Sophie Tatum LaCroix

Miss Sophie T. 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). She was the step granddaughter of John Reynolds (4th governor of Illinois) through her father, whose mother Mrs LaCroix had married Reynolds when her son was a child.St. Louis Post Dispatch 17 July 1949 Sun Pg. 3

LaCroix was a stockholder, proprietor and instructor of St. Louis Fancy Work Co. until her retirement in 1921. She 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.

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{{cite web |url=https://ideals.illinois.edu/handle/2142/49136 |title=LaCroix, Sophie T. List of Publications |last=Witte |first=Gilbert |work=IDEALS |publisher=University of Illinois |date=2007 |accessdate=2014-12-06 }} and in the Smithsonian's collection.{{Cite web |date=2015 |title=LaCroix, Sophie Tatum |url=https://library.si.edu/digital-library/author/lacroix-sophie-tatum |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=library.si.edu |language=en}}

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'.{{cite book|author=Barbara Brackman|title=Making History – Quilts & Fabric From 1890–1970: 9 Reproduction Quilt Projects – Historic Notes & Photographs – Dating Your Quilts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Q0oUZxxkCEC&pg=PT58|date=November 5, 2010|publisher=C&T Publishing Inc|isbn=978-1-60705-302-6|page=58}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.quiltindex.org/ephemera_full_display.php?kid=5B-AA-D |title=Martha Washington Patch Work Quilt Book, Book No. 12 |publisher=Quilt Index |accessdate=2014-12-06 }}

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• [https://archive.org/details/oldnewdesignsin00lacr Old and new designs in crochet work] (1914){{cite book|title=Catalog of copyright entries: Books. Part, group 1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4BwDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1201|year=1914|publisher=Library of Congress, Copyright Office.|page=1201}}{{cite web |url=http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?&profile=all&source=~!silibraries&uri=full=3100001~!564764~!0#focus |title=Library Catalog |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |accessdate=2014-12-06 }}
• Old and New Designs in Tatting and Crochet Braids (1914)
• Old and New Designs in Crochet Work 100 Christmas Novelties (1914)
• Martha Washington Patchwork Quilt Book (1915)
• Smocking: a treatise on ornamental shirring (1915){{cite web |url=http://classify.oclc.org/classify2/ClassifyDemo?search-author-txt=%22LaCroix%2C+Sophie+Tatum%2C+1862-%22 |title=Search Criteria: author = "LaCroix, Sophie Tatum, 1862-" |work=Classify |publisher=OCLC |accessdate=2014-12-06 }}
• Old and new designs in crochet work : bedspreads ([1918?]){{cite web |url=http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=14178480C728C.3519&profile=liball&source=~!silibraries&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!186564~!1&ri=3&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=LaCroix,+Sophie+Tatum,+1862-&index=&uindex=&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ri=3 |title=Library Catalog |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |accessdate=2014-12-06 }}
• [https://archive.org/details/cu31924090110069 Old and new designs in crochet corset covers and nightgown yokes] ([19--]){{cite web |url=http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=14E7843F80576.3492&profile=liball&source=~!silibraries&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!186564~!1&ri=3&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=LaCroix,+Sophie+Tatum,+1862-&index=&uindex=&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ri=3 |title=Library Catalog |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |accessdate=2014-12-06 }}
• [https://archive.org/details/oldnewdesignsinc00lacr Old and new designs in crocheted towels, pillow-cases, sheets] ([19--]){{cite web |url=http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=R417I427985G5.3491&profile=liball&source=~!silibraries&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!178857~!0&ri=3&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=LaCroix,+Sophie+Tatum,+1862-&index=&uindex=&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ri=3 |title=Library Catalog |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |accessdate=2014-12-06 }}
• [https://archive.org/details/oldnewdesigns00lacr Old and new designs in crochet work : yokes & collars] ([19--]){{cite web |url=http://siris-libraries.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=R417I427985G5.3491&profile=liball&source=~!silibraries&view=subscriptionsummary&uri=full=3100001~!213266~!3&ri=3&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ipp=20&spp=20&staffonly=&term=LaCroix,+Sophie+Tatum,+1862-&index=&uindex=&aspect=subtab103&menu=search&ri=3 |title=Library Catalog |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |accessdate=2014-12-06 }}
• Cross-stitch Designs ([19--])
• Old and New Designs in Hardanger Embroidery ([19--])
• Old and New Designs in Tatting ([19--])
• Old and New Designs Edgings & Insertions for Towels, Pillow-cases, Sheets ([19--])
• Old and New Designs in Crocheted Centerpieces, lunch sets and alphabets ([19--])
• Old and New Designs in Crochet Seamless Yokes, Hats, Baby Yokes ([19--])
• Plain and Fancy Knitting ([19--])
• Old and New Designs in Crocheted Edges for hemstitched sheets, towels, slips, scarfs & centers; bedspread, lunch set and large table covers ([19--])
• Old and New Designs in Bead Work; sautoir chains, beaded necklaces, bags, purses, slipper buckles, watch fobs, etc. ([19--])

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{{reflist|2}}

• [https://crochetthread.wordpress.com/2014/11/10/recreating-a-1900-sophie-t-lacroix-irish-crochet-pattern/ Recreating a 1900 Sophie T. LaCroix Irish Crochet Pattern]
• [http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/html/warm/catalog.htm#AUTH_L Scanned PDFs of publications] by LaCroix at the Antique Pattern Library.

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Category:1862 births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:American quilters

Category:American embroiderers

Category:People from Belleville, Illinois

Category:19th-century American women textile artists

Category:19th-century American textile artists

Category:Artists from Illinois

Category:Textile artists from Illinois

Category:Textile artists from Missouri

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers

Category:20th-century American textile artists

Category:20th-century American women textile artists