William Deskitt Foot Vincent

“ Ere we lay aside our pen, we will only state by way of conclusion, that we have aimed at the production of a work that should supply the young cutter with all he may require to fit him for the post of a ladies' tailor. Such has been our aim, our readers will judge whether we have succeeded in carrying out that aim to a practical issue. We desire to instruct, to improve, to encourage, and it may be that even in the defects of our work, others may take courage and persevere midst adverse circumstances and innumerable difficulties till a successful issue results. ”

“ It is now a generally acknowledged truth that the ladies' tailor must do something more than fit the body. The seams must be located with due regard to harmony and proportion, and, whenever possible, going over the prominences and hollows of the body; for then, plain sewing only is necessary, whereas as soon as the seams are placed on either side of a prominence, then that part which goes beyond the prominence must be fulled on in order to get the receptacle for it in the proper place, but this we have dealt with in the letterpress referring to diagram 35. ”

“ The human body is symmetrical. When we stand face to face with a human being, his body appears to be composed of two halves united in the centre, and these two parts, without being identical, correspond in such a manner that the right side, if folded over on the left, would exactly cover it. This repetition in reverse is what is called symmetry, though the original meaning of the word signified what we now understand by proportion. Diagram 132 is a capital illustration of symmetrical braiding, and is a copy of a military design for a cuff. ”

“ This must be a continuous study on the part of the cutter, for fashions change so rapidly, one style succeeds another so speedily, that unless he is on the alert, he will soon drop back into the second rate: for it is well known that ladies' make a study of dress; they not only know what is the latest style, but they also understand every application of art, and very often some of the laws of science. They will often tell you where the seams of their garments must be placed, and they know the effect certain styles of ornamentation will have on the body ”

“ These are not so often used in tailoring, still we do occasionally see garments braided without any apparent design—a sort of higgledy-piggledy arrangement, but in the midst of this disorder, these must be order introduced, if it is to become ornament: thus the outline of the braiding must be clearly defined, either by a border limiting its outline. In nature we frequently find a fine disorder which produces a beautiful effect, but the charm which nature throws over her works by careless foliage of trees, the dasies in the field, the stars in the heavens, cannot be reproduced in costume. ”

“ We know in practice that suppression at one part causes fulness at another, and if that suppression is done in the form of a fish, it throws fulness both above and below, and as the breasts are usually much more prominent than the stomach, it follows as a natural consequence that there is too much material below the waist in front. There are two ways of avoiding this difficulty. The first is illustrated on diagram 35, and is the one mostly used in the country, and consists of coming back from the straight breast line 1⁄2 an inch at the waist, and drawing it through to bottom. ”

“ Diagonal folds have a very graceful appearance, as they neither produce length at the expense of width, nor width at the expense of length; there is a grace about the curve which take away all hardness of outline, and makes it generally a favourite. It should be remembered that whenever a fold is introduced, the artistic effect is the same as if a line was placed on the figure, which makes it appear longer in the direction it is running. In arranging drapery it is always advisable to keep the straight thread of the material straight down the front ”

“ Many accidents to ladies thrown from their horses, having been very much aggravated by their Habit Trains catching in the saddle, has induced some of the inventive minds to prepare a Train in such a style as would not offer the least resistance to the complete fall of the lady from her horse. We have recently had several of these through our hands, and the diagrams on Plate 36 is a reduced model of one of these, and which, if our readers will reproduce by the ordinary tape, will be suitable for an average lady of 24 waist and 40 side length. ”

“ But if the cutter once realises that the human figure has its points of depression and prominence, and that the garment he is cutting has to fit that, and not to lie flat and smooth on a board, then he will realise the importance of the form of fit.
The form of style
May then claim his attention. Fashion must be consulted, but if he would be an artist tailor he must tone down fashion follies by the application of art rules. If the' garment is loose and baggy, vertical lines may be introduced to take away the shortening tendency of the amplitude of width. ”

“ A waist-band is nearly always put to hold it in at the back and sides, the only exception being when they are made very full round the bottom, and not intended to define the waist at all; but tins is a style we have not yet treated of, as they are only occasionally seen in wear. The edges are more generally turned in and stitched, the fronts fastening with hooks and eyes; but there is no reason why, if so desired, they should not be made to fasten with holes and buttons. In such a case the inch of button-stand would require adding all down the front. ”

“ This is very important in Riding Habits, as the lady invariably lifts her arms well up in the act of mounting, hence a too deep scye and an under sleeve too much hollowed is to be specially avoided. Some ladies, however, are content if their jackets fit nice and clean at the back scye and do not require to raise their arms, trusting to the elasticity of the material for those occasions when this is necessary. For such, the under sleeve should be well hollowed and made slightly shorter and strained up to the hindarm of top sleeve when making. ”

“ It is the tailor's aim to make the outside fit; the lining is merely an accessory; it is the dressmaker's aim to make the lining fit. Have your bone casings put in very long over the waist; let them be made from material on the bias; do not let them come higher than the top of the darts, or nearer the bottom than 1⁄2 an inch; let the bones be carefully prepared and firmly secured. In sewing the seams, full on the round ones a trifle, especially when they are joined to a hollow; put the collar on long in the gorge hollow, and keep the sleeve tight round the back scye. ”

“ Let us suppose the edges of our garment is to be bound. Lay the fall of the outside collar quite flat on the sleeve board, and on this place the fall of the collar lining, and put a basting thread along the crease row, and then the fall is basted from the outside, the collar being slightly bent to allow of the outside being a trifle the longer, then turn the collar over and put in a row of stitching about 3⁄8 of an inch from the crease, this keeps the stand in its place The collar is then bound and sewn on. ”

“ We are frequently asked on which side to put the holes in a lady's jacket. To this Ave can only reply, that there appears to be no universal custom amongst ladies' tailors. There can be no doubt, however, that ladies' are more accustomed to have them on the right side, and by ladies' tailors this is most usually done; and as habit beomes second nature with many, it will be well to consider this matter carefully before putting them in the left side as is occasionally done by some ladies' tailors, and universal with all gent's garments. ”

“ That length should govern length, and width govern width, seems such a common sense rule, that we can hardly realize any other plan being adopted, and yet many cutters of the present day cling to the relic of a byegone age, fixing every point of the garment by division of width. Of the fixed points in the body two stand out prominently as starting points of great value to the cutter. These are the centre of back and the centre of front, and it will be well for every cutter to realise that at these parts the body is hollow, that is, there are decided depressions ”

“ All that requires to be done is to extend the skirt to the length desired. It will always be well for the cutter to bear in mind that the ladies' Ulster does not bear the same relation to the ladies' Jacket, that the Chesterfield does to the Lounge for gentlemen; on the contrary, the ladies' Ulster is in reality nothing more than a very long Jacket, preferably cut a trifle easier on account of it being often made from thicker material and being more used in Winter when thicker underclothing is being worn. ”

“ But there are times in the experience of most cutters whose business lies to any extent in the ladies' trade, that orders have come for very out-of-the-way sizes. Most probably this conies in the shape of the little girl who is just beginning her career as an equestrienne, and as her form is altogether different to that of the normal figure, for the cutter to use his ordinary block pattern would be found not only inappropriate, but almost certain to lead to failure. ”

“ The former slavishly follows the run of every seam, whilst the cutter merely takes the essentials of fit from the old garment, and then goes to work to infuse as much art as he possibly can, so as to, as far as possible, bring out the points of beauty or tone down those prominent features which would detract from the grace of the garment on the figure. ”

“ Thus, if we cut a hollow back seam, it will fit very snug down the centre, but as it will be brought to a straight line when on the figure, it will throw fullness over the blades, and if there are no sideseams, fulness round the back of scye. It is well to remember that any deviation from the straight line for either back or front, must be made to provide for prominence or depression, the hollow giving extra room, the straight being normal, and the round producing shortness on all the surrounding parts. ”

“ It is by their aid that nature discloses all that is beautiful, lovely, or sublime. Sometimes she employs them separately, sometimes together, but however used, there is always one more dominant than the other, the secondary element merely adding beauty to the primary, and in this way forms ornamentation, and consequently ornamentation may consist of either form or colour, or both, We will take each of these features in turn, and make a brief survey of it in its various phases from a tailor's standpoint. ”

“ A fashion has been introduced during the past few seasons of putting a loose sleeve on the top of the ordinary sleeve, forming a kind of sleeve cape. The cutting of this is very simple, but it may be well to give it a place in this work. A reference to diagram 52 will show how to cut it: all that is necessary is to put the top and underside sleeve together at hindarm, and either arrange the elbow to touch, as in the present case, or if any amount of drapery is desired at the back, to arrange it open at elbow accordingly. ”

“ If it should be found to exist to a degree which is not only unsightly but uncomfortable, the easiest way to alter is to lower the forearm as from G to H, diagram 51, which practically amounts to the same as if a wedge had been inserted to the hindarm seam to nothing at G: though in one case the forearm is shortened, and in the other the hindarm is lengthened, the relation existing between the two seams is identical in both cases, the length being easily adjusted if a turn up has been left at the bottom of cuff. ”

“ In dealing with very stout ladies it will be found a very good plan to take out a horizontal V from the bottom of the second V forward, in the same way as tailors usually treat big men's vests; by this means a receptacle is formed for the prominence, and the skirt is kept well in at the bottom—a result always aimed at, though of course care must be taken not to overdo this feature, as it is certainly preferable to have a little excess of drapery, than to outline the stomach too closely. ”

“ The lady who has reached the condition of "fat, fair and forty," bears little resemblance to the ideal type of womanly beauty to be met with amongst ladies of from twenty to thirty; hence the only method in the adoption of which we can see a fair prospect of success, is by the aid of some system of shoulder or direct measures, using the measures taken on each customer to draft her pattern by. ”