Diagrams I, II and III are the same, and are made over the same pattern.
Dia. I represents the center of the back running parallel to the center
of front, as it must be when the garment is on the body. Back and
sidepiece are connected at the hollow of the waist, within a square of
20½ numbers. The back’s position, running parallel to the center of the
back of the body, requires a spring over the seat and hip, starting at
the hollow of the waist. Here it will be noticed that that square running
parallel to the back of the body, meets the seat, and must spread apart
to cover the seat, and the inserted spring furnishes the cloth required
over the seat and hips. But what is put on behind must be taken off in
front, for the run of the square brings it outside of the body in front
of the waist, and must be reduced 15 deg. from the front of waist down,
and the bottom of the front must be lengthened 15 deg. in order to make
it level. If the center of the front and the center of the back be of
any value as a base, then the base lines must run parallel to the front
and back, or at least they must be so considered in order to obtain the
amount which gores and wedges may require, or the location of the same.
In Dia. II we find the fore part in the same position as in Dia. I.; and,
in fact, all fore parts are in the same position, and whatever change is
seen is caused by the turning of the sidepiece or back, or both. But the
back and sidepieces have been changed, and in place of their being 15
deg. out of plumb, we find them on a plumb line resting at the shoulder
blade, and thence straight downward. Thus turning the back base 15 deg.
will cause the original square of 20 to form an angle of 15 deg., or
a curved line of 20½ numbers, which is the position of Dia. II. This
diagram represents an angle of 15 deg. at such a width that it will cover
the whole body, seams included, for a man’s coat.
In order to find the width, the starting point for a garment is at a
point where the angle of 15 deg. has a width of 17½, as in Dia. XIII.
Hence the square of 17½ within the angle of 15 deg. That angle of 15
deg. represents a sheet wound around the body, which body we must here
consider without arms. Said sheet closes in at the breast and shoulder
blade, and at the side of the thigh and the back of the seat. In this
position the back of the waist must be reduced by one or two gores, as on
a sack or a frock coat.
Now let me say, that the theory of deducting the actual waist measure
from the breast measure, and thereby finding the amount of gores to be
cut out in the back of the waist, is a delusion, because the space which
is taken up by that sheet at and around the waist is never measured. It
so happens that the angle of 15 deg. requires a reduction of about 2 in.
in all at the back of the waist, which is equal to 2 in. less than half
breast. But the angle of 15 deg. is always the same, while the waist
proportion changes. But suppose that the actual waist measure is as much
as, or more than, the breast measure. Would not that same sheet, wound
around such a form, require a reduction in the back? By using two bases
in front, as the front base of the square of 20 and the front base of the
square of 17½, which are just 15 deg. apart, we are able to shift the
back from one base to the other—not to uncertain points, but just 15 deg.
The general plan upon which this book treats, is to work from the corner
of a square, or from the centre of a circle, or from certain other
angles, such as 7½ deg., 15 deg., 45 deg., 135 deg., etc. Dia. III is
made for a purpose. It is likewise drawn within the angle of 15 deg., and
is intended to represent the difference between sack and frock coats.
Dia. II is arranged with a view to cutting purposes, for all parts are
separate on a smooth surface, not in their natural position; but, by
the aid of science, we know just how much they are out of their natural
positions. Dia. III has the sidepiece changed, so that it laps with the
forepart at the waist seam. In so turning the sidepiece down, the back
will necessarily come along, and we find that it has shortened one-half
of a number, on line 9 over the front. By turning the sidepiece in at the
waist, the top of the back sidepiece seam falls backward one-half, thus
making the square 18 for a three-seamed sack, as it is for a five-seamed
frock.
The top of the sidepiece and back lap two seams, as they must be when
sewed up, and the armholes are the same for both sack and frock coats.
The lap of the sidepiece and forepart, and the lap of the bottom of the
sidepiece and top of the back skirt, are explained as follows: A sack
coat is wider at the back of the waist and runs down straighter than
a frock. A straight line from the shoulder blade down to the seat is
shorter than a line running down closer and in a greater curve toward the
body. The circumference which the sack coat occupies at the back of waist
is larger than that of a frock. The closer the garment fits to the body
of the back the narrower it must become, and at the same time it must
become longer.
Now, the position of the sidepiece in Dia. III just furnishes that extra
length required, as well as the greater reduction in width. When the
sidepiece is drawn even with the forepart at the waist seam, the lap of
the sidepiece and the top of the skirt behind will crawl inward to the
more hollow part of the waist, and the extra length is thereby taken up.
The spring is not used in a sack, neither is the larger gore between the
back and front; but both are omitted and a gore of about 1 in. is cut
out, as for a sack, thus obtaining the larger width for the shorter back.
The frock coat back has lost ¾ in length, hence the frock coat back on
Dia. III is 14¼, while the sack coat back is only 13½, for the reason
that it is broader at the junction with line 9 over the front. When both
backs are thrown down and into a square of 20½, or in the shape of Dia.
I, the frock coat back reaches line 9 at a depth of 14¼, and the sack
coat back reaches line 9 at a depth of 13½, but actually both have the
same length from O. The extra length of the frock coat back and sidepiece
above the bottom of the armhole is really a delusion, but the extra
length of the sidepiece at the waist and at the back is used up, while
the closer frock coat waist crawls more inward to the body.
Compare Article on “_Narrow and Broad Backs_.” For illustration, let us
suppose we have before us a man with a well-fitting sack,—not one that
fits skin-tight at the waist and spreads out below over the seat, but one
that is just what the ideal sack should be, which is loose, yet showing
the outlines of the form. Say we button it in front, and draw over the
waist a tape-line. We shall find that the more we draw it together the
looser and wider it will appear to be; and the bottom of the back will
become too short, because the line closer to the body requires more
length, which in this case will be drawn up from the bottom. It shows too
much width, because the circle closest to the body requires less of it.
But more of this will be said in the article on “Erect Forms.”
For particulars, it should be observed that Dia. III is in a square of
18, and that Dia. VIII, or the three-seamed sack, is in the same square.
A three-seamed sack would naturally be two seams less in the square than
a five-seamed frock, which would bring the square for a three-seamed sack
to 17½. But the turning of the sidepiece causes the square to enlarge ½,
hence the square of a three-seamed sack is the same as on a five-seamed
frock, or 20½ numbers. See Dia. VIII B.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]