Hazel’s Crocheted Silk Dress

2025.004

Hazel’s Crocheted Silk Dress

Christian, Lucille Southall

Around 1947

12 inches from shoulder to hem; 17 1/2 inches around lower edge of bodice; 70 inches around hem

Clara Lucille Southall was born in the Highland Community near Dublin, Texas, in 1912. She went by her middle name, Lucille. Within the first year of her life, both her parents and her baby brother died. She was raised by her maternal grandparents.

Lucille married Mr. Christian, and in time gave birth to four daughters, three of whom lived to adulthood. Lucille crocheted this dress for her youngest, Hazel Dean, born in 1947.

Hazel was photographed in the dress when she was one year old. Writing on the back of the photo reads, “Hazel…at one year old. Hr dress crocheted by hr mother had 10 Balls of silk thread in it”.

To preserve the dress, Lucille and Hazel put it into a canning jar to keep the bugs away. Much later, Hazel put the dress and a tatted cap on a doll saved from her childhood.

Hazel recounts that in Lucille’s older years, she loved dolls. She made doll bodies with pipe cleaners and made little outfits for them. “If she found [a doll] at a garage sale, she’d buy it.”

Lucille crocheted doilies and dresser scarves and made quilts. Hazel remembers playing underneath the ceiling-mounted quilting frame when her mother had it lowered for quilting. Lucille made quilts to keep the family warm. Her quilts were used until they wore out.

Hazel said, “The way she got things, is she made them herself.”

Hazel Ashcraft