The Vintage Crochet Book That Basically Told Everyone to Ignore Patterns

By Nicki Byrnes

May 1, 2026

The other day, I accidentally went down a rabbit hole and ended up deep in vintage crochet history.

You know when you look up one thing online and suddenly it’s two hours later and you somehow know obscure facts from 1970s New York crafting culture? That.

It started with me reading “Someday This Will Be Funny,” a posthumously published collection from Nora Ephron, the writer and director behind Sleepless in Seattle and You’ve Got Mail. Naturally, that led to a Wikipedia search. Then I started reading about Nora’s family.

Which is how I discovered that her sister, Delia Ephron, was a crocheter. Not casually, either.

In the 1960s and 70s, Delia and her creative partner, Lorraine Bodger, designed crocheted clothing for boutiques and department stores in New York City. When demand grew beyond what they could physically keep up with, they wrote a crochet book to encourage people to design and create their own clothing.

The book is called The Adventurous Crocheter: The Simple Way to Spectacular Clothes – A Guide to Creative Crochet. It’s such a cool find.

A Crochet Book That Encourages Creativity

What makes this book stand out is its approach to crochet design.

Rather than focusing only on following exact patterns, Delia and Lorraine encourage readers to understand the foundations of garment making so they can experiment and personalize their projects along the way.

The overall message is: Learn the basics. Understand the structure. Then make it your own.

I loved that immediately.

And the illustrations (hand-drawn by Lorraine!) give the whole book this artsy, charming personality that makes it fun to flip through.

My Favorite Part: The Sweater Chapter

My favorite section so far is the sweaters chapter. It covers:

• sweater construction
• shaping
• ways to modify pieces creatively
• sleeves
• necklines
• fit adjustments
• garment assembly

What I appreciated most is that it explains how garments work. Instead of only teaching one specific sweater pattern, it walks through different construction methods and options so you can better understand how pieces come together.

As someone who loves crochet garment design, I found that really inspiring.

The book also includes ideas for fixing and adapting projects when things don’t go perfectly, which felt refreshing.

Too big? Add a belt.
Need more room? Add panels.
Cardigan fitting oddly? Try folding the front over and adding diagonal buttons.

It approaches crochet with creativity and flexibility instead of perfectionism, and I enjoyed that perspective.

To read about how I approach and teach crochet garment design, read, How to Design a Crochet Sweater: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Why the Basics Matter

Another thing I appreciated is that the book starts with foundational crochet stitches before moving into garment design.

I’ll always believe strong crochet skills start with mastering the basics, and so many beautiful pieces can be made from these simple stitches:

• single crochet
• half double crochet
• double crochet

Fancy stitch patterns are beautiful, but foundational stitches can be incredibly versatile, especially in garments. They allow you to create a solid fabric and then put your focus on other aspects, like design or fit or embellishment.

I mentioned this in my article about my recommended first crochet project: the single crochet scarf. Start there and master the single crochet stitch, your tension, your stitch and row counting, and your turning. Once you understand the fundamentals, you can make even simple projects feel creative and personal with details like fringe, tassels, pom poms, or other embellishments.

A Fun Vintage Crochet Find

I’m excited to spend more time with this book, but I wanted to share it now because it feels genuinely unique from other crochet books I’ve found.

And as someone who already loved Nora Ephron’s work, I now feel equally charmed by the creativity of Delia Ephron and Lorraine Bodger.

Here’s to the artists, designers, writers, and makers whose unique perspectives continue to shape the crochet world.

I shared a flip-through of the book and a preview of some favorite pages over on Instagram if you want to see inside the book for yourself: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DX0OrEGxV3I/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==