of the canopy and secure the ferrule at the top of the umbrella. Stretch the rib tips onto the ends of the ribs.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are using an old umbrella frame, try to salvage a section of the old covering to use as a pattern for the new one. Trace these simple crochet patterns with vintage edgings, including filet-crochet designs worked from charts on even mesh.

References

• "Threads" Magazine; How to Recover an Umbrella; Sandra Ericson
• Royal Society Crochet Lessons No. 9

Resources

• Craft Yarn Council Learning Center: Learn Single Crochet