Margaret Rowlett was born in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, where she attended school in a log house, picked cotton, and by age 14 worked for three dollars a week in a rag mill. "Cricket," a young girl who appears in Rowlett's books and fabric designs, was based partially on Rowlett's childhood ("Cricket" was a nickname given Rowlett by an uncle).

Rowlett graduated from Woman's College (now the University of North Carolina at Greensboro

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

The University of North Carolina at Greensboro , also known as UNC Greensboro, is a public university in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States and is a constituent institution of the University of North Carolina system. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 61 master's and 26...

, or UNCG) in 1925, received her master's degree from Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, and became an elementary school teacher in Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...

. She had no formal art training save one six-week course she took while a teacher. She began to paint with her students, and when she took her illustrations to Vogue

Vogue (magazine)

Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...

, Harper's Bazaar

Harper's Bazaar

Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...

, and the Lord and Taylor's department store, they were received enthusiastically.

In 1944 Lord and Taylor commissioned Rowlett to design children’s draperies and bedspreads and to paint murals in their toy shop and milk bar. In 1945 Rowlett won a special award for her design “Cricket in the Buggy”. Several of her fabric designs were exhibited at the International Textile Exhibition at UNCG in 1945 and at the Modern Museum of Art and Design Exhibition in 1946.

Rowlett published two books for children, D is for Daddy (NY: Knopf, 1947) and When Cricket was Little (NY: Aladdin Books, 1948). In addition, she wrote a number of unpublished short stories and poems featuring the character of Cricket. Articles about Rowlett and her work appeared in House Beautiful

House Beautiful

House Beautiful is an interior decorating magazine that focuses on decorating and the domestic arts. First published in 1896, it is currently published by the Hearst Corporation, who purchased it in 1934...

(January, 1947) and McCall's

McCall's

McCall's was a monthly American women's magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-format magazine called The Queen in 1873...

(October, 1948).