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Each breadth must be halved and quartered. Run in a strong cord at the top, and divide the fullness evenly before drawing the cord, and stitching the flounce down.
To make a dress handsomely, well-fitting, and perfect in every respect, is so important an addition to the art of dressing well, that this article needs no apology for its insertion. It is one of the advantages that women possess over the stronger sex, that they can, in an emergency, dispense with the assistance of the milliner, dressmaker, and seamstress.
In such emergencies it is no small advantage to a lady to be able to cut and make a dress, although some experience and skill are necessary for a perfect success.
The first rule for dressmaking is to have all the materials required ready before the sewing is commenced; the sewing-silk should be neatly wound, the body-lining ready, hooks and eyes, stiff facing-muslin, sleeve-linings, skirt-lining, cord, trimming, buttons, whalebones, skirt-braid, cotton, wadding, and all requisite sewing implements at hand.
Measure off first the breadths of the skirt, being careful to allow a strong turning top and bottom. Then pin or tack the breadths together, and, if gored, be careful that the gores are even, and the sweep of the skirt falls exactly in the center
of the back breadth. Be careful that no breadth is turned the wrong side out, or with the pattern upside down. You must allow in the gored skirt for the stretching of the cut edge! more than the selvage, or the work will pucker.
In a plain skirt, begin your run at the bottom, that any unevenness may come at the top, but in a gored skirt you must begin at the top, and let the difference, if there is any, come at the bottom. In case of a cut edge and a selvage coming together, however, the selvage must be held uppermost, and
notched here and there to prevent puckers.
As a gored skirt hangs lower in the center of the breadths than on the edges, the first turning of the hem must allow for that difference, and be laid deeper where it would otherwise droop. It is also necessary to baste the turning of a gored skirt carefully, and also to baste down the facing, as it will be likely to stretch at the top of the hem or facing.
The fullness at the top must be held in evenly, or it will make an awkward fold at the seams. It is important to make all the fastenings of a dress very
secure, as there is generally a severe strain upon all of them. The pocket-hole, placket, arm-holes, waist-binding, every part, indeed, must be firmly and neatly secured against danger of ripping.
It is a sure sign of slovenly dressmaking when the
sleeves rip from the arm-holes, or a pocket falls out after any unusual weight being placed in it. After the skirt is cut and basted, the sleeves are the next
part to cut. It is necessary to have a paper pattern exactly as you wish to cut the sleeve; double the lining, and cut it accurately by this pattern, leaving a half inch all round for seams.
It is better always to cut the lining double, as you
thus cut both sleeves at once, and avoid all danger of getting one larger than the other. Next double the material of the dress, and cut it by the lining, laying the selvage to the straight length of the pattern. When skirt and sleeves are cut, the most difficult part of the dressmaking must be undertaken, namely, to get an accurately fitted waist.
Take a piece of thin but strong paper, and fold one corner the length of the front, pinning it to the corset. Spread the paper very smoothly across the
bust to the shoulder, and fold it to fit the figure exactly; cutaway round the arm, and draw it smoothly under it, then cut again to the waist, allowing fullness enough for darts and the
width of the seams.
Another piece of paper must now be pinned to the back, and fitted to meet the front. This being half the body, you have only to fold the lining so as to cut each back double, to get the back and each front for the front. In cutting the material, however, it is best to baste the lining down, and be careful to allow for the hems on each side of the front.
It is generally preferable to cut away the darts, but if very narrow they may be left. The back will generally fit better if side-bodies are put in, instead of cutting it all in one piece. As soon as the whole is cut, baste it together and try it on, wrong side outward, pinning the seams, the darts, and the side-bodies to fit the figure, and altering the bastings to suit the measurement.
Having cut and basted your dress, the next step is to put it neatly together. First run the breadths of the skirt, making it full or narrow, short or long, according to the fashion. Rut the seams very evenly, pinning the end to a stationary pin-cushion to prevent puckering. If the skirt is lined, it will hang better if the lining is the same width as the material,
and run in with it at each breadth.
Cut even at the top and bottom, and whip thickly. Next put on the facing, if the skirt is not lined, or, if lined, put on the stiff facing at the bottom, and hem to the lining, being careful that no stitches show through on the right side; if not lined, the facing had better be notched at the top, and run down. Be careful in running your seams to leave the space for the pocket and the placket slit.
Hem the latter, and lay the upper hem over the lower, stitching it firmly at the bottom. Next put on the skirt braid and put it in the pocket. If you trim with flounces, cut them always crosswise of the material, or they will not hang gracefully. Each breadth must be halved and quartered. Run in
a strong cord at the top, and divide the fullness evenly before drawing the cord, and stitching the flounce down.
If you wish a ruffle above the cord, run it into a tape casing, as much below the top as you wish the width of the ruffle. Box plaits, ruffles, indeed all kinds of trimming made of the material, must be carefully measured and cut out before the skirt is put together. If trimming of different material is used, the prevailing fashion must govern the choice and manner of putting it on.
The sleeves must be made next. If there are two seams, run a cord along the upper one, covered with the material, and sew down on the outside. Cord at the wrist, and turn the lining inside to conceal the seam. Stitch the long seams together, lining and material at the same time, if it is practicable. Always trim the sleeves before putting them into the arm-hole, and, where it can be done, before stitching up the inside seam.
Next, stitch together the waist as it is basted, putting a covered cord round the arm-holes, and on the neck and waist. Even if a band is put at the throat, and a belt at the waist, they will appear neater and stronger if they are properly corded.
The skirt is next to be put on the waist, being first gathered, plaited, or sloped, according to its fashion.
If there are two skirts, put the lower one on the waist-band, and the other on a belt of the material, strongly lined. If a sacque or cape is made, it should be cut out with the dress, basted and fitted. A cape should be cut from a paper pattern, and lined with some light muslin, a little stiff.
A cord should be stitched round the edge, with the lining, and the latter then turned and pressed to conceal the seam. This is not necessary if the cape is to be trimmed at the edge, when the material must be cut large enough to hem down on the lining. A sacque may be corded, hemmed, or bound, according to the trimming.
Sleeveless sacques must be neatly corded round the arm-holes. These directions are given principally for woolen or silk dresses, and for a plain waist and separate skirt. The dress made all in one must be cut from a paper pattern, and will be so difficult an undertaking that the inexperienced dress-maker could scarcely succeed from any written directions.
Thin materials for evening dresses should be lined with silk, and the waist made with some fullness, corded in round the shoulders and at the waist; the sleeves will be prettier puffed. Cotton prints for summer wear are not always lined; but should be protected under the arms and round the arm-holes by a narrow lining of cotton. Lawns, barèges, organdies, indeed all summer fabrics will wear better, be more easily washed and ironed, and look better, if the lining is made entirely separate from the dress.
A handsomely trimmed corset cover, sewed to a tucked cambric skirt, makes a pretty lining for a thin dress. Thin fabrics are prettier faced with book-muslin than they are hemmed, excepting plain materials which can be hemmed. Figured goods show the irregularity of the pattern very badly in a hem.