Excerpt from interview with Mrs. Frank (Laura Mae) Romero by Pam Rabalais-Vinci, former director of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum, and Yvonne Olivier, niece of Acadian Handicraft Project founder Louise Olivier, c. 1995

Laura Mae Romero oral history interview, 4700.0517

[Laura Mae Romero]: The silk [thread] is so pretty. I'm going to show you a little Christian [christening] dress that I have made it’s embroidered, I called the lady. Yes. And and, I told her it was finished, but she wants a handkerchief. I make a lot of handkerchiefs, too. Wedding handkerchiefs and all kinds of things, like. But things like that. 

[Pam Rabalais]: Special, special occasion. Yes. 

[Laura Mae Romero]: And I embroidered their dates on it, or they think they remember a lots of them cherish that because there's something they keep, you know, for keeps [keepsake]. And, I even make some bookmarks and, you know, people buy that too 

[Pam Rabalais]: For special books? 

[Laura Mae Romero]: Yeah. Like, if you want to give somebody something, you really don't know what they give you give them a bookmark. 

[Yvonne Olivier]: So what kind of fabric did you use for the Acadian project? 

[Laura Mae Romero]: Well, we'd use batiste. Lulu would send us some. Lulu would buy with, for Mr. Hank. He used to live in Rayne. And she did all her shopping over there, and she'd buy a lot of materials from him, and she'd send us some, and. And then we had a little store, Mr. Isaac Hank. But he died. That was from Rosenberg in in in Rayne. They had a supply and they sell a lot of things. And he come there was a little store not far from my mama's and he they had batiste and lace and things like that. He made good with that. But y'all, lace was not expensive like it is today. It's unreal Today. 

[Pam Rabalis]: So it sounds as if you bought fabric sometimes, and sometimes... 

[Laura Mae Romero]: She'd send me some. Like when it got to wintertime, I made the little boys gown while Lulu would get me a bolt of red flannel. And I'd make the little red gowns. I'll show you all I have one made too. Mine is made out of batiste. Though I never made some... I'd make a whole bolt of little flannel gowns- the boys’ gowns with little frogs in the front. And I'd send that. It was so hot to sew that. And then it, with the wind, the air would take in the screen [door or window]. You talk about messy, I said. I don't know how they... And that was every year she'd buy a bolt. And she placed those little gowns all over the stores. 

[Pam Rabalais]: Did you ever see your pieces in store? 

[Laura Mae Romero]:Not too much. We wouldn't leave much. You know. But she she told us the places, you know, that she would put some. In fact, they were ordered. We had to order, we had to draw, pictures. And she'd sent us. We had to make some, different designs, and then she'd show them to the store, and then they'd order. And she'd send us the order. That's how we worked it.

[Yvonne Olivier]: It was mostly through the mail?

[Laura Mae Romero]:Yeah. [Pam Rabalais]: Did she come to visit you other than that first time?

[Laura Mae Romero]:Oh, yeah. Miss Louise came often. Oh, yeah. And, she never. She never. I don't know that she came and never stopped because I always had a little something for her. Sometimes it was, we, you know, we kill hogs and make some sausage or something. Always had a little something for her. And she'd appreciate anything you give her. Bless her heart. It was different, you know. Oh, yes. She came plenty of times when she had meetings. Then, you know, everybody started sewing. It made it bad because the good ones, you know, there's always some bad ones in the case and want to do. Hurry up this and hurry up that. And it turns out terrible. And it made it bad because we had, we had to follow the rules, you know. You know, like anything else. But she understood who could. And because some people didn't, they never put a stitch in their hands and it was sending her some sewing. I'm sure it I'm sure she got a lot of things that were hard to, to get rid of, you know, they wanted to sew. [talking about ice maker making startling noise: The ice box, does that scares me sometimes at night I, I don't know, somebody tells me it could be the little thing with the water and it does that often. [sound] Yeah. It's scary. 

[Pam Rabalais]: Your ice maker?

[Laura Mae Romero]: Well I don't have an ice maker. I think that's what the trouble is. I. But it's okay. Runs okay. But I don't like that noise. Sometimes I jump and I say oh shoots! Yvonne Olivier]: Where did you do you work during the Acadian handicraft?

[Laura Mae Romero]:In my house? 

[Yvonne Olivier]: Did you have a certain room or, 

[Laura Mae Romero]: Uh uh [negative]. Everywhere we had sewing. Something to sew all the time. And we had to sew it, press it, and put a little piece of tissue paper, because when she opened the box, all she did was take it to the store. You know some people sew and they don't press their things. We had to press everything and be sure that it had a piece of tissue paper inside. And then us, we, I started making the Christian [christening] dresses and I said, I think we ought to put some blue paper. I'm the one that told her about that blue tissue paper and the little Christian dress. It brings out that work beautiful. And you could have put yellow, you could put pink, but it don't look right. That blue tissue paper. And, you know, it's hard to find. 

[Pam Rabalais]: And you put it inside of the garment? [Laura Mae Romero]: Yes. The, the work comes out beautiful.

[Pam Rabalais]: The insertion! You can see it. [open work of lace insertion would allow blue of tissue to show through].

[Laura Mae Romero]:The insertion. And then you see those tucks, I put, I didn't press mine, but I put a piece of paper to show y'all, how different it looked. And then we pressed that, and we sent it to her all pressed. And with the tissue paper and everything, all she had to do is take it and bring it to the store.

[Pam Rabalais]: Where did you buy the blue tissue?

[Laura Mae Romero]: Wherever we could lay our hands on. Last time, I had bought some. I don't know if it wasn’t$1.69 a pack. It is hard to find.

[Pam Rabalais]: So it is just regular tissue paper?

[Laura Mae Romero]:Yeah, just regular tissue paper. You see, you buy the packs that have the pink, the yellow and the blue, but you don't have, you have maybe two sheets of each and you can't go far with that.

[Pam Rabalais]: And then you've got all the pink in the yellow left.

[Laura Mae Romero]:No I buy, I buy just the blue one. I have some right there, I always have, I always have [some]. I hope I'm not getting too low. This is the blue tissue paper. And then you see after you put your work it's under I'll even put that in the little sleeves. It makes your work come out beautiful. It's ...to be able to find it. And, you know, I always tell them if ever you'll see some buy me some my daughter when she goes because they always in the stores them but they don't. It's not easy to find just the blue. 

[Pam Rabalais]: Did you do mostly, christening?

[Laura Mae Romero]:No. Oh, no, I made that in those days. It was diaper shirts and little gowns and all different things, all different items. You know, we had to make...make samples and, and a piece of sheet of paper and she show that and then she had to do your drawings.

[Pam Rabalais]: When your mother sent to the shops in New Orleans, did she do children's [clothes]? 

[Laura Mae Romero]: Oh it was baby, they'd send their patterns. 

[Pam Rabalais]: To her.

[Laura Mae Romero]: Yeah. They had embroidery sheets. You know, they had, like, designs marked on them, how to make them.

[Yvonne Olivier]: But you guys made your own, y'all made your own. [Laura Mae Romero]:Yes, we sure did. we had to. And if you wanted some new sewing, you bet you had to get on the ball and make something different. And sometimes it wouldn't. It wouldn't take much, but it would change the look of whatever you was making.

[Pam Rabalais]: And then you, it would appeal...

[Laura Mae Romero]: Well, then she'd look at it and we had to make the, the garment, and you had to make a drawing of it and she'd look at it. And if she liked it, you know, she showed it around. And that's how we get back orders.

[Pam Rabalais]: Did she assign the numbers?

[Laura Mae Romero]:Yes. We had to go by numbers. So many like 6 or 1 number so and-so and 12 of so-and-so. And that's how it would go. Yes, we had numbers.

[Pam Rabalais]: So she kept a copy of your design.

[Laura Mae Romero]: She had a copy and I had a copy. And then, I had a composition [notebook] I made put mine in a composition, but hers was all made on, on sheets. There's a lot of drawing in on. Wasn't too much of a drawing, but you had to learn, you know, make a little. You have to show the design and the diaper shirt, how it's made. And the dress, the gown.

[Pam Rabalais]: Where did. How were you inspired for a new designs?

[Laura Mae Romero]:What what we'd have to look on magazine. Sometimes Miss Lou would come and bring us all kind of things. She'd pick up on the paper, she'd look, you know. Advertisement. Like, sometimes they'll show different things or she'd pick out things and she'd bring them us. And we we look in there. There was not too much to. You had to... use your head. That's all.

[Pam Rabalais]: Is there any specific kind of embroidery work that you consider to be yours or anyone else’s?

[Laura Mae Romero]: Oh, I, I can I know my work. Oh, I know my work. I don't care where you go. I'll know my work. There's not everybody that does the same. You know, it's like I say, we also people can sew here and there, but nobody sews alike. It's like cooking. Nobody cooks alike. I mean, we all have our destination for everything.

(Lightly edited for clarity)

Contact the staff of the T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, LSU Libraries Special Collections for access to full interview.