Home dressmaking; a complete guide to household sewing

Preface

In undertaking this work there has been a higher object than merely adding another to the long catalogue of books. My great ambition has been to help women who are trying to help themselves. As a young woman who wished to be as well dressed as my limited means allowed, I had to work out for myself the principles of planning, cutting and making my own gowns. Again, as a writer for newspapers and magazines, I had to study to formulate into words the knowledge I had gained by practical work. Many and many were the times I wished for some book to help in both my hand work and my writing. There was none in the market. To offer other women the help I vainly craved I present this book to the public.

Annie E. Myers.

Chapter I

Training for Hand-sewing — The Sewing-room — Tools for Cutting — The Shears — Tools for Sewing — Tools for Fitting — Tools for Pressing. ,...'.... ii

CHAPTER H dressmakers' findings Linings — Facings — Wadding and Canvas — Fastenings — Whalebones and Casings — Shields — Yokes. . . . . .21

Chapter III

The Modern Gored Skirt — The Foundation Skirt — Skirt Drap eries — The Kilt Skirt — The Trained Skirt — Reeds. . . 29

Chapter IV

An Ordinary Basque — The Pattern — First Step in Making — Basting the Lining — Fitting the Lining — Fitting the Basque — Cuting out Stripes and Plaids — Stitching Seams — Finishing Seams — Pressing Seams — Finishing Closing Edges. ... 47

Chapter XXIII

Considered from the point of Economy — Considered from the point of Beauty — Dress for Slender Women — Dress for Stout Women — Individuality in Dress — Dress for Red Hair — Dress for Blonde Hair — Dress for Brown Hair — Dress for Black Hair — Dress for Gray Hair — Jewels — General Remarks. . , 273

Chapter XXIV

Incongruities — Correct Dress for the Morning — Correct Dress for Teas, Matinees and Afternoon Receptions — Correct Dress for Dinners — Correct Dress for Lawn Parties — Correct Dress for Driving and Coaching — Correct Dress for Weddings and Wedding Anniversaries — Correct Dress for Dancing Parties — Correct Dress for Mourning — Correct Dress for Servants. . 295

Chapter XXVI To Cut A Basque Pattern By Molding

The Front — Back and Side-Bodies — Embellishments — The Sleeve 318 CHAPTER XXVII

Introduction — Measurements — How to take Measures — Verification of the Measurements — Variable Measurements — Draft of Pattern of a Dress — Verification of the Patterns for a Body — Pattern for Basque — Dressing Gown — Low, Round Waist — Transposing Measurements — Drawers for a Woman — Drawers for a Girl — Princess Apron — Apron with Straps — Apron for a Child 325

HOME DRESSMAKING A Complete Guide to Household Sewing

Chapter I Tools For The Work Training For Hand-sewing — The Sewing-room — Tools

FOR CUTTING THE SHEARS — TOOLS FOR SEWING TOOLS

FOR FITTING — TOOLS FOR PRESSING

TRAINING FOR HAND-SEWING

When a woman attempts to make a dress, we naturally conclude she knows how to sew. Let us hope she has practiced running up long seams, both by hand and machine, that she knows how to hem, blind-stitch, gather, fell, and, above all, to baste. Our grandmothers served their apprenticeships piecing patchwork together. Nothing could be a better schooling. There has been much said, and with good cause, against the waste of time and talent over patchwork. A woman, skillful and intelligent, spending days and weeks over a bedquilt, is not an ennobling thought. She might do something more important, do much that would make her world wider and those around her more comfortable, it would seem. But, for a child or young girl, there is no better training for the hand, the eye and the contriving, accurate intelligence than to neatly join pretty pieces of cloth into symmetrical designs.

In later chapters will be found complete and clear explanations of plain sewing and the clever but inexperienced woman will find therein many assistants to the proper and effective use of the needle.

But just here we must start out with the idea that the dressmaker is capable of doing plain sewing.

We would pause here, however, to comment upon the value of hand-training for woman. A skillful use of the hand is alwa5^s conducive to a well furnished and orderly mind. It calls into more perfect use the touch and the sight. It tends to make the useful also the beautiful. The prejudice against manual labor is slowl}' but surely disappearing. The little girl who is now being educated for any field of intellectual and administrative work, is not well equipped unless her hands have been trained to do dainty needlework and are skilled in other handicraft. This physical development along with the mental is according to nature's method of preserving a balance of power and a proper equilibrium between the brain and hands.

THE SEWING-ROOM

With the hands trained, the woman who would make dresses must furnish herself with the proper tools. To begin with, she should have a sewing-room. If, in the economy of the house, there is no room she can devote exclusively to that purpose she must have one that is given up to that occupation for the time being. It is as absolutely necessary to have such a room to do good dressmaking as it is necessary to have a kitchen to cook in, a studio to paint in, a sanctum to write in. If it is at all possible, she should close herself up in it with her tools and fabrics and forbid interruption. To do anything well, one must give one's entire attention, one's whole mind, to it. This is true in dressmaking as in everything else. Another reason why one should liave such a room is, that all materials and tools may be kept there together in their places and just where the hand maybe put upon them the instant they are needed. And, when such a room is devoted to that purpose, pieces of fabric may be left undisturbed and ready for use. If they must be gathered up, they are often thrown away and are missing when they are wished for afterward.

This room may be furnished as simply as can be imagined, yet it must have two chairs, an ordinary cane-bottomed square chair of medium height and a low one. We would not recommend a rocking chair to sew in, but a low rattan chair without rockers is just the thing. A footstool is also a very convenient thing to have in a sewing-room. A woman who pins her work to her knee when she sews should have that foot on a stool. This relieves the back of much bending and back-aches are less frequent.

TOOLS FOR CUTTING

For cutting ample provision should be made. The table upon which material is laid preparatory to cutting should be perfectly smooth and of sufficient dimensions to permit the largest patterns to be laid out entirely. For such pieces as a trained or kilted skirt this is often not practicable but the worker must then exercise her most careful ingenuity and judgment. The home dressmaker is often led into the most expensive mistakes by cutting out on the floor or bed. We can not be too urgent against such a proceeding.

Therefore in our sewing-room there must be a table at least four feet long and three feet wide for cutting out. The best table is the substantial ordinary one of wood, with a smooth, even surface and square corners. If this is not available, one of the folding tables of at least that size is reasonably convenient. They are certainly entirely satisfactory for cutting but a more substantial one is better for pressing, and there is no reason why the same table should not be used for both purposes.

When working at the table, either cutting, basting or pressing, one should sit, not stand. When sitting one can easily reach across three feet of space and two feet on either side. This saves much tiresome bending of the body and wearied feet and legs at the end of the season of sewing.

This table in the sewing-room will be used for all sorts of other purposes beside cutting out the original garment. But an ordinary lap-board should also be provided. It will often be used when cutting small pieces like collars and facings and when putting flounces or pleatings on the bottoms of skirts it will be found indispensable. Perhaps the most important tool in the sewing-room is a pair of shears. In dressmaking much depends in the beginning upon clean, evenly cut edges. In basting or stitching seams the eye is easily, although often unconsciously, influenced by the outlined edges and where they are rough or uneven the seam is wavering and inaccurate.

Clean cut and even edges also influence the stitcher to finish the seams in a neater manner. She will without thinking execute that part of the work with greater precision.

THE SHEARS

Long, slender and sharp blades should characterize the shears used. Never attempt a garment with dull, rough or rusty ones with a loose rivet, nor with dainty little embroidery scissors. Use shears of good metal not less than eight inches long with bent handles, with well sharpened ends and riveted just tight enough that no resistance will be noticeable when opening and closing them. Take care of them when they are not in use. Keep them from dampness and do not let them fall as that will often impair the nicety of their adjusted blades.

TOOLS FOR SEWING

Ever}' sewing room should have a machine that is light running and capable of sewing from the heaviest to the lightest fabrics. It should be kept well oiled and in order. It should also be kept perfectly clean. Do not let it become clogged up with dust or old oil. A little kerosene will clean all this away, when it in turn must be wiped off and the machine properly oiled with the best machine sperm oil. It is pleasant to have all the attachments invented with the machine, but for dressmaking one must have the hemmers, the tuckers and the gatherer. At the side of the machine provide a scrap bag in which can be stowed away useless pieces, and thus save the bother of picking them off the floor later. Two bags are not too many ; one for absolutely useless pieces, the other for larger scraps that may be found useful later on.

There are many minor details of the sewing-room's furnishings which will gradually be provided and accumulated as the sewer prosecutes her work. But her sewing basket must be well stocked to commence. It should be a strong basket or box sufficiently large to meet all ordinary requirements. It must contain needles of all sizes and chosen from those of good quality. Those with egg-shaped eyes are the easiest to thread. They should have long taper points, as it is impossible to sew on stiff material with a conical-pointed needle without pricking one's fingers at every stitch. Tn every case the needle must be large enough to draw the thread through the fabric without the least effort.

There must be pins in plenty, cotton thread and spool silk in both white and black with a good large spool of coarse basting cotton. There must be an emery bag, which should be home made, as those bought in merchandise stores are generally filled with anything rather than good filings. There should be a square of hard white soap. A linen seam is a difficult seam to sew by hand or machine. If you pass the soap over it before commencing, all the difficulty is instantly removed.

There must be in this basket a well fitted thimble. Two thimbles are even better, as it is very provoking to be forced to stop and hunt a thimble that has momentarily disappeared just when you most need it. They must exactly fit the finger. It is ver}' uncomfortable to work with a thimble which turns on the finger; if the extra space is filled with paper or rag, it renders the thimble too heavy and the thread is liable to catch.

There must be a lead pencil and a good tape line and a pair of button-hole cutters with a gauge are a great convenience. Equally pleasant to have at hand are a sharp steel punch or chisel and a perforated bodkin for drawing a cord or tape through clings or hems.

This basket should be provided with a cover to keep its tools free from all but ordinary dust. A piece of silk as long as the basket around its top and about six inches wide makes a good cover. Join its ends and sew one of its edges to the basket top. Then run a casing in the other edge of the silk and pass a drawing-string through it. Thus the cover may be opened and closed at pleasure.

A medium size leaded pincushion is extremely convenient for use in pinning the work. Pinning the cloth to the knee is very poor policy, on account of the fatiguing stoop it causes. When the leaded pincushion is at hand, the cloth is so easily attached, and a woman who has become accustomed to one will never be without it. They are easily made, the heavy piece of lead being securely hidden in the sawdust used to fill the cushion.

TOOLS FOR FITTING

There is an absolute necessity for a mirror in which the entire figure may be surveyed. Even in fitting a bodice or short wrap the general effect should be the thing considered. Their lengths can only be decided correctly in reference to the entire length of the figure. The best mirror is one that swings in a frame. Such a one in a dressing-case is very convenient, and there are less expensive ones called easel mirrors. If these are beyond the means at hand, place any ordinary mirror on the floor at an angle Avhere a view of the entire figure can be obtained. The gown must harmonize with the wearer. In other words, you must adapt the materials to yourself, and this can only be done by seeing yourself as others see you.

The next best help one can have for this purpose is an adjustable wire form. The forms that may be adjusted to correspond with neck, waist and bust measure are few and expensive, if they are of any value at all, but there are skirt figures that may be bought for a couple of dollars — they are a capital investment. Draperies may be adjusted with the greatest ease when they are used.

TOOLS FOR PRESSING

Among the most importanttools are aflatiron and some means of heating it. In this day of steam radiators there is often no such means at hand. There have been many inventions given an aggrieved and credulous public, such as attachments to gas jets, alcohol burners, etc., but the best thing is a little kerosene stove. There is no reason why it should be dangerous ; nothing but the grossest carelessness makes it so, and it heats a flatiron in a few moments.

Remember there is everything in the proper pressing of the garment. This applies to the skirt seams, the hems, the bodice seams and facings and to the sleeves as well. A good investment is a couple of press boards, one for skirts and a smaller one for bodices and sleeves. Any carpenter will make them and the cost is but a trifle, while the convenience will more than repay an even greater expenditure. A skirt board should be about forty-four inches long, the length of an ordinary skirt and nine inches wide. The sleeve board should be five inches in width and twenty-seven inches long.

Give them each at least one thickness of flannel and add a cotton cover. With these and a couple of hot flat-irons and plenty of strength, the homemade dress may be made a very presentable affair-

Chapter II Dressmakers' Findings Linings Facings — Wadding And Canvas Eastenings

WHALEBONES AND CASINGS — SHIELDS — YOKES

LININGS

Those who undertake to learn the trade of dressmaking find that silesia, braid and canvas represent the A B C's of the art. The novice will do well to try every pattern or idea in the smooth, firm but inexpensive silesia. It is the amateur dressmaker who frequently makes the mistake of plunging at once into all the perplexities of silks, velvets and furbelows. Such experiments are pretty sure to result disastrous!}'. She is liable to waste a great deal of material and to expend so much time and patience in several thousand times too many stitches that she gives up trying to sew at all. How much better to begin with the anatomy of the dress. Master the fit in the linings, which is reall}- essential to the successful fabrication, and then success awaits further along the line of experience and a garment is achieved of which the maker may well feel proud.

"But what kind of linings should we use?" do you ask?

In the first place, don't use old linings. Such a course is not economy at all. For with linings that have lost their firmness and body no waist can be made to fit, no skirt made to hang properly. The same may be said of whalebones, hooks and eyes, braids and sometimes of buttons, although the latter can again be used more frequently. Yet cloth buttons are usually worn shiny and metal ones are tarnished.

Have plentiful and good lining materials. Ail dress fabrics, except some cottons, require a foundation to protect them from strain ; cloths and woolens stretch, laces and sheer woolens tear and silks cut and split without a good under foundation.

Silk, cambric and silesia are each in turn used. Each has its recommended qualities and each again is entirely unsuited to certain purposes. Silk linings are by all odds the most elegant and comfortable. To be sure they are a little expensive in the first outlay but they wear so well and are so light in weight, perfect in fit and generally elegant in appearance, they are favored by our leading and best modistes.

For dresses intended for general wear the soft fine French cambric can not be too highly recommended. Silesia is also an admirable lining material for almost any dress and for all its parts. For the waist and its sleeves it is unsurpassed, and for the skirts of dresses as well.

The purpose of a dress lining is twofold. It is necessary as a neat finish and as a foundation. Some ladies will tell you they use good, perhaps the best linings for the waist, not quite so good for the sleeves, and that anything Avill do for the skirt of a dress. These are mistaken economies. There is just as much strain and wear on the sleeves of a dress as upon the waist and the linings should be the same. The only difference which may be made is for the skirt, where a lighter and less strong material can be used, as there it is only the neat finish and protection, and really no strain upon it.

FACINGS

Beside the linings proper for skirts there are several accessories which must be provided, that must be classed with them. The facing for skirts comes first among them. There is quite a diversity of opinion as to which is preferable of some three or four which are all in general use.

Perhaps we are safe in saying a majority of professional dressmakers face their skirts first with cross-barred crinoline, afterward covering it with alpaca. This certainly makes a soft finish to the skirt but also one which is thick and clumsy and one which is extremely addicted to gathering and holding dust. Equally objectionable for the same reason is the use of canvas covered with alpaca. And there is yet another objection we may urge, and that is such facings do not wear well and are very hard upon the shoes of the wearer.

Ladies who have their skirts finished in this manner find themselves in a very short time forced to trim off rags and tatters or look untidy with them hanging around their feet, and, if the dress is at all durable, the facing must be renewed at least twice during its existence. Very much better, for durabilit)^, cleanliness and soft finish is the cotton padding. When it is used, the work of facing a skirt is greatly simplified, it being easily put on as will appear in our extended directions for facing a skirt in a following chapter.

Every skirt must be finished with a braid or a velveteen band. Pleated braids are sometimes used when a little extra finish is required, but when an ordinary braid is used it should be one of the best and then it will not be a narrow one, but wide enough to cover all edges.

WADDING AND CANVAS

Findings for the waists of dresses are more complex. First is the lining proper, which as we have suggested before should be either silesia, cambric or silk. Whichever is used, let it be the color of the dress unless it be a black dress. Black lining should never be used for waist or sleeves and dark gra3MS better for black skirts too, still black may be sometimes employed for them. It is quite likely to soil the underwear. There are many good silesias woven black on one side and dark gray on the other, which will be found useful for some purposes.

There are but few women — or men either — whose forms do not require some "building up". Many dressmakers place a laj^er of wadding between the lining and the dress fabric reaching from the shoulders to the top of the darts. This certainly gives a smoothness over the bust, that is desirable, still it greatly increases the warmth. One thickness of light quality of canvas accomplishes the same end and is cooler. The tops of the sleeves, from the shoulder to the elbow should be given the same treatment when the form is not plump and bones make unevennesses. When the form is inclined to be too large below the waist, one thickness of canvas placed between the lining and the dress fabric below the tops of the darts assists in keeping a basque or polonaise in shape.

FASTENINGS

When buttons are used, the button-holes are a serious question for the dressmaker and must be neatly worked with good twist, or the garment is not beautiful even when handsome fabrics are used. In Chapter IX. will be found full instructions concerning button-holes. When hooks and ej^es are used for closing, the amateur dressmaker should ask for bent hooks, as those slightly bent near the point stay fastened. Otherwise it is necessaray to sew them on alternately, which makes them very inconvenient for closing. Small rings used instead of eyes on the outer part of dress waists should be covered with silk in button-hole stitches. The very large hooks and eyes used as cloak and wrap fastenings are also excellent for keeping up a heavy skirt : four of the hooks being set on the waist just below the belt, — two on the seam joining the back and side-forms and one on each under-arm seam ; the eyes are placed on the skirt band to correspond and the wearer hooks them before fastening the inside belt of her dress.

WHALEBONES AND CASINGS

The use of whalebones is an important item to consider. Most ladies require every seam stayed. If the seams were curved absolutely perfectly it would not be necessary, but this art is seldom encountered.

When stays are needed, use the best wht^lebones only. Nothing else wears so well nor gives the proper elasticity. Horn, tin, steel and rubber have all been used, and either rust, break or twist unpleasantly.

Galloon must be provided for casings in which to run the stays. Casings of lining material make clumsy seams.

Ribbon for binding the edges of the waist and sleeves seams finish the waist in the most acceptable manner. With loops to go in each armseye of the same by which to hang up the waist, a neat finish is given. However, this ribbon binding is repudiated by some ladies who delight in the snuggest fits. They insist the binding of edges draws the seams and demand rather they shall be loosely top sewed and pressed.

In any case a sufficient length of binding tor an inside belt must be provided to attach at the back seams at the waist-line to take the strain off the front. It is usually fastened in front by medium sized hooks and eyes.

SHIELDS

Dress shields must be provided, large ones in the armseyes, and ladies who perspire profusely use small ones in the sleeves at the elbow curve.

Some ladies abominate cheap shields for dresses. They buy the best and take them out at intervals and wash them in clean soap suds. This is not a bad idea. It is also good practice to purchase cheaper ones and change then often. None are perfect and neatness requires they should be changed as soon as the slightest odor can be detected. In any case it is good policy to buy shields by the half dozen pair and so have them always at hand.

A RESUME

For a medium sized woman's ordinary costume, consisting of a walking length skirt and a basque with coat sleeves, the following findings will be found necessary : If silesia is used five and one-half yards for the skirt, one and one-half yards for the waist and one yard for the sleeves, or a total of eight yards. If ordinary silk is used ten yards will be found sufficient. For the skirt facing one yard of canvas, with one yard of alpaca, or one yard of padding alone, if the latter is preferred.

Add to these three long whalebones, one boltofbraid, one bolt of ribbon to bind seams, one piece of galloon for whalebone casings, one card of hooks and eyes or one and one-half dozen of medium sized button, two spools of twist, one of sewing silk and one spool of basting cotton.

The findings required for jackets and outside wraps of all kinds will be fully treated in chapters devoted to such garments.

To conclude and at the same time be explicit we would say do not buy cheap findings. They do not pay. Do not use old linings or whalebones. It is false economy. Findings do not show in one sense of the word, but they tell every time in wear and general comfort.

YOKES

A word as to keeping the whole gown in shape and doing away with ' closet wrinkles. " Buy a wooden or wire yoke such as tailors use for suspending coats, and after turning the dress wrong side out fasten the waistband and slip the whole over the yoke. It spreads the folds of the drapery, preventing them from being crushed into an unshapely mass, and keeps the foundation from stretching down at the seams. These yokes are inexpensive, and may be found at any drygoods store.

Chapter III How To Make Dress Skirts The Modern Gored Skirt — The Foundation Skirt Skirt

DRAPERIES THE KILT SKIRT THE TRAINED SKIRT REEDS

THE MODERN GORED SKIRT

The size and st3de of skirts vary with each edict of fashion. However, tliere are two general styles upon which the changes are rung, the short walking skirt and the trained skirt. Walking skirts may be divided into the round full skirt and the gored skirt ; the former is a mere matter of straight seams, a hem, and a gathered top on a band, tliat anyone can make. But the shapely gored skirt is a different thing.

The modern gored skirt is the work of an artist. Some one has said "the making of one is like singing an old ballad. A novice may sing a grand operatic aria but it takes a genius to sing 'Comin' thro' the Rye,' and to make a gored skirt. Both are most simpte in design but most difficult of construction."

There are three things which go to make a perfect

skirt ; first an accurate cut, second a neat finish and

third a thorough pressing.

HOJV TO MAKE DRESS SKIRTS

The walking skirt most used is rather narrow in its proportions. The only skirt less ample was the one which showed its back breadth gored at the top to fit as close as the present front and side-gores do.

Z^Inches. 7 Inches. 18 Fnches.

CD

18 Inches.

THE FOUNDATION SKIRT

Every skirt should be made with a perfectly fitted foundation. It should be of easy walking length, properly gored and not too wide. It is usually cut with one front-gore, two side-gores and a straight back breadth. For a lady of medium size who will measure twenty-four inches around the waist the following are the correct measurements for each part. The front gore will be fifteen inches wide at the top with a dart two inches wide allowed for on each side of the mid-

HOU^ TO MAKE DRESS SKIRTS 31

die of the front. It is forty inches in length in front but is sloped to forty-one inches in length at the sides and at the bottom is twenty-two inches wide. The side-gores are each forty-one inches in length at their front sides and forty-two where they are joined to their back breadth. They are seven inches wide at the top with two inches allowed for darts and are gracefully curved to sixteen inches in width at the bottom. The back is just one yard in width its entire length, which is forty-two at its sides sloping to forty-four inches in the middle. When quarter-inch-wide seams are taken, the back has all its fulness gathered into five inches, which is the correct proportion.