Nationality American | Name Sophie LaCroix | |
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Born October 17, 1862 ( 1862-10-17 ) Belleville, Illinois Known for crochet, tatting, beadwork, quilting, needlework and embroidery Notable work Old and New Designs craft series Died July 16, 1949, St. Louis, Missouri, United States | ||
Sophie Tatum LaCroix (October 17, 1862 – July 16, 1949) was an American handcrafts designer, editor and author of 18 books on crochet, tatting, beadwork, quilting, needlework and embroidery in the early 1900s.
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Life and family
LaCroix was born in Belleville, Illinois to Rene. M. LaCroix, a Canadian merchant, and his wife Mary, née Hopkins, from Virginia. She had at least five siblings, including Susan (born c. 1845), Laura O. (born c. 1848, a teacher), Cornelia (born c. 1858, a store clerk), Estella (born c. 1860) and Maurice D. (born c. 1866, who worked in a printing office).
LaCroix never married and died at her home at 5726 McPherson Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri from Myocarditis, a condition she had been suffering from for a number of years.
Career
Librarian Gilbert Witte has catalogued LaCroix's Old and New Designs craft series, which was published by the St. Louis Fancy Work Co. in the early decades of the 20th century. First edition copies are now part of the collection of the Tennyson Library of Crochet & Related Arts, part of the University of Illinois Rare Books & Manuscripts Library.
Quilt historian Barbara Brackman writes that LaCroix's 1915 book of quilt patterns Martha Washington Patchwork Quilt Book 'captured the cultural confusion American needleworkers faced' and was one of the few that 'attempted a new recipe for the American melting pot'. While LaCroix's name is credited on the book's cover, the Quilt Index, a joint project of partners including the Library of Congress American Folklife Center, attribute the quilt designs to Ann Conway, also of St. Louis, with LaCroix as editor.