Our stores in the early spring and summer show such fascinating plaid
and figured materials that I feel their use should be considered. Almost
everyone has fallen a victim to a wonderfully colored plaid on display,
to discover later that buying a plaid is a much simpler matter than
making it into a dress. Plaids are fatal for stout people. Area is the
impression always created by them and unless the pattern is very small
and the colors very soft and indefinite, they should be reserved for the
use of children and young girls. There is no colored costume that will
make a woman more conspicuous than one made of a large black-and-white
plaid material.
In selecting a pattern for a girl's plaid dress care should be used to
secure one with as few seams as possible. Every seam is a danger zone.
Only persons with great poise and power of concentration, if they notice
their surroundings at all, will be able to remain unaffected by a
conspicuous seam when the plaids "don't hit." Some plaids are designed
so that it is very difficult to match the pattern in the seams of the
skirt or a stretched selvedge will add to the difficulty. A gored skirt
pattern making bias seams necessary should never be used for plaid
material. Arm holes and shoulder seams should be carefully planned. A
kimona sleeve simplifies the arm-hole problem but will not prove so
satisfactory in a wash dress. Plain material, either white or colored,
makes a happy combination with plaids or figured material.
The accompanying designs are particularly becoming to slender girls. The
wide soft belts and collars and the contrasting materials in the sleeves
will seemingly add weight to slender young figures. In planning tucks
and band trimming for a skirt the result will be much more pleasing if
variety is used in the width of the bands and the spaces between the
bands.
[Illustration: PLAID AND FIGURED MATERIAL FOR SLENDER FIGURES]