1. The business of the tailor consists, principally, in cutting out
and making clothes for men and boys, together with habits and cloaks
for ladies. It is usual for persons who carry on this business in
cities and large towns, to keep a stock of cloths and other stuffs
adapted to the season, which they make up into garments to the order
of customers. In such cases, they are termed _merchant tailors_.
2. The operation, preparatory to cutting out the cloth for a garment,
is that of taking the measure of the person for whom it is designed.
This is done with a narrow strip of paper or parchment, and the
dimensions are either marked on the measure with the scissors, or
entered in a _pattern-book_ kept for the purpose.
3. The cloth is cut to the proper shape, with a large pair of shears.
This is performed either by the individual who carries on the
business, or by a foreman. The parts are sewed together, and the
trimmings applied, by means of thread and silk; this is commonly done
by those who devote their attention to this branch of the trade. It
sometimes happens, however, that the same person performs the whole of
the work, particularly in country places, where the business is very
limited in extent.
4. Females often serve an apprenticeship to this business. Many of
them learn to cut out, and make with skill, certain kinds of garments,
and are after wards employed in families, or by the tailors. Most of
the ready-made clothing, kept for sale in cities, is made up by
females.
5. The instruments employed in performing the operations of the
tailor, are few and simple; the principal of these are the shears, the
scissors, the needle, the thimble, the bodkin, the goose, and the
press-board.
6. The great art of a master tailor consists in fitting the dress to
his customer, in such a manner as to conceal any defect of form, and
display his person to the best advantage. He should, therefore, be a
good judge of the human figure; as, from this knowledge, arises,
chiefly, the superiority of one workman over another in this branch of
the business.
7. The first hint on the art of clothing the human body, was given to
man by the Deity himself; for we read in the Scriptures, that "Unto
Adam and to his wife, the Lord God made coats of skins, and clothed
them." From that time to the present, the art of cutting out garments,
and of sewing their different parts together, has been practised, more
or less, in every place, where there has been any degree of
civilization.
8. For a long time, it is probable, that thongs and the sinews of
animals were used, for want of thread made of silk or vegetable fibre;
and, doubtless, the same necessity caused the substitution of pointed
bones and thorns, instead of needles. Such rude materials and
instruments are still employed for similar purposes by savage nations.
The dresses of the people of Greenland are sewed together with thongs
made of the intestines of the seal, or of some fish, which they have
the skill to cut fine, after having dried them in the air; and even
the inhabitants of Peru, although considerably advanced in
civilization, when that country was first visited by the Spaniards,
made use of long thorns, in sewing and fixing their clothes.
9. We have no means of determining the period of the world, when this
art was first practised, as a particular profession. We know, in
general, that the dress of the ancients was usually more simple in its
construction than that of the people of modern times; and,
consequently, it required less skill to put the materials in the
required form. It may, therefore, be inferred, that either the females
or the slaves of each family usually made up the clothing of all its
members.
10. The distinguishing dress of the Romans was the _toga_, or gown; as
that of the Greeks was the _pallium_, or cloak. The toga was a loose,
woollen robe, and covered nearly the whole person; it was round and
close at the bottom, and open at the top, having no sleeves, but a
large flap, or lappet, which was either thrown over the left shoulder,
or over the head, to protect it from the heat or cold.
11. The Romans, at an early period of their history, used no other
dress, and it was also, at that time, worn by the women. Afterwards,
they wore, under the toga, a white woollen vest called _tunica_,
which extended a little below the knee. At first it was without
sleeves. Tunics, reaching to the ancles, or having sleeves, were
reckoned effeminate; but, under the emperors, they became fashionable.
12. The toga was usually assumed at the age of seventeen. Until then,
the youth wore a kind of gown, bordered with purple, denominated _toga
praetexta_; and such a garment was also worn by females, until they
were married. The youthful dress was laid aside, and the _toga
virilis_, or manly toga, assumed with great solemnity; as, by this
act, the individual assumed the responsibilities of a citizen. The
toga was worn chiefly in the city, and only by Roman citizens.
[Illustration: MILLINER.]