I have extensively researched and written about crochet lace, one of the many forms of needlework which formed an important part of women’s lives years ago.

I have also studied the structure of thread used in lace.

Barbara Ballantyne

Mary Card’s Crochet Lace

I became interested in the crochet lace of Mary Card, an Australian who lived in the early to mid-1900s, after finding that I had inherited two tablecloths my mother had worked in Mary’s designs.

These cloths were an important part of the popular social occasion of ‘afternoon tea’ where women entertained friends in style at home.

In addition to being a talented, versatile and prolific designer, Mary was an excellent teacher, raising the standard of crochet lace with better techniques and pattern presentation. She still has a following today.

My books on her life, designs and techniques for sale on this webpage include about 70 of her more than 400 designs. One book has been written jointly with Bruce Welch, whose expertise in book production and cultural heritage preservation has made this project possible.

Photo of Mary Card’s Crochet Lace over a table

Bruce and I have collaborated to digitise as much of her work as possible. Our Digital Collection includes her ten books, many of the large charts and some of articles in American magazines. This Digital Collection may be downloaded without charge from this website and has no copyright restrictions. A series of spreadsheets describing her designs may also be downloaded to assist you to find particular patterns.

Identifying Mary Card Crochet Lace

Mary Card’s designs are still sought today, more than 80 years after her death.

An extensive collection of her designs is on this website for

  • Collectors and sellers needing to identify lace.
  • Crocheters looking for Mary Card patterns.
  • Historians.

An online search for Buy Mary Card crochet lace in 2026 usually finds about 200 items, often selling for hundreds even thousands of dollars.

However, only about half of the hits on one large website are Mary Card designs. Another site has fewer wrong claims. Sellers vary in their accuracy too. Correct identification is needed.

There are three groups of records you may search:

Her 10 Books,

34 Articles in two American magazines and

34 large Charts.

Thousands of downloads have been made.

Spreadsheets provide a key to these publications

Spreadsheets for all the styles of crochet Mary designed are on www.crochethistory.com.

However Filet crochet is the only style for which identification requests have been made so the one to use here is

[put correct URL here “main”]

Another file https://Images-for-Certain-Bird-and-Arabesque-Designs has images of some birds and arabesque designs which are similar and/or have confusing names.

This Spreadsheet has descriptions and publication details for 203 of her filet crochet designs listed by name in alphabetical order. It also has categories to guide you; Apparel, Home and Church laces. Because most of the laces people want to identify for buying, selling and patterns to crochet are for tablecloths, doilies, tray cloths, tea cosy and jug covers, clothing and very basic items such as a jar cover have been put in another file. [put URL here to “other” file]

The names were sometimes different when reprinted in another country. For example, the Aquarium tablecloth in Australia and England is called the Seaside cloth in America. The Convolvulus designs are given as Morning glory in America. The Narcissus & Java sparrow design in Australia was known as the Narcissus & titmouse in England. Sometimes vine is used instead of grape as in Vine-leaf & silver-eye doyley in Mary Card’s New Book of Filet Crochet Designs (BA8). The uses vary too; the Poppy chair back design was sometimes said to be for a guest towel.

As explained at the beginning of the Digital Collection, the publications have been coded because of the large number of designs, often reprinted in different media in the three countries in which Mary lived.

B = Book C= Chart M = Magazine

A – Australia U = America E = England

EJ = Everylady’s Journal NI = New Idea, AHB = Australian Home Beautiful

NC = Needlecraft MP = Modern Priscilla

They are combined so that BA1 is Mary Card’s Crochet Book No 1, MAHB is Australian Home Beautiful and BA8 is Mary Card’s New Book of Filet Crochet Designs.

BB = Barbara Ballantyne modern books with the year of publication:

BB2002 is Mary Card: Australian Crochet Lace Designer

BB2004 is Techniques of Filet Crochet with Mary Card Designs and Methods

B2009a is Mary Card’s Crochet Lace: Bird Designs

B2009b is Mary Card’s Crochet Lace: Flower Designs

B2022a is Mary Card’s Legacy of Crochet Lace

B2022b is Mary Card’s Crochet Lace: Later Designs

For example

The Oak & Squirrel tablecloth is in CE059 which is English Chart 59 in the Digital Collection and may be downloaded (free).

The Daffodil collar is in BB2022b which is in Mary Card’s Crochet Lace: Later Designs book available for download.

The popular Poppy chair back or guest towel border in BB2009b which is Barbara Ballantyne’s Mary Card’s Crochet Lace: Flower Designs, (2009b). It may be bought at www.crochethistory.com/books/. This design may also be found online in Australian Home Beautiful (MAHB) for 1 02 1935 at https://trove.nla.gov.au/search/advanced/category/magazines.

If you are browsing the books and website without using the spreadsheet

  • All Mary’s tablecloths are shown on pp.23-38 and 67-68 of Mary Card’s Legacy of Crochet Lace (BB2022). About 50 from other designers from English magazines are shown too.
  • If your lace has birds, look in Mary Card’s Crochet Lace: Bird Designs pattern book (BB2009). The peacock and vine (grape) bedspread is in the Digital Collection of charts CAG02 and CAG03.
  • If your lace has flowers other than roses and lilies, go to Mary Card’s Crochet Lace: Flower Designs pattern book (BB2009).
  • Thirteen of the most popular designs are in Mary Card’s New Book of Filet Crochet Designs (BA8 free download) pattern book.
  • If your lace has Australian animals and birds or a nationalistic theme such as a flag, coat-of-arms or the Statue of Liberty, look in the Contents page of the Mary Card: Australian Crochet Lace Designer book (BB2002) for the patterns and the Index for the images of other designs throughout.
  • Mary Card’s Crochet Book No 4 Filet crochet (BA4) has more filet crochet.

 

  • Scrolling down the list of charts in the Digital Collection will show more designs.
  • Mary’s other books have fewer filet crochet designs. Her Book 6 (BA6) is of apparel. Only the later ones have contents lists.

The Spreadsheets only include designs that were published with Mary’s name in the usual known sources. There are six others which may be her work in Weldon’s publications at the end of her life. As was the custom at the time, Weldon’s did not give the names of the designers, so her name never appeared, despite her popularity.

The Spring Song, Rhododendron, Lotus, Butterfly, Laburnam and Blue iris designs which Weldon’s published have ladder lacets and/or ‘big picture’ tablecloth format, which were features of her work rarely used by other designers. They are shown in our Mary Card’s Legacy of Crochet Lace pp. 45-6. If listed for sale they are best described as possibly Mary Card designs because they have definite features of her work and were published by Weldon’s.

Other laces such as the Blue bells & cockatoo tablecloth and doilies are often claimed to be Mary’s without reliable evidence. This design is not typical of her work and is best omitted. If it is listed the description could say that the suggestion that it is a Mary Card design has not been confirmed.

Crochet lace other than Mary Card’s

The Australian Crochet Lace: Pierette and Mrs A. Roberts (2026b) book includes many of the designs wrongly claimed to be Mary’s. Pierette was one of the most popular and prolific Australian designers. Mrs Roberts was probably one of the women who crocheted Mary’s designs for publication and created at least five remarkable ’big picture’ tablecloths as well as smaller items.

They deserve to be acknowledged and described when their work is listed for sale as among the most popular Australian crochet lace designers of the Mary Card era.

Mary Card’s Legacy of Crochet Lace (BB2026a) shows about 50 English tablecloths, many of which are claimed to be Mary’s in online sale sites.

If you are particularly interested in Mary’s work you may enjoy browsing through her designs every few months. You may make some discoveries. For example the pillow cover with a baby and a stork in a cabbage patch and the message May all your troubles be little ones in the American Needlecraft patterns (MUNC) or the St George & dragon design in Mary’s Crochet Book No 4 (BA4).

It is wonderful that Mary Card’s designs are still appreciated such a long time after her death.

Irish Crochet Lace

Irish crochet, one of the most beautiful crochet laces, gave Mary the start of her new career after deafness forced her to sell her school in Melbourne in the early 1900s. Her experience with many of the heirlooms she repaired formed the basis of her articles and book on Irish crochet lace. They give details of some laces rarely if ever seen in other publications.

These four books come from extensive literature research as well as to visits to lace historians, libraries, archives, and the lace in museums and private collections in the USA, England, Ireland and France. One unexpected discovery was that large amounts of delightful lace in the Irish crochet style were produced in Austria and France early in the 1900s. These well-illustrated books have copious endnotes and literature references.

photo of Irish Crochet Lace

Structure Of Threads For Lace

My small book The Structure of Threads for Lace illustrates the changes in the thread which may occur during the process of making bobbin and crochet laces and shows the results of working crochet lace with threads of similar size but different structures. It also provides details of many lacemaking threads sold in 2010.

photo of spools - Structure Of Threads For Lace