Nothing is claimed in this book pertaining to Styles of Fashions. It
is true the fashionable parts of all the diagrams are taken from the
latest Fashion Reports; but these will not last, and consequently the
fashionable part is of little value. What I claim of my own work is the
_BASES_, which must be considered permanent, and from which all changes
must be made for different styles, or for abnormal forms. The principle
laid down in this work, is: _To fit the form of men, making the change
of fashions_ to conform to the fit. The Bases I have adopted are new,
in the science of GARMENT-CUTTING, and all calculations are based upon
horizontal, perpendicular and parallel measures and lines. The slope of
each shoulder, as 22½ deg., is taken as a Base for a garment worn around
the neck and shoulders, and the garments built downward from that Base.
All Bases are clearly defined by illustrations and description; and
all gores cut out, or wedges put in, either natural or artificial, are
minutely described according to the spreads or hollows of the body. The
illustrations or diagrams are given both from a corner of a square, and
from the center of a circle, with the same result.
I know that, after the publication of this work, some men will hew off
some rough corners, and give it more polish; but this is the case with
all inventions and new things, and I do not expect to be exempt from that
rule. In fact, I know that this work is incomplete; but I can leave it
to future time, either through myself or others, to take up the thread
where I leave it at present, to unravel any mysteries that may yet be
hidden. But the Bases and their application will remain, and will be so
used in the twentieth century and thereafter, as long as clothing is worn
and men retain their present general form. Some will no doubt say that
certain of my methods cost extra study, all of which I admit; but cutting
and making garments have been, are now, and always will be, a study;
and so far, no man’s life has been long enough, and likely no man’s
life hereafter will be long enough, to complete it. This work indicates
the right direction for study, and does not allow the cutter’s nor the
tailor’s brain to become dormant. My experience is this: Better study
one extra hour over a garment than spend a whole day in altering it.
The Merchant Tailor’s success depends upon one thing only, viz.: How he
succeeds in pleasing his customers. Some cutters will ask for something
definite in the shape of a new system; something that requires no study
nor constant watching. To such let me say this: Whenever an infallible
system of garment-cutting is to be invented, it must be something like a
machine, which always does the same thing with the same result. Such an
invention cannot be acceptable so long as the fashions and the styles are
constantly changing. If, however, such a machine could become acceptable,
the occupation of Custom Cutters would be “_forever lost_.” Nothing of
this kind is claimed in this work, but _this_ I do claim: that it is
better and more practical, and far more comprehensive, than anything
heretofore known. Neither do I claim that it will work equally well in
the hands of every cutter, because no machine will work well unless
directed and supervised by a skillful operator—one who knows every detail
of its construction, and attends to it carefully.
I call this work a scientific calculation within both the square and
compass. But I do not claim any knowledge of science, nor even of
geometry, except perhaps what may be called “home-made.” What little I
know about geometry, I learned after I became forty-five years of age,
and had begun to jot down my experience. Neither do I claim to be a
Fancy Cutter; I do not even claim to be a Fancy Tailor; nor do I believe
that I ever was cut out to be a tailor. But somehow I started to learn
the trade, and when I was once at it, I made up my mind to learn it as
well as anybody, even if it took me a few years longer perhaps than some
others. Yet all of this is no reason why I should not be able to make a
better survey of the human form than any other man has done so far; and
in fact anyone, not a tailor, could have done so if his interest had been
directed that way. It is a fact that the sewing machine was not invented,
nor perfected, by tailors. It was accomplished by others, who knew
nothing of tailoring, but they learned to make one good stitch in a quick
way, and that was all.
I have been on the bench and cutting-board forty-four years, and I do
claim that I have observed and learned something in that time which is
worth while to preserve, and I have written it in language so plain that
all tailors may understand. In 1878 I began to jot down my experience,
illustrating everything by diagrams, and have up to this time written
and illustrated each year two books like this, all of which I have
in my possession and intend to preserve. I presume I could write ten
years longer without exhausting the subject; but I feel the weight of
fifty-nine years upon my shoulders and have come to the conclusion that
I must clear away all old rubbish and publish what I know is reliable.
This volume is the result. For the last ten years I have been carrying on
a Merchant Tailoring business for the purpose of testing every garment
which I cut. Any new idea that came to my mind I carried out by making a
garment accordingly; and if I was wrong, and made a misfit, I made the
necessary alteration. I could do this because I had no “boss” to curse
me—I was my own “boss” and _I paid for the music_.
The above remarks are made to show that this work is not a mushroom idea,
but based upon the experience of nearly half a century. For the reason
that this century is nearly ended, and that, at best, this work will
not be generally known, until the next century, I have named it GARMENT
CUTTING IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. If any one doubts that I have been
working for years to prepare this work, let him look up the “American
Tailor” of December, 1883, and November, 1886, or the records of the
Patent Office in Washington for 1878.
I will here say that this book has been written between working hours, or
at odd hours, or days when I had the time to spare, and that from time to
time the manuscript had to be changed as well as the diagrams, and then
revised again. This has been the case from 1878 down to the present time.
I do not wish to convey the idea to any one, that the Bases, as laid down
in this work, were caught on to in one great lump and that this work is
the result of the grasping of one great idea. When about eighteen years
of age, I came to the conclusion that no system of garment-cutting, then
existing, had an intelligible Base to work from, and that all so-called
Bases were nothing but imaginary lines, to suit this or that cutter’s
fancy, and this is the case to-day. That being my conclusion, I tried to
find something on which I might have a better hold.
Like Columbus, I had an idea that there was something beyond, but had
no conception of its form. Of geometry I knew nothing, except, that “a
square is an angle of ninety degrees, or the fourth part of a circle,”
but I found that I was helpless without geometry, and, at so late a day
for me, I had to roll up my sleeves, as it were, and learn at least
enough of geometry as this work requires. (Who will throw the first stone
at my ignorance?) After I was able to divide the circle, the Bases,
as laid down in this work, were gradually adopted, one by one, and so
arranged that they harmonize with the slopes of the body. I have a hold
now, and I can always tell whence I came, and whither I am going. I have
a starting point at the center of a circle, I can tell that I sink my
shoulders twenty-two and a half degrees; that the center of back and the
center of front rest on one angle of one hundred and thirty-five degrees;
that the front of armhole is forty-five degrees from the front, etc.;
all of which may be understood by the whole civilized world. And if some
cutters and tailors do not understand it, they can learn it in a few
hours, and can learn it as quickly as they can any other rule.
It may be asked, can such angles always be drawn correctly? to which I
will answer: No, not always; but it serves the purpose. Our grocer never
sells us an actual pound of coffee, nor does our dry goods dealer sell us
an actual yard of calico, but what they sell us is as near as they can
come—it serves the purpose, and everybody is satisfied. The variations of
the lines from the center of a circle are not greater than are the right
angles from a square or from a straight line.
I have been advised to write this book as though it were written by
a person residing in a large city, but I do not deceive any one, and
admit that at the present time “Tiffin” has only about twelve thousand
inhabitants, but that it is located in the big State of Ohio, and that
Tiffin has more natural “gas” than New York and Chicago together. I do
anticipate the question, “How much knowledge may come from a small city
like Tiffin?” but I console myself with the fact that a like question,
“_What good can come out of Nazareth?_” was asked two thousand years ago,
and it has been answered in favor of that little village, and to-day
these questioners are regarded as a set of conceited asses.
Advanced ideas do not necessarily come from large cities, or come to a
focus there. Moses, the great law giver, caught his inspiration while
among his flocks; and so did the poet, King David. St. John, the Baptist,
and Christ himself took to solitude in the wilderness before entering
upon their mission. St. John, the evangelist, wrote his Revelations on
the lonely island of Patmos. Dr. Luther formed his reformatory ideas
within the walls of a cloister. The great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln,
no doubt caught some of his ideas while working on a flat boat, or while
splitting rails. In the face of such facts, I do not see why a common
tailor, living and working in a small city, cannot have some advanced
ideas about GARMENT CUTTING, even if they are written down without a
perfect knowledge of English grammar.
I was born in the village of Niederwillingen, in the Principality of
Schwartzburg, Sondershausen, Germany, on the 10th day of April, A. D.
1833. I received a good common school education. In the spring of 1848,
when the revolutionary cannons were shaking Germany for freedom, I was
sold as a slave (apprenticed) for three years to learn the tailor’s
trade, and came to America on the 17th day of September, 1852, then but
nineteen and one half years old, and have never had any schooling in the
English language,—but what I know I have picked up here and there, in
the tailor’s shops, stores, lodges and churches. For this reason, this
book may contain words which might have been different, but it is written
plainly, and in such terms that tailors and cutters will comprehend.
During the year 1891 I have worked mostly on this book, comparing
diagrams and writings, and changing anything that I thought would improve
it. But I find that if I keep on comparing and trying, I shall never be
done, for I always find something else to write. A little over a year
ago, I thought I would go to work and cut it shorter, the manuscript then
having about fifty thousand words, and now it contains about one hundred
and twenty thousand words. This is the way I have cut it shorter. But
I do not see what I could strike out again, even if I should make the
attempt.