When Doris Odgers wasn't working on the family fruit salad block, she was behind the needle of her beloved sewing machine making clothes for herself and the regional community that loved her.
Said to have been a "steadfast spinster", Doris spent her life in Ramco, South Australia, dedicated to self-sufficiency and servicing her community until she died in 1984.
In 1974, before her twilight years were spent in the local hospital, Doris bequeathed her family's property and the majority of her belongings to the National Trust of South Australia.
This year, Doris's surviving wardrobe collection of hand-sewn, knitted, and crocheted specialties was on display in Waikerie as part of the SA History Festival.
The month-long exhibition was collated by Joy Perry, the treasurer for the National Trust's Waikerie branch.
"It was amazing … to get them out, re-launder them and to set them out for people to see and say … this is Doris, this is what she did for our community," Ms Perry said.
Who was Doris Odgers?
Born in 1900, Doris grew up in a rural town set back from the River Murray and about 180 kilometres from Adelaide.
Doris's crafting skills began as a young girl, creating winning entries for local shows with her jams and pickles made from the swathe of fruits and vegetables grown on the family block.
But her love for making clothes and accessories continued to grow as she did, taught to sew by her mother Lesette and her aunt Clara.
"At the age of nine, she sewed a little pinafore for her little sister [Kathleen]," Ms Perry said.
"She [had] been taught to sew within the family, and plus they taught sewing at school in that period of time.
"She obviously enjoyed it, and she was very clever because she didn't just do sewing.
"She did raffia work, which makes hats and baskets and she crocheted and she embroidered."
Doris collected magazines and newspaper clippings, and purchased her materials from the ads within their pages to make different styles of dresses, hats, and lace accessories.
Some of her hand-made items included a tennis dress, a woollen bathing suit with built-in shorts for modesty, hand-embroidered floral patterns, and a thick flannelette nightgown.
A life of community dedication
Doris experienced many personal losses throughout her life, including her younger sister dying in her 20s.
When her father John James Odgers died in 1944, Doris was responsible for running the family block with Lesette and Clara, and took over completely a decade later when her mother passed away.
However, Doris's penchant for making fashionable items stayed strong even as her rural workload picked up — and it didn't stop with her own wardrobe.
"Doris was a very giving person," Ms Perry said.
"She made dresses for people within the community. She did mending for them as well, and so that was her sideline [to working the block]."
Doris was a member and handicraft secretary of the Waikerie Country Women's Association and in 1956 was given life membership.
"She learned a lot of crafts and shared the talents around," Ms Perry said.
"Doris taught kindergarten in the Sunday school and she was in Girl Guides.
"She was very community orientated."
Fashion history remains strong
University of Queensland Associate Professor Margaret Maynard has spent many years researching the history of fashion, with a keen interest in Australian dress.
She said regional fashion in the 20th century was "very much like the city" but made for practicality.
"People in the country were well-informed with fashion magazines like Madame Weigels, and they tried to keep up where they could, say for church and so on," Ms Maynard said.
"They were extremely adept at making do, and so it was a very common pastime [to make clothes]."
Ms Maynard said preserving a collection, even one by a regional seamstress, was significant.
"It's been the tendency for museums to collect pristine upper-class kinds of clothes, and even the Powerhouse has a limited but very important collection of working-class and regional clothing," she said.
"It's really important to have this wider view of what clothing was like at any historic period.
"Time is embedded in clothing and so is the wearer."
Remembering Doris
A reserve in Ramco is named after Doris, and within it sits what was once her home — transformed into the Waikerie Pioneer Museum.
Ms Perry said keeping Doris's collection available for viewing would allow the community to remember both the fashion of the bygone era and the hard-working woman who dedicated her life to the area.
"Especially if we have ladies' groups come through, I will get out as much as I can of Doris's embroidery," she said.
"We were very fortunate that she donated [her property and belongings] to the National Trust of SA."