Home Dressmaking.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 1, 4 January 1908, Page 50

Home Dressmaking.

Needle-craft has reached a far more useful phase nowadays than it did in the times when crazy-work and cross-stitch were responsible for feminine spare time and talents, and utilitarian aims were at a discount. Amateur dressmaking has become almost a hobby nowadays, the manufacture of morning shirts and dainty blouses at home representing one of the surest methods of making the most inelastic dress allowances ’ stretch over the numberless wants which the modern wardrobe demands. A sewing-room in which the. important business of cutting-put, fitting, and machining can be carried on without the necessity of “clearing-up” between each spell of work is a great convenience, due. regard being paid in choosing the room to such matters as efficient day as well as, artificial light. A full-length mirror .is almost a necessity when growing ambition is made to include skirt-making, while a dress-stand on which to fit the’ garment and a steady table for cutting out should be provided, together with a comfortable chair and foot-stool in addition to the actual sewing requirements themselves. A sewing-room basket for pins, needles, cottons, scissors, etc., which stands on the floor, is always preferable to one of smaller dimensions to rest on the table, but an admirable substitute for the conventional wicker-work contrivance is that of an ordinary three-fold kitchen drying-screen lined with cretonne, the covering being divided and subdivided into pockets which can be made to hold all the etceteras of dressmaking, while a row of upright nails on the lower rail accommodates all the reels of cotton and silk which' are in use.’ A square, lead-weighted cushion is another convenience which saves much time when running tucks by hand, and in addition a small crescent-shaped pin-cushion supplemented with a tape or ribbon at either end, sufficiently long to tie round the waist or across the shoulders, is a great improvement on a pin-tray, which is liable to be upset or momentarily lost beneath a pile of work, ( In order to keep a straight line when gathering a .long piece of work, many little devices are resorted to by professional needlewoman, one of the commonest being that of drawing out a single thread the whole length of the material, leaving a mark which, serves as an excellent guide.