SKIRTS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 23, 7 June 1890, Page 15

SKIRTS.

S this instruction in dressmaking i* intended for the novice, our first advice is, learn to -c*. If possible the student in dressmaking should give her services in a workroom for a week or a month. • hie week would be invaluable to an intelligent young woman, and in that time she could acquire a practical knowledge of the ait not to lie obtained in a year's reading. In the supposition of rudimentary knowledge the necessity tor a sewing-room is as imperative for the success of the dressmaker as a kiteher. for the cook or a studio for an artist. You want a machine oiled, cleaned and in good order : a table or cutting-board at least 5 feet long and 3 feet wide ; a pair of shears designed for cutting puq«>ses : an inch-measure; a wire figure: a mirror; a foot-rest: a press-board, such as tailors use for pressing pantaloons : a flat iron and some means of heating it and good light. The best mirror is an easel glass, A cheaper article is the purchase of a German plate, four or fire feet by eighteen or twenty inches, framed in an inch of oak and hung resting on the floor. If your means will not allow this, tike any ordinary looking-gass and stand it up on the door so as to satisfy vourself in regard to the- hang of the -kin and the general effect of the trimming. You know l-etter than anvbody else what you want, and as you are going to wear the garment it should be in harmony with yourself. The gown and tire wearer at odds means discord. Suitable is beautiful, and unless you are pleased you cannot lend to it the life and influence of your personality, which we call taste. A wire figure is very useful, as the frame can be adjusted to any hip measurement and the drapery applied without the js-qUeting and harassing inconvenience of putting on and taking on the dress during the process of construction. Except for gathering, the short needles known in trade as !>etweens are better than sharps. Tailors never use anything else; they also prefer the open thimble ; they use short lengths of thread ; they are careful to baste everything and pin nothing ; no seam ever goes unpressed, and lieing the best and neatest sewer* in the world their methods are worthy of imitation. Don't try to work with crumpled material. Get an iron and press out the lining or dress goods; if the latter, have a doth under the iron to avoid gloss. Ami now to make a skirt, which, by the way, is a com-l-osite affair, consisting of the foundation, the little skirt and the drapery.

SHOWING SKIRT FOUNDATION WITH SLASHED HEM. Here are the dimensions foi* a fashionable skirt by which any one can cut it. Entire width, round the bottom, 84 inches; length of front and side gores, 42 inches : length of back gore, 43 inches. Lay the French cambric on the table double, and with taj>e measure and ehalk mark off the front gore 8 inches at the top and 10 at the bottom. The first gores should Is* 8 inches wide at the top and 11 at the bottom : the second set 6 inches ahive and 9 below, and the back a straight breadth 43 inches long and 24 wide. Don’t tear any kind of cloth. Use a measure and tailor’s chalk and cut in the chalk-line. Don't be afraid to baste ; it will save the novice a world of trouble. Never try to cut or haste in your lap. It is the laggard’s method. Spread the cloth on the table, use weights if necessary to hold it in place and work like a draughtsman or a merchant tailor. A rocking-chair is out of place in a sewing-room. If you must rock it will be better to lay aside the sewing. It is to this rocking-chair, lap-cutting system employed by so many domestic seamstresses that sweet tempers and pretty toilets are sacrificed. Too much cannot be said on the subject of

neatne-s. Have the machine clean : legin to stitch up fTie -earns at the bottom ; tie the threat- if there is danger of ripping and ent off all ends. Double-atiteh the wants, for -trength as well as neatness. Have a care als>ut holding the work ; doo’t stretch bias edges and never sew with the cloth wrapped about the forefinger, a habit contracted in dollslays which some -ewers never outgrow. When the seams are stitched put on the casings, which should l>e made of cambric, for the reel and draw string. Have the stri|« one inch wide and thirty inches long to cover the whole l*ack breadth and half the side gore : if more of the skirt is gathered it will be too tight for ease in walking. The first casing is for the elastic and should be placed thirteen inches from the top; the second, for the extender, place eight inches l>elow the first. Many dressmakers omit the reed, running both casings with rubber, but if the materia] ha- weight and the dress i- intended for the street the steel is desirable, as it holds the skirt out from the feet. A thirteen-inch steel is hardly perceptible and the graceful effect produced is not easily obtained in any other way. Use tape at the ends of both casings to tie or draw- back the gathers. The pocket in and the slit faced in the back, cut a piece of cross-bar crinoline six inches wide and ba-te round the inside of the skirt; on this lay a piece of the goods the same width, turning the edge over the crinoline. In the

right side Iraste another piece of the dress material the same width as the other. One row of stitching will suffice, and when finished you will have a very neatly faced skirt alike on both sides. If the material is cloth, heavy woollen or delicate silk, use cashmere or al|>aca for the inside facing, but have it the same colour as the goods. If the three applied pieces are well liasted the edges will l>e even, but before putting on the braid lay tire skirt on the table folded down the front gore so that the seams come together. Fare off’ the bottom edge straight and then put on the braid, beginning in the middle of the back. Before using dip it in cold water and dry it. This will prevent it from shrinking or drawing np on the skirt. Baste it round the facing one-eighth of an inch from the bottom and stitch in the basting threat!. Unless the front of the skirt is slashed at the foot it will pull in walking. To get this spring or freedom tw oor three \ s are put in the front gore ; it three, one in the centre and one at each end : if two. which for light-weight dresses are sufficient, have them over the feet, eight inches apart, and three inches high. Don’t cut into the facing before stitchin" on the braid, for if von do you will have trouble, as the cloth will slip, and unless you are skilful the openings will lie clumsily finished. Ba-te and stitch the braid on till you come to the'front gore, and when witbin four indies of the middle run the binding up on a four-inch slant and down again to complete the A or angle. Eight inches further along fashion another caret and don’t cut the cloth away until you are ready to fell on the braid. The turn over-round braid wears letter than the flat arrangement. Ise strong thread and a little wax to keep it from ripping. The braid on. the foundation, as shown in the first cut, is ready for the little skirt, which is nothing more than a deep ruffle or plaiting put on to hide the lining in case the drapery flies up. If the material is delicate and airy, make the little skirt knee deep; if of cashmere weight, an eight-inch ruffle, about forty inches wider than the skirt, will suffice. This short skirt, if made with a two-inch hem, stiffened with crinoline and finished with five or six rows of machine stitching, will form a plea-ing and simple relief for the drapery. In the second cut the ~kirt_ is shown with the little skirt and the draw-strings ready for the drapery. For the average woman a 42-inch skirt will allow a small hem at the top. although it is not advisable to have it more than half an inch, Too many gathers about the waist mar the fit of the basune. In fitting the skirt about the hips the figure will suggest the width of the darts. < Irdinarily the one in the front placed in the centre of the goie is three-quarters of an inch wide, narrowed to the depth of four inches. Stitch the side ones three inches from the first and the same depth to give the necessary spring over the hips. Three inches l*ack lay three plaits, one inch wide, and gather the rest of the lining with two rows of shirring. Measure the l>and. allowing an inch at the ends to turn tn for the hook ami eye. Tack the centre of the skirt and belt together and sew bv hand Machine work, while stronger, is difficult to np if altera tions are needed. <'lum-ine-s can and should be avoided. When finished press with a hot iron. The novice has pre snniably tried on the skirt and, satisfied .. it hangs well, is perfectly even and easy, the work of draping it can l>egin. and also the comforting thought that all is wen.

Ami now for the drapery. If the material i- fifty six incites wide four breadth-will he needed. If cashmere iused five will he required, three in the l*ack and one for the front. Cut them -traight. the three l>ark one- 4o inchelong and the front 54 inches, which provides for -ome graceful anangements about the -ides. Stitch the goods, pre—-the-earns flat and turn up the bottom with a three-inch hem. This hem can be stiffened with crinoline and stitched in rows of plain or coloured silks or made up soft and felled < lather the l«ck into a six-inch thread, run a second thread three quarters of an inch below the first and pin the dra|>ery to the band of the skirt. The drajiery ami skirt should be even at the Imttom. Here and there place a pin to connect the two and draw- the front up at the side in one or two plaits, or to l»*th hip- in some graceful gathers. If you have a wire figure this will be an ea-y matter. If you haven’t that convenience stand in front of the glass and play with the pins and drapery until vou get an arrangement sufficiently artistic to please vour fancy. If you turn down half an inch at the l*elt and loop up the fulness at the side yon w ill have a very tasteful effect. In stitching the drapery lay it on the »and of the skirt ami cover the sew ing with a piece of galloon or braid. So much for the construction of the -kiit. which is the hast' on which all dresses are designed. The rest is ornamental and must be an expression for the taste of the wearer. Innumerable avenues are open to the novice for ideas Fashion plates are inexpensive and so admirable in print an I detail that each will be a suggestion as well as a model to the domestic modiste. Every shop of importance devotes one dav in each season to an opening, to which the world is welcome and at liberty to plunder and borrow and appropriate ideas. It may interest the reader whose means are limited to know that the most ladylike costumes for the street are made afterthe manner described w ithont a particle of decoration further than machine stitching. While there is an indefinable charm about the garment, it belongs to the woman. It comes from her manner of walking, standing or wearing it. Therein is the success of the skirt. We are all conscious of our ]>ersonal defect-. If they cannot lie corrected, at least let them be covered. If the posture is such that the stomach protrudes and the l*ack hollow-, conceal the fact by making the skirt several inches longer in front than in the l«ack. Women with flat backs should never make the skirt round : allow- for an inch fall at the l>ack. and when the dress settles it will lie -traight. Students of physical culture and professional clothier- are well aware that people who walk on their heel- measure less in the back than they do in front from the l>elt dow n. Although very stylish just at present, plaid.- are more ex |>ensive and more difficult to make than plain goo*!- or -mall figures. At the seams it is neces-ary to match the blocks, whether used on the straight or bias of the cloth. It iequally difficult to handle wide stripes and pronounce*! patterns. designs, bv the way. intended only for tall, thin women.

Before leaving the subject the inexperienced dres-makei is warnetl again-t attempting to** mud*. M hen you legin the skirt make it as well as you can ami with all reasonable speed. Very often the work drags until the finish wears from the cloth and the pride of the owner gives place to dislike any discouragement. The task begun, complete it. but whatever the time consumed, attempt nothing else. It ieasy to understand the difficulty of mastering a wai-t. but there should be no olx-tacles in the way of a skirtmaker.