Waistcloth

“ The fashionable English waist, also, is not merely far too small, and consequently quite out of proportion to the rest of the figure, but it is worn far too low down. I use the expression “worn” advisedly, for a waist nowadays seems to be regarded as an article of apparel to be put on when and where one likes. A long waist always implies shortness of the lower limbs, and, from the artistic point of view, has the effect of diminishing the height; and I am glad to see that many of the most charming women in Paris are returning to the idea of the Directoire style of dress. ”

“ It is to be hoped that the times will, ere long, change; that it will become as fashionable for females to vie with each other as much in possessing a full, plump waist, as it has hitherto been to possess a small one. Why may it not be, and may we not imagine that cotton wadding, etc., may be yet brought into requisition to remedy the forms of nature about the waist, as now in other parts of the body? At any rate, fashion can do any thing ”

“ It should have sleeves to the wrist; and, so that it may fit closely to the throat, it is best to make it fulled-in to a little shoulder-piece or yoke. Like the other garment, the robe should only reach the feet, or a couple of inches below them.
None of the clothes should be gathered at the waist, but what little weight there is should hang from the shoulders. When, from unusual tenderness of the skin, the woollen material of the vest irritates or induces too much perspiration, spun cotton may be used ”

“ When collar-facings are used, great care must be used to avoid soiling them, a caution which is very necessary, seeing so many of them are of a very light colour. We have not yet referred to the finish at the waist, but it should be borne in mind that the waist is to be made to fit closely. It is customary to put a waist-belt and clasp on the inside, the colour harmonising with the lining. ”

“ Tight waists and high heels are still so common that the courageous protests of the emancipated pass almost unnoticed.
My own opinion is that female dress will never be thoroughly satisfactory until women have realised that they have no waists. Nature has not endowed them with waists, which are artificial forms produced by compressing the body.
This seeming paradox is easily proved by considering that the waist of woman has been placed by fashion in every conceivable position, from under the armpits to half-way down the hips. ”

“ The too common custom of pinching in the waists of growing girls has most probably arisen from the difficulty of keeping their clothes, as ordinarily constructed, from slipping down. The difficulty is a real one, but it can be overcome by a more rational plan of fastening clothing and a more even distribution of its weight. If stays are not worn, petticoats and drawers are fastened round the waist with bands or strings, and have to be fastened tightly, or else they would slip over the narrow hips natural to girlhood. ”

“ The trunk, especially the abdomen and pelvis, is covered with numerous layers of clothing, an extra amount being caused by the overlapping of the upper and lower garments. Very frequently, the amount of clothing upon these, the most vital parts, is excessive. At the same time, the limbs are sometimes almost in a state of nudity. A single cotton garment, or at most one of thin flannel, is the only protection afforded to the limbs beneath the skirts, which often serve no better purpose than to collect cold air and retain it in contact with the limbs. ”

“ Round the ends of this, about as high as their waists, are tied two or three large pieces of thin cloth, and sometimes one or two more thrown loosely over their shoulders, for the rich seem to take the greatest pride in wearing a large quantity of cloth. The dress of the men differs but little from this, their bodies are rather more bare, and instead of the petticoat they have a piece of cloth (maro) passed between their legs and round their waists, which gives them rather more liberty to use their limbs than the women’s dress will allow. Thus much of the richer people ”

“ The waist was too small for a grown person, and could only have been made so by tight-lacing. The child had been taught that dresses, corsets, coats, vests, bands, or anything fastened tightly around the waist, press upon the ribs and crowd them out of place, preventing the heart, lungs, and other inside organs from working as they should, causing headache, dyspepsia, shortness of breath, and often ending in some incurable disease, so she knew that tight clothing means trouble to the wearer. ”

“ Recent fashions have permitted the enlargement of the waist line in women, but unfortunately there is still too much constriction of this important part of the body. When the world becomes more truly civilized and our methods of dress are based upon common sense and an intelligent understanding of the physical requirements of the body, we may hope that the dress of women will be such as to permit entire freedom in the matter of breathing, and the easy expansion of the body at the waist line. ”

“ Now, it must not be supposed, that when a waist grows larger in proportion, that it grows, or spreads very much forward of that line. Whenever the waist grows larger, the body becomes more erect, in order to keep in balance, and the relation between the front of such a waist, and the line running parallel to the front of the leg, change very little, and Dia. XX may be considered to be large enough at that point for almost any form. On the other hand, we find large-waisted forms which do not carry their fronts of waists in front of that line at all, though their abdomen may curve outside of it. ”

“ The waist section requires very considerable care in making. All the parts should be slightly stretched at the seams and shrunk in the centre as is usual with the sidebody of body coat for men. See that the waist does not make up too large, as some materials are very elastic, and it is difficult to exactly guage the amount to be consumed in making. In some loose materials it will be found advantageous to baste strips of linen to all the parts at the waist, and sew it in with all the seams to prevent it stretching. ”

“ To begin with, the waist is not a circle at all, but an oval; nor can there be any greater error than to imagine that an unnaturally small waist gives an air of grace, or even of slightness; to the whole figure. Its effect, as a rule, is simply to exaggerate the width of the shoulders and the hips; and those whose figures possess that stateliness which is called stoutness by the vulgar, convert what is a quality into a defect by yielding to the silly edicts of Fashion on the subject of tight-lacing. ”

“ The men go all naked; only a long, narrow piece of cloth or sash, which, going round their waists, and thence down between their thighs, is brought up behind and tucked-in at that part which goes about the waist. The women have a kind of a short petticoat, reaching from their waists to their knees. ”

“ It must have the right sleeve and collar and the skirt must be the correct width and length. The waistline must come at the right place. Don't wear a high, Empire waistline when a low or normal waistline is the vogue. Don't wear a belt that gives you a pinched-in waist when a wide waist is in fashion.
Be sure that the collar is not only the right size and shape but is absolutely fresh. Collars get hard wear and a collar that is still good style might be worn and shabby. ”

“ The middle part of the body is, however, overheated, for it is covered by the tops of the petticoats and drawers fastening close round with bands, by the stays, chemise, and sometimes vest. The neck and arms are, as a rule, quite as badly protected as the legs, for they have only the thickness of the dress over them, as the vest and chemise are cut low in the neck and short in the sleeves, and high petticoat bodices are not always worn. ”

“ If wadding or padding is used, see that it is carefully graded off, as the height of art must always be to conceal art. Put a waist-band at the waist, as it not only relieves any strain at that part, but it also holds the garment firm to the figure; have a hook to fasten the bodice to the skirt at the back, and so prevent the underclothing being seen when the wearer bends or stoops. We shall deal more fully with some of the special features of making in another chapter.
Ladies' Dress Bodice from Checked Material
No seams allowed. ”

“ If a waistcoat be worn, it should have a double sateen back with canvas interlining, and may be high in the throat or made with a step collar like that of the waist. The cuffs are simply indicated by stitching and are buttoned on the outside of the sleeve with two or three buttons. Simulated waistcoats, basted firmly to the shoulder seams and under-arm seams of the waist, and cut high to the throat with an officer collar, are liked by ladies with a taste for variety, and are not expensive, as but for a small quantity of material is required for each one. ”

“ It has been frequently urged by inconsiderate persons, that, where there is a tendency to corpulency, stays are necessary to limit exuberant growth, and confine the form within the limits of gentility. We believe that this is entirely a mistake, and that, if the waist be compressed, greater fulness will be perceptible both above and below, just as, when one ties a string tight round the middle of a pillow, it is rendered fuller at each end. With reference to the waist, as to every thing else, the juste milieu is literally the thing to be desired. ”

“ Around the waist, secured by a belt or cestus, is wrapped a piece of blue cloth, the sides of which meet, or come nearly in contact on the outside of the right thigh, and the whole extends downward as far as the knee, or to the mid-leg; around the left shoulder is a similar piece of cloth, which is attached, by two of the corners, at the axilla of the right arm, and extends downward as far as the waist. ”

“ The Dress of the men differ verry little from those above, The womin altogether different, their robes are Smaller only Covering their Sholders & falling down to near the hip—and Sometimes when it is Cold a piec of fur curiously plated and connected So as to meet around the body from the arms to the hips The garment which occupies the waist and thence as low as the knee before and mid leg behind, cannot properly be called a petticoat, in the common acception of the word ”

“ This was undoubtedly contrived for wise purposes; yet fashion, with its usual caprice, has interfered with nature, and by promulgating the pernicious error that a rounded form of the waist is more beautiful than the flattened form adopted by nature, has endeavored to effect this change by means of the stays, which force the lower ribs closer together, and so produce the desired form. Nothing can be more ungraceful than the sudden diminution in the size of the waist occasioned by the compression of the ribs, as compared with the gently undulating line of nature ”

“ If a vest is to be sewed up clear down over the hips, the bottom must have a width, which corresponds with the hip measure, when sitting down, after it is finished and buttoned up, or 1⁄2 hip and 21⁄2 in., the same as the breast. At the waist, a vest must be treated on the same principle as a pants, that is, it must be made wide and comfortable enough for the waist when a person sits down. At the waist, a vest is shut up all around, and can not give, and provisions must be made for expansion when sitting. ”

“ The waist for the rich [68] and poor alike is of one pattern, the only variation being in the quality. It has a plain piece loose at the waist line for the body, a round hole for the rather low neck, the sleeves straight and extending to the wrist, about three-fourths of a yard wide. These sleeves are gathered on the shoulder to fit the individual. ”

“ It will also be found a great convenience to have an elastic band, about an inch in width, stitched around the lower edge of the waistcoat on the inside. When the waistcoat is in wear, the band makes it press tightly round the waist, and any object of moderate size—a card, or pack of cards, a handkerchief, etc.—may be slipped under it without the least risk of falling. ”

“ A glance at our illustration will show that the waist is put in the natural position—that is, across the abdomen, below the floating ribs, and just over the hips; by doing this we avoid all injurious effects, which are laid—and that truly—at the door of the ordinary corset, and by placing the waist in its natural position give not only a more beautiful but a more slender appearance. ”

“ By this simple contrivance the weight of the clothing is not only thrown upon the parts that should support it, but, by removing the strings from the waist, it has a more slender appearance; and the petticoats, being properly suspended and thrown off the hips, there is no need for dress improvers, crinoline, or hoops, for the purpose of dis­playing the lower part of the dress. ”

“ But if we were to take a girl of the same age and height, whose shoulders and hips measured the same, but who from childhood had been gradually accustomed to tight lacing, we should find that, with a waist of only sixteen inches, the vital functions were still being performed, although, as might be expected, health was feeble for not one organ of her body on which the pressure had been exerted would be in its right place. ”