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Description: | This photo appears in the school prospectuses from 1938/39 to 40/41. As well as a consultative committee responsible for overseeing the trade curriculum in all London County Council needle trades schools, each individual school had its own committee responsible for ensuring that the schools were training girls in the areas which the trade required. This close link with the fashion industry made trade schools very commercially aware in this era, training to the exact requirements of the trade. Tambour embroidery and beading is done with the fabric stretched across a slate frame. It uses a special needle, and the embroidery stitch resembles a conventional chain stitch. The perforator tool (which is being used in the lower right corner of the photograph) was used to prick holes in paper which would then serve as a design pattern. Charcoal combined with resin (for a dark pattern) or chalk combined with resin (for a light pattern) was pounced through the holes in the paper, transferring the image to the fabric. This method is still referred to today as "prick and pounce." Trade overalls Notes in the archive indicate that, from the 1915 inception of the Trade School for Girls at Barrett Street, pupils wore trade overalls that reflected their area of study. From the photographic archive, the following convention seems to have been followed up until the mid-1930s, with some possible exceptions for hairdressing students during the early years of the school: · Dressmaking students - wore white overalls with red and green embroidery. · Embroidery junior students - wore white overalls with collars embroidered in orange and gold · Embroidery senior students - wore white overalls with embroidered monograms · Tailoring students - wore blue overalls (these appear dark in the black and white archive images) · Hairdressing junior students - wore short sleeved overalls with black and white embroidered collars · Hairdressing senior students - wore plain white overalls During this period, overalls may also have been characterised by the cut of the neckline: round necks for embroidery students, square necks for dressmaking students. This differentiation is at times seemingly inconsistent in the photographic archive, although it has been reported by at least one historian who has studied the history of the London trade schools. Around the early to mid 1930s, trade overalls for students were changed to wrap around garments. No uniforms were required for mature evening students of any period. | Subjects: | slate frames jacket photograph uniforms trade overalls female students wig block skein winder womenswear thermometer hand embroidery perforator Embroidery: embroidery class tambour hook beadwork headdress dress stand | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Photographer unknown Creator Corporate Name: Barrett Street school | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=7627... | Go to resource |
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