Secrets of the Couturiere

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12199, 25 July 1925, Page 15

Secrets of the Couturiere

I Methods Explained

X (BY i

MARGARET H. JEROME.)

Little touches make all the difference between a home-made garment' and one iroduoed by a professional dressmaker. It is worth to. know, some; of the professional’s methods. In l tbe first place, the . couturiere takes infinite pains in folding tbe material for cutting - absolutely threadstraight. Let the oentre thread be out. if only by a sixteenth of. an. inch, and the finished garment cannot ‘‘hang” as it should do. If a, paper pattern is used, it must be pinned on very exactly, and with plenty of pins. The cutting should not be done round the pattern itself, byt the latter, should 'be traced out Ekgt, either with tracing wheel or tailor’s chalk, then out out in smooth, even cuts, with really sharp

scissors. Hacking always tells its sorry tale in the finished article. I have no use, for the woman who is proud of the fact that she never tacks. Liberal tacking—tacking everywhere—is another-of the professional dressmaker’s secrets. Ere : she puts any seams together she runs a tack, 'absolutely thread-straight, down the exact centre front, and back of the garmeph/Thexe two seemingly useless tacks gulae her in building a . symmetrical, balanced garment. She takes her measure from them to left and right. Then all possible seams are tacked, on tbe wrong, side, of course,,ready for trying on anc fitting. No French couturiere -would dream of adjusting tbe length of a garment at the hem: she always does it at the shoulder. (Incidentally, if yon want a well-made frock, choose a pattern with shoulder seams). Lift the garment from ths shoulders and pin it firmly in position, Take your time over this job, fo* the hang of the whole frock depends on the exact fit of the shonlder seams. Then adjust the sides, making the distances even on the left and right sides from oentre tack.

On jio account , scoop out neck < r armholes at this stage, but trace theni out with tailor’s chalk- or tacking thread. The actual scooping should never ho done until you are ready to

bind ,or turn in the, neck and put ;n the sleeyes /(if any), for; -the /material is very much “on the . cross” in these places, and is bound to pulhout in the handling. - -When -dressmaking, an iron should be kept constantly, in action,; for all seams need pressing with a damp cloth between iron and material, before home can be turned ;up or facings put in position. All turnings shonld be finished off very neatly. Firm materials, like cloth and gabardine may he snipped; medium weight materials should be, oversewn, while the more fraying frabrics —spun silk, satin, mousline, eto.— should have the ends of the turnings turned in again (to face the wrong aide of the material) and stitched down. In fitting a cleave,'never gather any super-fulness at the top; hut push the sleeve up under the Shoulder until yon have an easy fit. , '

If the -garment is not to Ipok homemade, hems, bindings and facings must be neatly done by hand.

We see our own .faults with bat’s eyes, our neighbours with the eyes of a lynx.