If it is not desired to connect the sleeve pattern into the armhole and
on both seams, the shoulder seam may be cut into any shape or form as
long as the balance is retained; but whenever we intend to connect the
sleeve with the armhole, as in Dia. II or VII, we must cut the normal
shoulder seam with a lap or spring of from three-eighths to one-half
at the neck, and which lap must be run down fully to the middle of the
shoulder seam and then reduced to nothing at the armhole, and in such
a shape that the front part is on a curve. On a vest the angle of 135
degrees furnishes the correct slope, and with the neck band properly
worked and turned up, gives enough spring around the side of the neck.
But a vest collar and necktie give more bulk, and a coat is also cut
closer to the center of the neck, and consequently a coat requires
more width, or spring, in and on top of the shoulder seam, of which
three-eighths is enough and five-eighths not too much, but it is always
better to cut that part close, so that the collar may be sewed on easily;
that is, the sides of the neck stretched say about one-quarter of an
inch. Again, the coat collar gives more bulk than the vest collar and for
this reason the overcoat requires three-fourths spring, as in Dia. X,
which is cut still closer to the neck.
Policy, no doubt, has caused the fashionable shoulder seam to be thrown
backward of the center of the shoulder, for the reason that it passes
nearer to the shoulder blade, and a curved shoulder seam helps to fit it.
If the shoulder seam were located on top of the shoulders it could not be
curved, but would necessarily be hollow in the center, though the back
and front lap at the neck. The position of the shoulder seam as in Dia.
II allows the sleeve to be connected with the coat on both the back and
front seams, and the lap of sleeve and shoulder give the sleeve enough
width for all fulling purposes, and the sleeve can never be too large or
too small. I have tried my utmost to lay the shoulders in such a position
that no lap would be found at the shoulder seam; but, after I considered
that the back is never cut on the shoulders, I came to the conclusion
that the said spring might just as well be there, inasmuch as by its use
a more correct sleeve connection can be made.
On account of the lap between the back and front at the shoulder seam
the top of that seam at the neck can not properly be connected, and for
this reason should be notched at the center. The lap between the back and
front of the shoulder seam and toward the neck may be accounted for in a
different way, and as follows: The diameter of the body at the center of
the back and center of front is almost double what it is at the arms, and
if we turn the back forward and the front backward so that both meet at
the shoulder seams, then the center of the body, or the side of the neck,
requires a longer swing than the side of the body at the arms, hence the
three to five-eighths more at the neck.
The five-eighths lap at about eight numbers from O, may also be accounted
for as being required for the roundness of the shoulder blade, which is
partially reached by the shoulder seam of a coat. Between the top of
the shoulder seam and eight numbers from O, the lap, of whatever it is
made, should not be even, but should be a trifle less a few inches below
the neck, say one-eighth to three-sixteenth of an inch, as shown in the
diagrams. This will give the finished shoulder a better appearance than
if cut and made flat. The shoulders are hollow there, and the coat must
conform to that, because a coat must fit there to the body and must be
made to fit to the body there, it must hang and balance itself there, and
if it don’t fit there it must make a break, and in fact this is the only
place where a coat is required to actually fit the body.
The shoulder seam for a vest must also be considered in particular. Dia.
IV gives the vest shoulder seam without lap or gore upon the angle of 135
degs., and the top of back is cut as wide, at point 5, as the angle of 45
degs., and it may be cut one-half inch wider in order to bring it fully
to the side of the neck, where the spring is required, but it should not
be over 3½ numbers. Dia. IV requires that in finishing the neck, the
neckband must be cut long and sewed on full at the shoulder seam, say
one-quarter inch, or plainer, the back should be stretched that much at
and close to the shoulder seam. If a cutter prefers to sew the neck band
even on the back, he must allow one-quarter to three-eighths spring at
the top of the shoulder seam, and at the back, starting it about two
inches downward.
Now it will be found that by reducing the spring at the neck of a coat
to nothing, but leaving the five-eighths lap toward the blade, the great
majority of stooping forms may be fitted, for it makes the front shoulder
shorter, and that is all that a forward leaning neck requires. Stooping
persons often throw their shoulders up, and such must be considered a
combination of stooping and square shoulders. The lap of from three
to five-eighths must always depend upon how the collar is sewed on. A
three-eighths lap and one-quarter stretch of the neck-hole makes a better
shoulder than a five-eighths lap with the collar sewed on close. A tight
collar around the back and side will always spoil the shoulder. If a
coat be too wide there, sew in the shoulder seam, but never draw in the
side or the back of the neck with a short collar. A square shoulder may
be produced by a lap of one-half between the back and front shoulder
seam toward the shoulder blade, and no lap at the neck, and placing top
of back at 3½. The armhole itself must be the same for both the square
and for the low shoulder, or the long neck. The lap of the shoulder seam
requires that seam to be nicked as shown in the diagram. It is better
all around if the jour. has a sure point at the middle to connect said
seam, when he can baste up and down. He is less apt to throw one side up
and the other down than if he makes the connection at the neck or at the
armhole. To connect the shoulder seam with a satisfactory result, square
up from line 11¼ and in front of armhole, and nick each back and each
front on said line, which is even, to moving the forepart down on the
front plumb line until the shoulders meet. In sewing the shoulder seam
together the back should always be a trifle the fullest, because the back
passes over the round shoulder blade and the front passes over the hollow
on top of the shoulders, and should be stretched a trifle. By a trifle I
mean about one-eighth of an inch on each side of the nick.
Locating the connecting point at the center in the shoulder seam, the
jour. must be instructed to baste up and down, and if any part is too
wide at the neck or at the armhole, to trim it off or let it stand as an
outlet, but in all cases insist that both neck and armhole must have a
nice slope after the collar is sewed on, or the sleeve is sewed in. If
the cutting is done according to this work, there will be no trouble in
obtaining a nice round armhole.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]