Figure 1.--White zig-zag braid or croquets ir used in three places on this boy's smock: the collar, the empiècement (chest smocking area), and the pockets.

One common way of detailing school smocks was the use of "croquets". They were used for detailing both boys' and girls' smocks. We are not sure just when croquets were first used. We notice "croquets" being widely used in the 1950s, so presumably Croquets are braid trim added to clothing to give a chic look. Croquets for example are added to edge the collars of blouses, smocks, rompers, and dresses according the mother's sewing skills. The croquets were easier to apply to smoe parts of the smock than others. Normally they were applied to the collars, empiècement (chest), pockets, but there were some araes as well. Most of the crquets used on smocks were white, but some colored ones were also used. They were used on boys' smocks to about 10 years of age, but on smocks for older girls. There were various styles of braid. One popular style is a zig-zag croquet in white. Some were in matching colors, but most were in white or contrasting colors.