Crochet French 1940s Wrap

Crochet French 1940s Wrap “La Jolie Bretonne”

Hello everyone, and welcome to my new blog post! Today we will be looking at a crochet French 1940s Wrap. This is part of my Vintage Crochet Series.

This week I wanted to bring to you this very special project I have been working on for a few weeks now. This pattern is for a French 1940’s inspired shawl, that I created and designed after seeing some of my favourite French period drama films which I love.

My Youtube video can be found by clicking on this link: Crochet 1940s Wrap Video Tutorial

The story behing the pattern

Along with the typical chic and elegance of the 1940’s fashion in France, there were of course lots of berets, bicycles and crochet shawls (three of my favourite things ever by the way!). So I just had to create a pattern which would honour the women of that time. It also had to be very similar to the ones I saw on screen and in pictures.

The 1940’s were characterized by dark and dramatic colours such as red and brown. I therefore decided to use one of my favourite yarns, Lion Brand Heartland, in shade Isle Royale. This yarn is a gorgeous colour mix of burgundy, red and brown. It is perfect to create a thick and warm garment reminiscent of those times. You can however use any yarn that you have or prefer if it’s a size 4 Aran/worsted weight yarn, so it is quite a versatile pattern.

La Jolie Bretonne Wrap, the inspiration came from Le Silence de la Mer, a beautiful film in French

I named this design La Jolie Bretonne because I love Brittany in France. The film which inspired this wrap specifically is called Le Silence de la Mer (The Silence of The Sea). It takes place in Brittany. This beautiful film is very romantic and realistic at the same time. It features lots of crochet pieces very typical of France at that time.

This design is part of my Vintage Crochet Series. Please let me know what you think of it and also if there is a specific era for which you would like me to create a pattern.

Thank you so much for watching this video, please do leave me a comment if you have any questions or anything as I always answer my comments and messages.

The Free PDF pattern to Crochet the French 1940s Wrap

You can download the free PDF pattern here: 1940 French Shawl by Selina Veronique

You can visit my Instagram and Facebook pages, and I would be delighted if you wanted to join my Facebook group called Selina Veronique’s Crochet Corner.

I hope you enjoyed this project, let me know in the comments below.

Lots of love, Selina xoxo.

The pattern:

Level: Easy/beginner

Gauge: 8 x 17 cm (3”x6,5”) = 3 rounds

Notes:

I will be using US terms (British terms in brackets)

Materials:

3 skeins of Lion Brand Hearland yarn in shade Isle Royale

6,5 mm crochet hook

Pair of scissors

Tapestry needle

Abbreviations:

Sl st : slip stitch

DC: Double crochet (UK Treble)

SC: Single crochet

St: Stitch

Ch : chain

To begin:

To start, make a slip knot. Ch 5, sl st through 1^st stitch to from a ring.

Complete rows as follows:

1: Ch 3 (=DC), 5 DC in ring, ch 2, 6 DC in same ring

2: Ch 3 (=DC), turn your work, DC into same 1^st stitch, DC into each DC until center ch 2 space, place 2 DC, ch 2, 2 DC into space, DC into every DC until eor, 2 DC in last stitch (ch 3 from previous row).

3: repeat row 2

4: Ch 4 (= DC + ch 1), DC into 2^nd DC from previous row, [ch 1, sk 1 ch, DC] until center ch 2 space, ch 1, DC into center, ch 2, DC into center, ch 1, DC into 1^st DC after center space, [ch 1, sk 1 ch, DC] until last 2 st, ch 1 and DC into ch 3 space from previous row.

5: Ch 3 (=DC), 1 DC into same st, [1 DC into ch space form previous row, DC into DC from previous row] until center, 2 DC, ch 2, 2 DC into center, [1 DC into DC, 1 DC into ch sp] until eor, 2 DC into last 3 ch from previous row.

6-35 : repeat row 2 two times, then repeat rows 4 and 5. Repeat pattern until you reach 35 rows.

Border (to be done along the V part of the shawl):

Complete rows as follows:

1: ch 1 (=SC), SC into every DC from previous row until eor

2: ch 3 (=DC), turn your work, place 3 DC into same SC to form half shell, [sk 3 DC, 7 DC into 4^th DC (=shell)] until last 6 SC, sk 2 DC and place 7 DC into 3^rd SC, sk 2 SC, place 4 DC into last SC to form half shell.

Fasten off, tidy up all loose ends.