Unlike the Montgomery sisters, who created the red high mass set, Mrs Ethel Barton lived in far less comfort; parish records indicate that she moved from time to time between what seem to have been limited or cramped lodgings; but, in the quality of her work, she stands pre-eminent among the Melbourne embroiderers whose work adorned St Peter's at this time. She supervised the embroidery guild; important commissions that she worked on included a festal white frontal, superfrontal and dossal; a red set of the same fittings; and a green frontal and superfrontal, all for Ballarat cathedral in 1923.

The festal white high altar frontal shown in the above photograph was intended as a memorial following World War I and consists of five panels mounted on a ground of Wakefield brocade; the creation of the ground and the assembly was the work of a Miss Corner of the Sydney Church Stores. The source of the design is not indicated. On another occasion, a superfrontal with a pattern of roses made by Mrs Barton was designed by a Mr Charles Challen. One presumes that Challen was an Australian, an assumption one also makes about the designer of the panel on this frontal featuring the AIF serviceman.