Dia. I is intended for illustration only. It is on a square of 20½, and
the ½ is intended for the extra seam which the frock coat requires. The
center of the back and center of the front run in the same direction as
they must run when on the body. It also illustrates the spring over the
hips as the body actually requires it.
The gore between the side-piece and back illustrates what may be buckled
up on a vest. The front represents a straight single-breasted coat, as
worn by the military or clergy, and may be depended upon if placed as in
Dia. II. The front of such a coat must have a large gore in the center,
which gore must be made at least 1¼ to 1½ inches, seams included, and
must start well up above line 15, and the edges cut oval, not hollow; and
the canvas and all padding and lining must be cut and worked in the same
way, in which case the front requires no drawing in. The stay is put on
close merely to keep the edge from stretching.
Above line fifteen the button-holes are cut, and the buttons are set
plumb on the front line, but below line 15 the button line turns backward
as shown. To meet the collar in front, nick one seam back of the front
line, for military, but for a clergyman’s coat place the nick ¾ back of
said line. The top of the skirt laps 1 inch in front of the forepart, and
drops ½ inch on the bottom of the front. The standing collar must be a
straight piece, and its width depends upon regulation. For a clergyman’s
coat the standing collar should not be less than ¾ inches nor more than 1
inch, made up. The front of such a collar may be run straight upward with
a line parallel to the front line of 135 deg., but may be shaved backward
on top according to regulation or taste.
The place for the shoulder straps on military or society coats is the
spot between the lines represented by 60 deg. from the front and 60 deg.
from the back, which space of 7½ deg. represents the top of the shoulder.
For practical purposes, use the back part of Dia. II for such a coat, and
shape the front like Dia. I.
This Dia. I is made to show all the angles which start from the point of
135 deg., and which are required for a coat or vest. That angle which
forms the shoulder seam, and which is also marked square of 20½, is 45
deg. from the center of back, but for some reason it was forgotten to
be so marked. The lines of this diagram may be used to draw the angles
for any coat or vest, by simply making them long enough for the size
required, the same as in Dia. XII-A. Drawn long enough to cover both
shoulders, as shown in Fig. I, the outside lines of this angle of 135
deg. is to be used to measure the shoulders as well as to draw all the
other lines, or angles for drafting.
A circle drawn from this point, with a half diameter of 8 inches, will be
large enough, and it may be cut out of solid paste-board, but better, of
tin or zinc on which the lines are correctly drawn. The location of the
forepart and shoulders is the same as in Dia. II, or any other diagram.
The back and the sidepiece on the square of 20½ are in a different
position only. The front is just as good as any diagram can be made for a
military or for a clergyman’s coat, when placed as in Dia. II. The back
and the sidepiece is for illustration only.
That back which rests on the angle of 135 deg. is in all respects
correct, but the back which rests on the sidepiece has _one_ incorrect
line, and this is the line forming the shoulder seam. It is correct at
the armhole, but should run up to the point of the square of 20½, so that
all three lines meet, and it will be found that from that point, down to
line 9 over the front, will be 14⅜, but line 9 itself gives the correct
distance from the top and back corner of the square.
By close observation it is also seen that the height of back above line 9
is only ⅜ more in Dia. I than it is in Dia. IV, or on the vest, and also
that the side of the back of Dia. I is reduced again in length ½ inch by
a gore from the armhole to the shoulder blade, all of which proves that
both coat and vest are the same thing on the same square, and that the
heights of back and front are the same, and in order that the vest is
covered by the coat, the neckhole for the vest is cut ½ lower.
If everything is considered at the waist, the coat is only a trifle
larger than the vest, and that, what the front of a coat has more than a
vest, is used for the lapel. Though Dia. I has a square of 20½, and Dia.
IV has only a square of 20, both have the same width when all the seams
are sewed up. All of which shows that, as the coat must pass over the
vest, the vest must be cut at least one size smaller than the coat, and I
have found it correct. In other words: The difference between the breast
measure over the vest, and that under the vest, is about 1 inch in the
whole breast measure. Dia. I gives a good deal of information, though it
may be useless for practical cutting.
[Illustration: _Dia. I._]