# The New Dressmaker/Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36
BOYS' AND MEN'S CLOTHES
Patterns—Alterations—Materials—Cutting—Putting the Garment Together—Trousers—The Fly—Trousers for Smaller Boys—Side Pockets—Trousers With No Fly—Top Edge of Trousers—Lower Edge of Trousers—Blouses on Coats—Strictly Tailored Coat—Canvas Lapels—Front Edges—Facing—Seams—Lining—Collar—Pockets—Bathrobes—House Jackets—Undergarments
IT IS not difficult to make garments for boys and men if you go about it in the right way. It is mainly a matter of correct finish and careful pressing with hot irons whenever pressing is necessary. The frequent use of irons is a very important part of tailoring.
PATTERNS—It is essential to get the right-size patterns for tailored garments. The proper way to measure men and boys is given in Chapter 2, pages 12 and 13.
Ill. 366. Shortening the Pattern of Boys' Kinckerbockers ALTERATIONS—If it is necessary to make any alterations in the length of a pattern they should be made before cutting your material. The Deltor or the pattern envelope will tell you where to make them.
ALTERING LENGTH OF BOYS' PATTERNS—When a boy of five or six years has the breast and waist measure of a nine-year-old size, even though he has the height of a six-year-old, it is better to get a nine-year-old pattern and shorten the coat, the sleeves and trousers.
The Coat and Sleeves Are Shortened in practically the same way as in a woman's waist. (Chapter 3, pages 19-21.)
To Shorten the Trousers considerable care is needed in determining just where the alteration should be made. The length of the underwaist to which they fasten has a great deal to do with their length when worn. It is well to measure an old pair of trousers on the child, taking the measure from the waist to the crotch and then to just below the knee, allowing for the extra fulness to fall over the knee in knickerbockers. Any alteration in length above the crotch should be made across the pattern below the extension for the pocket opening, changing the seam edges as little as possible. In the lower leg part, fold the plait across above the extension piece at the lower part of the leg. (Ill. 366.)
MATERIALS—Before cutting your material read Chapter 6 on "Materials, Sponging, Cutting," etc.
CUTTING—After the material has been properly sponged or shrunken lay the pattern on it as shown in the Deltor Layout or as directed in the pattern instructions. Use ​plenty of pins in pinning the pattern on the material and cut with sharp dressmaking shears, following the edge of the pattern exactly.
Ill. 367. Inside View of Pocket with Buttonhole Fly Mark all the working perforations with tailors' tacks (Chapter 16, page 85) and either mark the notches with two or three stitches in basting-cotton or clip them, making them no deeper than is necessary to see them distinctly.
PUTTING THE GARMENT TOGETHER—Follow the Deltor or the Illustrated Instructions for putting the pieces of the garment together, putting in the pockets wherever there are any. (Chapter 22, page 104.)
TROUSERS—The Fly. Baste a facing of lining material, cut from the fly-piece pattern, to the outside of the front edge of the left-front portion. Stitch a narrow seam. Turn the facing to the wrong side, and baste it flat, with the cloth at the seam edge entirely covering the lining.
Now lay together, face to face, two fly pieces, one of cloth and one of lining, and stitch a seam on the front edge. Turn it to the right side, baste flat and press.
It is more convenient to make the buttonholes in the fly now than after it is stitched in place. They are worked from the cloth side, the first one coming just below the waistband. Then baste the fly into position, its edge a trifle back of the edge on the left front of the trousers. Stitch one-quarter inch back of the buttonholes, through the four thicknesses of goods, down from the waistband, ending in a curved line on the lower edge. (Ill. 367.) Tack the fly between the buttonholes to the facing. Overcast the raw edges on the inside.
The underlapping fly piece for the buttons on the right front of the trousers should be faced with lining. The cloth piece is then basted and stitched to the edge of the right front of the trousers. This seam is then pressed open. Turn under the lining, clipping the edge to make it lie flat, and baste it to the cloth seam. From the right side stitch neatly an even line down close to the bastings and across the free edge at the bottom.
Small trouser buttons are sowed on in position corresponding to the buttonholes on the opposite fly.
Ill. 368. Side Pocket For the Smaller Boy, when buttons and buttonholes are impracticable, the small facing provided for in the pattern is attached to the right side of both of the fronts, stitched and turned to the inside. (Ill. 369, page 163.) The front seam is then closed from the facing to the waistline.
The side pockets should be put in next.
SIDE POCKETS OF TROUSERS are usually made in a seam. Cut a square pieces of silesia or stout lining material the size desired, and, doubling it over, notch the edges to indicate the pocket opening. Make corresponding notches in the seam edges of the trousers. Face the back edge of the pocket on both the right and wrong sides with bias facings of the cloth one inch and a quarter wide and long enough to extend from the top of the pocket to an inch below the notch in the opening. (Ill. 368.) Lay the front edge of the pocket edge to edge with the front edge of the trousers on their wrong side and baste it to them. In the same seam baste a bias ​facing of the cloth to the front of the trousers on the right side. This facing should be the same length and width as the facings on the back edge of the pocket. Stitch the pocket, trousers and facing together in a narrow seam. Turn the facing over on to the pocket and run a row of stitching close to the fold to hold it in place. Turn under the back edge of the facing and stitch it to the pocket. Trim off the lower corners of the pocket (Ill. 368), and crease the edge for a seam toward the inside. The seam of the pocket may then be closed. Baste it first, and close it with one stitching. The back edge of the pocket is caught to the front with bar stay-tacks. The upper edges are held by the waistband. Ill. 369. Inside View of Trousers Having No Fly
TROUSERS HAVING NO FLY CLOSING have the waistband divided into a front and back waistband, leaving an opening at each side of the trousers. In this case the extension on the side of the back pieces of the trousers is faced, thus forming the underlap for the opening. The loose edge of the pocket piece is then faced on both sides with the cloth, and two rows of stitching, a quarter of an inch apart close to the edge, give it a firm finish. Now the upper edges of the pocket are basted to the upper edge of the trousers front. (Ill. 369.)
Make a bar, overcast or buttonholed, between the two rows of stitching, catching through the cloth, and both sides of the pocket at the top and at the bottom of the opening.
The pocket may now be closed. Round off one or both of the corners, and, turning in the seam with the raw edges toward the inside of the pocket, stitch securely.
Ill. 370. Outside View of Fly and Pocket THE OUTSIDE SEAM of the trousers is closed next. In knickerbockers it is stitched in a seam all the way down. The lower edge of the leg is gathered in a casing with an elastic. In trousers finished with a band the extension allowed at the lower part for an opening at the side is turned under for a facing on the upper side, and faced and used as an extension on the under side. The band can be fastened with a buckle or with a button and buttonhole. After stitching the seam, turn the raw edges toward the front. From the outside, run a line of stitching one-eighth of an inch from the seam.
Now stitch and press open the inside seam of each leg. The two leg portions may then be joined, beginning the seam down the back at the waist, and ​extending it to the notches in the lower edge of the fly pieces, including in the seam the seams of the fly pieces below the notches. Press this seam open and baste over it, flat on the inside, a piece of tape or a bias strip. Stitch from the outside a row on each side of the seam. Turn the end of the tape over and hem neatly down at the end of the fly stitching. On the outside, at the end of the fly opening, make a strong stay-stitch or bar, to keep it from tearing out.
THE TOP EDGE of the trousers is turned over a seam, and a strip of lining stitched to it, then basted down in a faced hem. A band, with the buttonholes worked in it with stout thread or twist, is basted over this faced hem, and from the right side stitched through both facing and band at the lower edge and the ends. A strong tack thread should catch the band and the facing between the buttonholes.
THE LOWER EDGE of each trousers leg is hemmed by hand with invisible stitches.
BLOUSES or the coats of suits vary considerably in style. It is best to rely on the Deltor or Illustrated Instructions for making and finishing.
A STRICTLY TAILORED COAT for a man or boy is made in very much the same way as a strictly tailored coat for women except that the effect is even more tailored. The best tailors in New York give a well-tailored and mannish look to a coat by the methods given below.
For this style of coat it is very important to know how to baste in the canvas, face the front of the coat and put in the lining before joining the shoulder seam. Not until this has been done should the collar be basted to the coat. These are the fine points of tailoring and should be followed closely in coat-making.
THE CANVAS IN THE COAT FRONT. In basting the canvas to the front of the coat, the canvas should not be basted from the canvas side, but the coat should be placed over the canvas and the two basted together from the outside of the coat. This is done to prevent making the canvas too short which would cause the coat to pucker.
THE CANVAS AND CLOTH IN THE LAPEL OF THE COAT ARE HELD TOGETHER by padding stitches. The method of making these padding stitches is shown in Chapter 12, page 59. Hold the lapel over the hand with the canvas side up and start the padding stitches a little back of the crease roll at the neck and gradually taper them to the crease roll at the front of the coat. The stitches are then worked outward to the edge of the lapel. The canvas in the front of the coat and the lapel is then trimmed off three-eighths of an inch from the edge.
TO PREVENT THE FRONT EDGES OF THE COAT AND LAPEL FROM STRETCHING use a narrow linen or cotton tape which has been thoroughly shrunken, placing it along the front edge of the coat and the lapel. (Page 60, Illustration 102.) Place the tape a good three-eighths of an inch from the edge, so that later when sewing on the facing the tape will not be caught in the facing sewing. Also sew a tape one-eighth of an inch in in back of the crease roll of the lapel, starting the tape about an inch from the front edge of the coat and extending it one inch above the neck edge. When a soft roll in the lapel is desired the tape along the crease roll is omitted. When the tape has been sewed on carefully the fronts are pressed and the lapels pressed back.
THE FACING—The method of putting on the facing is the same as for the ladies' coat. (Chapter 12, page 61.) Turn up the hem at the bottom of the coat and turn in the bottom of the facing even with the coat and baste. Baste the back edge of the facing to the canvas and catch-stitch it. Fell the lower edge to position.
THE SEAMS—When using a material which ravels easily the seams should be overcast if the coat is lined. (Chapter 16, page 82.) If the coat has a half or full skeleton lining the seams should be bound. (Chapter 17, page 88.) The back edge of the facing and the hem at bottom of the coat should also be bound.
​THE LINING—The coat is now ready for the lining. Place the coat on the table with the shoulder seams open and baste the lining back to the inside of the coat with the underarm edges along the underarm seams.
Baste the lining front to the inside of the coat. Turn under the underarm edges and baste them over the back. Turn under the front edge and baste it over the facing, allowing a little ease in width. Turn under the bottom of the lining and place it one-half an inch from the bottom of the coat, basting the lining to position one-half an inch from the edge. After the lining has been basted in position stitch the shoulder seams of the coat and press the seams open. (Chapter 32.) Turn to the outside of the coat and baste the shoulder seams to the canvas.
THE COLLAR—The under section of the collar for a coat should be of under-oollar cloth which can be purchased at any tailors' trimmings store, and comes in gray, brown, blue and black at about twelve or fifteen cents a collar. In purchasing this cloth any store of this kind has a form for a notched collar which they lay on the material and cut just the amount required for the collar. This piece of material must be sponged. (Chapter 6.)
Cut the under collar like the pattern. Join the back edges and press the seam open. After pressing, trim off the edges of the under collar three-eighths of an inch. Baste a piece of canvas (cut bias) over the collar and baste along the crease roll. The stand of the collar, which is the part near the neck up as far as the crease roll, should be held together with rows of machine stitching, making the rows one-eighth of an inch apart. (Chapter 12, page 59.) The turnover part of the collar is held together by padding stitches (Chapter 12, page 59), using the same method as in making the lapel. Press the collar into shape, stretching the bottom of the stand from three-eighths to one-half an inch and the outer edge about one-quarter of an inch.
Fold the collar along the crease roll, canvas side up. and press it into shape. Trim off the edges of the canvas all around to within one-eighth of an inch inside of the edges of the under collar. The collar can now be basted to the coat. Baste the neck edge of the collar to the neck edge of the coat three-eighths of an inch from the edge and overhand the collar in place with fine overhand stitches. (Chapter 16, page 82.) Then turn to the inside and catch-stitch the neck edge of the coat to the collar. The upper end of the tape along the crease roll of the lapel which extends over the neck edge should be sewed to the collar inside the crease roll. This presents the roll line at the neck from stretching.
The top of the facing should be turned in and slip-stitched along the top of the lapel and along the outline at the bottom of the collar.
The over-collar should now be basted over the collar along the crease roll and about one-half inch from the outer edge, making sure that there is plenty of size in the over collar when the collar is rolled back. Turn under the edges of the over collar except the neck edges between the shoulder seams even with the edges of the under collar and baste. Fell the outer edges of the under collar to the collar. Slip-stitch the lower edge of the collar along the top of the facing. Baste the shoulder edge of the lining back to the seam of the coat. Turn under the shoulder edge of the lining front and baste it over the lining back. Turn under the neck edge and baste it over the collar edge.
The buttonholes are made with eyelets. (Chapter 24, page 113.)
POCKETS—Directions for making different types of pockets used on boys' and mens' clothes are given in Chapter 22.