{"id":17024,"date":"2011-07-24T23:59:24","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T03:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/?p=17024"},"modified":"2012-05-28T00:56:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-28T04:56:40","slug":"smocked-pocket-patten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/24\/smocked-pocket-patten\/","title":{"rendered":"Florence Roberson and King Tut"},"content":{"rendered":"
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our Golden boi LeRoi, 14, with my granddaughter, Laurel, 3, wearing a Little Sunday Dresses pinafore<\/p><\/div>\n

Remember the smocked pocket pattern<\/a> featured in a previous post?\u00c2\u00a0 Credit was given to Florence\u00c2\u00a0 Roberson, designer and owner of the patten company\u00c2\u00a0Little Sunday Dresses.<\/p>\n

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1984~~my gap-toothed Rebecca, 6, wearing LSD pinafore ~see post Little Fawn Pinafore http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/06\/little-fawn-pinafore\/<\/p><\/div>\n

I had copied it from an old SAGA Newsletter but didn’t\u00c2\u00a0know the issue or date.\u00c2\u00a0 A smocking friend from long ago, Lorraine Whyte, posted a comment that the pattern was published in the Fall, 1983 issue.\u00c2\u00a0 She also informed me that it was included in Little Sunday Dresses Sundress and Panties pattern.\u00c2\u00a0 She had used\u00c2\u00a0 that pattern to make a Valentine’s dress for her daughter, Monica, who appeared on the cover of Mildred Turner’s 2nd book on heirloom sewing.\u00c2\u00a0 Thanks, Lorraine!<\/p>\n

Shortly after\u00c2\u00a0 that,\u00c2\u00a0this comment was posted by Mrs. Roberson’s granddaughter:<\/p>\n

Dear All,<\/em>
\n I was doing some research on the web and stumbled across this blog and questions about my grandmother, Florence Roberson. She passed away almost 10 years ago at almost 90 years old! In my opinion, she was one classy lady and I adored her. It is really neat to read what others write about her and to know her legacy lives on through smocking. I live in Fayetteville, Arkansas and still meet smockers who use her patterns and say she is a legend. I talk to my own daughter about her all the time. Thanks for continuing with the lost art\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it is beautiful………Ann Catherine<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

see post Out of Retirement Pinafore http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/2009\/09\/06\/little-fawn-pinafore\/<\/p><\/div>\n

I agree heartily with Ann Catherine’s opinion that her grandmother was a classy lady and is now a legend.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Many readers are too young to know much about\u00c2\u00a0Florence and others may have come into\u00c2\u00a0the smocking world too recently to know much more.\u00c2\u00a0 So let me share my recollections of this dear lady.<\/p>\n

First, do you all know that she was selected as one of three Master of smocking, when the Smocking Arts Guild of America was in its infancy?\u00c2\u00a0 When the Artisan program began, three teachers were “Masters,” due to their experience and expertise.\u00c2\u00a0 Florence was one and the others, if I recall correctly, were Elizabeth Travis Johnson and Margaret Pierce.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a huge honor and the recognition of their achievements were acknowledged by all who knew anything about smocking.<\/p>\n

Years later, Florence and I were both\u00c2\u00a0 teaching at SAGA’s national convention in Jacksonville, Florida.\u00c2\u00a0 She was probably 70+ years old at the time.\u00c2\u00a0 On an off day, I was able to take one of her\u00c2\u00a0classes and was charmed by her excellent teaching methods, gentle, Southern charm and class.<\/p>\n

That was the year that the King Tut exhibit was traveling around the country.\u00c2\u00a0 A highlight of the convention was a private showing of this exhibit at the old Jacksonville train station which had been converted into a convention center.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The closing banquet\u00c2\u00a0was to be\u00c2\u00a0held there, with all the usual hoopala, followed by brief remarks by an enthusiastic Egyptophile.<\/p>\n

It was some distance to the \u00c2\u00a0converted train station and all convention partipants were bused there after class was over.\u00c2\u00a0 Some lingered after class and our departure was later than scheduled.\u00c2\u00a0 By the time dinner was over and the program was handed over to the lady who was to give us\u00c2\u00a0a brief overview of the exhibit, it was well past time for tired teachers to be in bed.\u00c2\u00a0 Certainly, it was late for Florence who was 70+ years old at the time.<\/p>\n

This historian droned on for more than 90 minutes!!!\u00c2\u00a0 We didn’t need to see the exhibit because she told, in painful detail, what we would see.\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, it was time to see the Boy King in all his ancient glory.<\/p>\n

Security was tight.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0We had to be screened by a guard who asked each of us if we\u00c2\u00a0carried any concealed\u00c2\u00a0weapons.\u00c2\u00a0 Florence was just ahead of me in the line and when this question was posed to her, she replied coldly,\u00c2\u00a0 “I do not.\u00c2\u00a0 If I did, I would have shot that woman more than an hour ago.”\u00c2\u00a0 Everyone in hearing distance cheered and gave her a round of applause.\u00c2\u00a0 We all loved her spunk.<\/p>\n

Our bus was unable to leave at the appointed time because some ladies were so fascinated that they couldn’t tear themselves away.\u00c2\u00a0 We finally arrived back at the hotel about 1 a.m. and had to teach the next morning.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

2009~my granddaughter Laurel, 5, wearing 25 year old LSD pinafore--Little Fawn Pinafore as shown above<\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve used several Little Sunday Dresses patterns through the years and always think of Florence when I see them in my pattern boxes.\u00c2\u00a0 My all time favorite is the pinafore.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some were sewn Sew Beautiful for photo shoots, some for my\u00c2\u00a0niece and some for my granddaughter.\u00c2\u00a0 The patterns are hard to come by, and you will be fortunate if you are able to purchase one.\u00c2\u00a0 But if you do,\u00c2\u00a0 please remember classy but\u00c2\u00a0 spunky Florence Roberson and her trip to see King Tut.<\/p>\n

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Remember the smocked pocket pattern featured in a previous post?\u00c2\u00a0 Credit was given to Florence\u00c2\u00a0 Roberson, designer and owner of the patten company\u00c2\u00a0Little Sunday Dresses. I had copied it from an old SAGA Newsletter but didn’t\u00c2\u00a0know the issue or date.\u00c2\u00a0 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17024"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17024"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23009,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17024\/revisions\/23009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.janicefergusonsews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}