A girl's smocked romper suit. Design "Old Friend".

Contributed by: The Embroiderers' Guild of WA Inc

"Old Friends" Australian Smocking &Embroidery" magazine Issue 36, 1996 "Old Friends" romper suit. Front view "Old Friends" romper suit. Rear view "Old Friends" romper suit. Close up smocking
  • Australian dress register ID:

    560
  • Owner:

    The Embroiderers' Guild of WA Inc
  • Owner registration number:

    2013.038
  • Date range:

    1996
  • Place of origin:

    Perth, Western Australia, Australia
  • Gender:

    Female
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Object information

Significance statement

This romper was based on a pattern by Margaret Herzfeld in the 1990s for the "Australian Smocking and Embroidery" magazine and for smocking lessons. Through her teaching and publications, Margaret helped to keep the old skills alive, adapted them, and made them available to new generations when they were not longer taught in schools. She used her considerable talents to teach in Western Australia and interstate, designed original garments for “Australian Smocking and Embroidery" magazine and established a business making smocked garments for many Perth children until illness cut her life short in 2005.

Between 1990 and 2003, Margaret’s designs appeared in twenty one issues of “Australian Smocking and Embroidery” magazine.  Two of these outfits made the front cover, and one was voted as one of the “Great Smocking Designs of Australia”. For each of these issues, a photo shoot took place in Adelaide: garments and the detailed instructions had to be ready well ahead of the publication date. Correspondence confirms that Margaret was always well prepared and that her instructions were easy to follow. Margaret’s dresses won prizes in Australia, the UK and the USA. Her year book records that in one year she worked on 408 smocked garments.

Margaret's smocking designs became a recognizable icon for quality children's wear throughout Australia in the 1990s. She was a person who valued history. She researched smocks and smocking techniques in the United Kingdom and became an authority on the smocks that had travelled to Australia and were later included in local and national museums. No doubt a definitive guide to historic smocks in Australia would have been forthcoming had she lived longer.

Author: Gaynor Ashford, additional information from Valerie Cavill, curator of the “Historic Textile Collection” at The Embroiderers’ Guild of WA, 26 February 2015.

Description

This cotton one piece romper suit is made from cotton dobby weave fabric which is printed dark blue with strawberry plants in pink and green.

The yoke bodice and shoulder ties in one piece, are lined back and front, and attached to the romper bottom at the waist by machine with the raw edges on wrong side enclosed and hand hemmed to neaten. A fine piping in dark blue is inserted between the yoke and the smocking. The front yoke is in two pieces with a band attached to centre front with four buttons and handworked buttonholes from the neck edge to 50mm above the crotch seam. The waist band is smocked using feather, cable and herringbone stitches in pink, green and white stranded cotton. There are two ties inserted at the side seams for tying at the back. At the inside leg seams are plackets with five (5) buttons and handworked buttonholes. There is a cuff at each leg hole, the back of which has elastic.

The garment is constructed using mainly machine stitching and overlocking to neaten the seams.

History and Provenance

Births, deaths, marriages, children or family information

Margaret English Clarke was born in Southampton, UK on 9th January 1939. With her parents, Phyllis and James, and little sister Mary, the family migrated to Perth in November 1946. Clarko, as she soon become known, attended Presbyterian Ladies’ College from 1946 until 1956. After leaving school, she attended Business College.

In 1960 she married Michael Herzfeld at Guildford Grammar School chapel. After he graduated as a civil engineer, they worked in Northam for two years where their first child was born, then Derby where their second child was born. They moved to Claremont in 1969 where their third child was born. The family continues to live in the nearby suburbs.

Margaret died in 2005.

How does this garment relate to the wider historical context?

You are 24 years old, married to a civil engineer and living in the Kimberley in the north-west of Western Australia. You have a baby and a toddler, the dreaded “two under two” and want to dress them in something other than the limited choices available. So you learn smocking from a “Semco” magazine. (Semco, an Australian company specialising in embroidery fabrics, threads, patterns and instruction books.)

Twenty years later, you now live in Perth; your three children have grown up; you have studied smocking to the high standard expected from the Embroiderers’ Guild (UK), and smocking is fashionable again. What do you do?

Well, Margaret used her considerable talents to teach in Western Australia and interstate, designed original garments for “Australian Smocking and Embroidery" magazine and established a business making smocked garments for many Perth children until illness cut her life short in 2005.

Between 1990 and 2003, Margaret’s designs appeared in twenty one issues of “Australian Smocking and Embroidery” magazine.  Two of these outfits made the front cover, and one was voted as one of the “Great Smocking Designs of Australia”. For each of these issues, a photo shoot took place in Adelaide: garments and the detailed instructions had to be ready well ahead of the publication date. Correspondence confirms that Margaret was always well prepared and that her instructions were easy to follow.

Mind you, in her teaching, she had a neat line to ensure students returned for further classes, by only giving information sufficient for the day, and inviting them to come along to the next class. Historically, smocks were worn by trades people, with the smocked pattern showing the symbols of their trade or craft. Margaret taught, wearing a smock of her own design, which incorporated the tools of her trade in the embroidery.

Margaret’s dresses won prizes in Australia, the UK and the USA. Her year book records that in one year she worked 408 smocked garments.

Margaret's smocking designs became a recognizable icon for quality children's wear throughout Australia in the 1990s. She was a person who valued history. She researched smocks and smocking techniques in the United Kingdom and became an authority on the smocks that had travelled to Australia and were later included in local and national museums. No doubt a definitive guide to historic smocks in Australia would have been forthcoming had she lived longer.

This garment has been exhibited

This garment, along with several others, was designed and made for publication in the magazine " Australian Smocking and Embroidery". The current copyright holders, "Inspirations" magazine, based in Adelaide, have given permission for the original photographs to be used.

  1. Place of origin:

    Perth, Western Australia, Australia

  2. Owned by:

    Margaret Herzfeld

  3. Occasion(s):

    Austrailian Smocking and Embroidery magazine, Issue 36, 1996, pp 34-37

  4. Place:

    Photoshoot took place in Adelaide.

  5. Designed by:

    Margaret Hertzfeld

  6. Made by:

    Margaret Hertzfeld

  7. Made for:

    Inclusion in "Australian Smocking and Embroidery" magazine, and for smocking lessons.

Trimmings / Decoration

Piping

A fine dark blue piping is inserted between the yoke and the smocking at the waist.

Fibre / Weave

Plain dobby weave cotton, printed dark blue with pink strawberries and green leaves.

  1. Natural dye
  2. Synthetic dye

Manufacture

This romper suit is home made. The front and back have been assembled separately, then joined using an overlocker sewing machine at the side seams.

  1. Hand sewn
  2. Machine sewn
  3. Knitted
  4. Other

Cut

The fabric is cut on the straight.

  1. Bias
  2. Straight

Fastenings

There are four (4) buttons and buttonholes down the centre front, one button and buttonhole on each leg cuff, and four (4) buttons and buttonholes across the crotch opening.

  1. Hook and eye
  2. Lacing
  3. Buttons
  4. Zip
  5. Drawstring

Measurements

dungarees
Girth
Chest 520 mm
Hip 1140 mm
Cuff 320 mm
Vertical
Front neck to hem 415 mm
Back neck to hem 465 mm
Inside leg 140 mm
Horizontal
Cross back 260 mm
Underarm to underarm 260 mm
Fabric width 1140 mm
Convert to inches

Front and back armhole including tie 270mm

2 x waist ties 520mm x 40mm

Dress Themes

This romper suit would be a child's everyday wear. In summer it could be worn alone, on cooler days a t-shirt or jumper could be worn underneath.

Additional material

Articles, publications, diagrams and receipts descriptions

You are 24 years old, married to a civil engineer and living in the Kimberley in the north-west of Western Australia. You have a baby and a toddler, the dreaded “two under two” and want to dress them in something other than the limited choices available. So you learn smocking from a “Semco” magazine. (Semco, an Australian company specialising in embroidery fabrics, threads, patterns and instruction books.)

Twenty years later, you now live in Perth; your three children have grown up; you have studied smocking to the high standard expected from the Embroiderers’ Guild (UK), and smocking is fashionable again. What do you do?

Well, Margaret used her considerable talents to teach in Western Australia and interstate, designed original garments for “Australian Smocking and Embroidery" magazine and established a business making smocked garments for many Perth children until illness cut her life short in 2005.

Between 1990 and 2003, Margaret’s designs appeared in twenty one issues of “Australian Smocking and Embroidery” magazine.  Two of these outfits made the front cover, and one was voted as one of the “Great Smocking Designs of Australia”. For each of these issues, a photo shoot took place in Adelaide: garments and the detailed instructions had to be ready well ahead of the publication date. Correspondence confirms that Margaret was always well prepared and that her instructions were easy to follow.

Mind you, in her teaching, she had a neat line to ensure students returned for further classes, by only giving information sufficient for the day, and inviting them to come along to the next class. Historically, smocks were worn by trades people, with the smocked pattern showing the symbols of their trade or craft. Margaret taught, wearing a smock of her own design, which incorporated the tools of her trade in the embroidery.

Margaret’s dresses won prizes in Australia, the UK and the USA. Her year book records that in one year she worked 408 smocked garments.

Margaret's smocking designs became a recognizable icon for quality children's wear throughout Australia in the 1990s. She was a person who valued history. She researched smocks and smocking techniques in the United Kingdom and became an authority on the smocks that had travelled to Australia and were later included in local and national museums. No doubt a definitive guide to historic smocks in Australia would have been forthcoming had she lived longer.

Condition

State

  1. Excellent
  2. Good
  3. Fair
  4. Poor

Damage

  1. Worn
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