The art of dressmaking in America has been of late years so simplified
that almost anyone with a reasonable degree of executive ability can
manufacture a fashionable costume by using an approved pattern and
following the directions printed upon it, selecting a new pattern for
each distinct style; while in Europe many ladies adhere to the old
plan of cutting one model and using it for everything, trusting to
personal skill or luck to gain the desired formation. However, some
useful hints are given which are well worth offering after the paper
pattern has been chosen.
The best dressmakers here and abroad use silk for lining, but nothing
is so durable or preserves the material as well as a firm slate twill.
This is sold double width and should be laid out thus folded: place
the pattern upon it with the upper part towards the cut end, the
selvedge for the fronts. The side pieces for the back will most
probably be got out of the width, while the top of the back will fit
in the intersect of the front. A yard of good stuff may be often saved
by laying the pattern out and well considering how one part cuts into
another. Prick the outline on to the lining; these marks serve as a
guide for the tacking.
In forming the front side plaits be careful and do not allow a fold
or crease to be apparent on the bodice beyond where the stitching
commences. To avoid this, before beginning stick a pin through what
is to be the top of the plait. The head will be on the right side, and
holding the point, one can begin pinning the seam without touching the
upper part of the bodice. To ascertain the size of the buttonholes put
a piece of card beneath the button to be used and cut it an eighth of
an inch on either side beyond. Having turned down the piece in front
on the buttonhole side run a thread a sixteenth of an inch from the
extreme edge, and again another the width of the card. Begin to cut
the first buttonhole at the bottom of the bodice; and continue at
equal distances. The other side of the bodice is left wide enough to
come well under the buttonholes. The buttonholes must be laid upon it
and a pin put through the center of each to mark where the button
is to be placed. In sewing on the buttons put the stiches in
horizontally; if perpendicularly they are likely to pucker that side
of the bodice so much that it will be quite drawn up, and the buttons
will not match the buttonholes.