# The New Dressmaker/Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2
BUTTERICK PATTERNS
What They Are, What They Do. How to Buy the Right Size, How to Buy Your Materials, How to Use Your Pattern Correctly
BUTTERICK PATTERNS are always in advance. They are the smartest in style, and give the prettiest versions of new fashions. They are the easiest to use and are fully guaranteed in every way. They are designed by a staff whose headquarters are in Paris and New York. This staff is in constant touch with the work of the most famous French dressmakers such as Worth, Doueet, Paul Poiret. Madame Paquin, Dteuillet, Chéruit, Agnes, Jeanne Lanvin, Jenny, Premet, Beer, Redfern and Martial et Armand. During the Paris season the Butterick staff attend the French races, the smart restaurants, the opera and the new plays where the newest fashions are shown, in order to adapt them immediately to American needs in the Butterick Pattern. The Paris social season is in the Spring, the London season in the early Summer, the Deauville and Biarritz seasons in Midsummer, the New York season from November until Lent, the Palm Beach season in January and early-February, and the Nice and Monte Carlo season in March. It is therefore possible for the Butterick staff to work directly at the sources of the fashions which would be impractical if all these seasons occurred at the same time.
More Butterick Patterns are sold in Paris than all other makes of French patterns. The smart Frenchwoman uses Butterick Patterns because she is in a position to compare them with the fashions of the Rue de la Paix and knows the Butterick Patterns give her the latest French styles.
WHAT THEY ARE. The Butterick Pattern gives you the actual shape of every new fashion and for every type of garment tor women, young girls, children, boys and babies, and for every kind of garment that a woman should undertake to make for the men in her family. The Butterick Patterns give the professional dressmaker patterns that she can not afford to make herself. If she is sufficiently expert to be able to draft a good pattern her time is worth several hundred times the small amount which she pays for the Butterick pattern. If she is not expert enough to make a pattern, the Butterick pattern made by the highest grade of professionals saves her the ruinously expensive mistakes that she would make if she attempted to cut her own patterns.
HOW TO BUY THE RIGHT SIZE. It is absolutely essential that you buy your pattern by the right size. In no other way can you be sure of securing the perfect lines of the original design. The right size will save you time because it means that there will be no unnecessary fitting. It will save your material. A size too large takes more material than you require while a size that is too small might make your dress unwearable. Insist on being measured each time you buy a pattern. New corsets or an unsuspected change of weight may have altered your bust, waist or hip measure. Before buying a pattern put on your best corsets and lace them properly. Wear a waist or dress that fits nicely. Never be measured in old corsets, over your coat, or in a clumsy dress or a negligee.
The bust measure only is used in buying waists, blouses, dresses, coats and underwear (except petticoats and drawers). Buy them all by the same bust measure. If you buy a thirty-six bust waist buy a thirty-six bust coat or chemise.
Don't buy a larger size for your coat or a smaller size for your underwear. A coat ​ Ills 4 & 5 Mesuring a Women's Bust Wasit Hip and Arm pattern makes allowance in the size of the waist or dress underneath; underwear patterns make the proper provision in size to allow for the fact that they are worn under a waist or dress.
A thirty-six inch bust pattern fits a figure which measures thirty-six inches in the bust. The pattern itself does not necessarily measure thirty-six inches. The proper amount of fulness is allowed in a blouse to give it the right softness on the figure. In a waist the right amount of size is allowed to give the correct style effect. A thirty-six inch bust soft blouse will be larger than a thirty-six inch bust close-fitted basque but both of them will fit correctly a woman who measures thirty-six inches at the bust.
In buying a pattern you can not rely on the size that you buy in ready-made clothes. With some manufacturers sizes run large and with others they run small, and do not furnish you a reliable guide in buying a pattern. Be measured.
The bust measure should be taken over the fullest part of the bust close up under the arms and straight across the back, with the tape-measure drawn easily but not snug. (Ills. 4 and 5.)
Ill. 6. The Underarm Measure is Taken from One Inch Below the Armpit to the Length the Dress is to be Worn
The waist measure should be taken at your normal waist-line with the tape-measure held snug but not tight.(Ills. 4 and 5.)
Skirt patterns, drawers and pettcoats should be bought by the hip measure taken seven inches below the normal waistline for women, and around the fullest part of the hip for misses and small women. The tape should be easy and not snug. (Ills. 4 and .5.)
The sleeve pattern should be bought by the arm measure taken easily around the arm just below the armhole. (Ill. 4.)
At the top of every pattern you will find instructions as to how to buy that particular pattern that is, whether it should be bought by the bust or hip measure, etc. Follow these instructions in buying your pattern. Skirt patterns should be bought by the hip measure. (Ills. 4 and 5.) If the waist is small in proportion to the hips, it is an easy matter to take in the skirt a little at the top. If the pattern is small for you at the waist—and this will happen only in rare cases— a slight allowance can be made for the necessary waist size when you cut out your material.
A skirt pattern should never be ordered with a hip measure smaller than that of the figure to be fitted. If a plaited skirt is too large or too small at the waist, the plaits should be made either deeper or shallower to fit the belt.
If the skirt is gathered at the top, the gathers simply need to be drawn a little closer or let out as much as ​Ills.7 and 8. Measuring a Child's Bust Waist and Hip needed. If the skirt is plain at the top and gored, each seam should be taken in so as to make the alteration as small as possible in each place, sloping it gradually to nothing at the hipline. Or the waist size can be increased as illustrated and explained in Chapter 5 "Altering Skirt Patterns." Page 28.
In a circular skirt with one or more darts, the waist size can be made smaller or larger by taking in or letting out the darts.
In a circular skirt without darts, if only a small reduction is required, it may often be eased into the belt. If the waist needs to be made very much smaller it may be necessary to make a small dart at each hip.
If the waistline needs to be made larger it can be done by raising the skirt a trifle on the belt all the way around. A very little will increase the waist size a good deal.
MISSES PATTERNS for dresses, blouses, coats and underwear, except drawers and petticoats, should be bought by the ageunless the girl is large or small for her age in which case the pattern should be bought by her bust measure. Skirt, drawers and petticoat patterns should also be bought by the age if the girl is of normal size. If she is large or small buy her drawers or petticoat patterns by her hip measure.
SMALL WOMEN'S PATTERNS for dresses. l)louses, coats and underwear, except drawers and petticoats, should be bought in bust measure. Skirt, drawers and petticoat patterns should be bought by hip measure.
JUVENILE PATTERNS should be bought by age unless the child is small or large for its age. In that ease order the girl's dresses, coat and underwear, except drawers, by the bust measure. The drawers should be ordered by the waist measure. The proper way of taking a child's measurements is shown in the Illustrations 6, 7 and 8.
Ills. 9 and 10. Measuring a Boy's Breast and Waist
BOYS' PATTERNS should be ordered by age. If a boy is large or small for his age order his blouse, suits and coat by his breast measure, his shirts by his neck measure, and his trousers by his waist measure. Illustrations 9 and 10 show the proper way of taking boys' measurements. The breast measure is taken around the body close under the arm with the tape drawn close but not tight. The measurement for an overcoat should be taken over the clothing the coat is to cover. The waist measure should be taken at the normal "waistline 'with the tape-measure held close but not tight .
HEAD MEASURE. In ordering hats for children order hat patterns by the age unless the head is large ​Ill.12. A Doll is Measured from the Top of its Head to the 5ole of Its Feet or small. In that case measure the head as shown in llustration 11.
MEN'S SHIRT PATTERNS should be bought by the neck measure. You fan get his neck measure from his collar, a comfortable shirt, or his own neck. If you buy his shirt patterns by his collar size find out whether he prefers his shirts ½ inch or ¼ of an inch smaller than his collar or the same size. All three sizes are correct, it is a matter of individual preference.
If you are measuring from a shirt that is comfortable, measure from the center of the buttonhole of the right end to the center of the buttonhole of the left end.
If you measure his bare neck, measure it where the neck band comes. Do it carefully and hold the tape-measure easy. Add ½ inch to his actual neck measure for his shirt size.
Butterick shirt patterns allow for all shrinkage of the silk and cotton materials. Wool materials should be shrunk before cutting.
Buy his nightshirt and pajama patterns by the same neck measure as you would a regular shirt. Don't buy a larger size; the night-shirt and pajamas patterns have the necessary allowance for an easier fit around the neck and through the body.
DOLLS' PATTERNS. When you measure a doll measure its length from the top of its head to the sole of its foot. (Ill. 12.)
HOW TO BUY YOUR MATERIALS. The effect of a dress depends very largely on choosing the material that is suitable for it. For example, you would never choose chiffon for a circular skirt on account of the fact that chiffon would stretch badly when cut on the bias, and that it is so soft that it would not give the flare at the bottom which is characteristic of the circular skirt.
You would not choose a stiff silk that would give the bouffant effect in a style period when fashions were soft and clinging. Nor would you use a soft, clinging silk when it is desirable to have the bouffant effect given by a stiff silk. A material that has had a great vogue and that has become passe should never be used for a new dress for it will give the dress an out-of-date appearance.
The same thing is true of colors. For certain staple materials like serge and gabardine, the accepted colors like black and navy blue are always worn, but for the most part it is necessary to inform yourself each season as to what is new and correct. This information is given each month in The Delineator and every season in Butterick Fashions. Materials suitable for the pattern are also given on the back of the pattern envelope.
The quantities on the pattern envelope will tell you what width of material you can select. Never choose a material narrower than those given on the envelope. The widths given are the ones in which you can cut the garment without ugly piecings. Narrower widths are not given because they would be undesirable.
The pattern envelope will tell you exactly how much material you would need for any size and in every suitable width for the different views on the pattern envelope. For that reason you must always buy your pattern before you buy your material. If you buy your material first you will do it by guesswork and you will get either too much or too little. If it is too much you are wasting material and money. If you get too little, one of two disagreeable things might happen. You might not be able to get more material when you went back for it. or you might find that the amount you bought originally was a quarter of a yard too little for your sleeves, making it necessary to get three-quarters of a yard of new material, where a quarter of a yard more material in the first place would have answered if it had all been cut in one piece. Buy your pattern first and decide which view you will follow in making it up so that you can find out exactly what material you will require. It will take less material, for example, if you are going to make a dress with the short sleeve of one view instead of the long sleeve of another. The pattern gives the quantity for each view.
In planning the length of your skirt and before cutting your material, it is necessary to decide whether the lower edge is to be finished with a hem or facing. Butterick patterns ​for ladies' skirts do not allow for a hem and the quantities given on pattern envelope do not include enough material for a hem. In some cases a facing can be made from pieces that are left over. As a rule a skirt can be cut from less material if a facing is used but in some cases a hem is preferable while in other cases a facing is better.
For a sheer material a hem should be used, if possible, as the seam joining a facing to the lower edge of a skirt will show through a transparent fabric. A hem is the best finish for the bottom of a plaited skirt as a seam in the lower edge would be bulky in the plaits.
If the lower edge of a skirt has an inward curve as is usually the case when a skirt is much narrower at the bottom than the top, it is better to use a bias or shaped facing as a hem would be tight at the upper part when turned up.
If a hem is desired, allowance for it must be made in buying the quantity of material and in cutting by the pattern, unless the skirt pattern is too long for you. If you are two or three inches below average height the pattern will be too long for you and the quantities given will allow you to use a hem.
THE USE OF PATTERNS. After you have bought your pattern take it home, open it and identify the different pieces by the diagram on the back of the envelope.
If the two sides of the pattern are exactly alike you will find that the pattern is for just half the garment and that each piece is to be cut double or twice.
A front gore pattern is cut double with its front edge on the fold of the goods.
If one side is different from the other a pattern will be given for each part that is different as in the case of a skirt which is draped on one side and not on the other.
The two side gores are either cut singly or from a double thickness of the material.
After you have identified each piece of the pattern decide which ones you are going to use and put the others back in the envelope. A waist, for example, will often have two sleeves, and you must choose before cutting which sleeve pattern you prefer. You must also decide whether you will use a body lining, a collar for the high neck, etc. Always put the pieces that you are not going to use out of the way so that you will not make the mistake of cutting out things you do not need, and wasting your material.
The Butterick Pattern has a unique service of the greatest value in the DELTOR with its ILLUSTRATED LAY-OUTS FOR CUTTING. These lay-outs show how to lay out for cutting every size in which the pattern is cut and on material of every width suitable for the garment. If there are two or three ways of making a garment from the pattern, the layouts cover each method of making the garment.
The purpose of these lay-outs is twofold. In the first place they are intended to show a woman the most economical way of cutting this garment correctly with the least possible waste of material. In the second place they show her how to place each piece of the pattern on the correct grain of the material. If any piece is cut on the Wrong grain it will look badly when the garment is worn. If a sleeve is cut on the wrong grain it will crawl around the arm and never stay in the right place. With the new Butterick Illustrated LayoutsIll. 13. Lengthwise and Crosswise of Material, Lengthwise and Crosswise Folds any woman can cut her garment just as an expert dressmaker or tailor would cut it. This question of the grain or thread of the material is very important.
All materials are finished at the outside edges with a woven border called a selvedge. (Ill. 13.) The material itself is woven with lengthwise or crosswise ​threads. The lengthwise threads run parallel to the selvedge. (Ill. 13) Crosswise threads run from selvedge to selvedge.(Ill. 13.)
A LENGTHWISE FOLD is a fold made parallel to the selvedge. (Ill. 13.)
A CROSSWISE FOLD is a fold made straight across the material from selvedge to selvedge. (Ill. 13.) Ill. 14. Marking Material for Bias Strips
A TRUE BIAS runs diagonally across the material at right angles to the lengthwise and crosswise threads. (Ill. 14.)
True Bias is obtained by spreading the material on the table and making a mark seven or eight inches from one corner on both the selvedge and the cut end. Lay a yardstick across the corner, touching both these marks, and draw a line. (Ill. 14.) Make as many marks on both edges as there are strips needed, marking them the required width. Then cut carefully , following the line and using sharp scissors.
When the material for the bias bands is alike on both sides, as in the case of corded silk, for instance, be careful to have the cut strips all on the same bias.
Sometimes, in cutting, if the material is very pliable, the edges will stretch, and in time the cutting line will deviate from the original mark. It is well, in cutting many strips, to lest the bias line occasionally, by laying the yardstick across the material, and cutting a new edge if the old one is not even.
Bias bands, folds, ruffles, facings, etc., must be cut on a true bias to give satisfactory results. For rounding corners or following curved lines, or making folds or ruffles hang gracefully, it is impossible to use successfully material that is cut on the straight of the weave. To maintain a perfect bias, the strips should be of equal width throughout their entire length.
Ill. 15. Joining Bias Strips Ill. 16. The Seam
TO JOIN BIAS STRIPS, lay the two diagonal ends together as shown in Illustration 15 and baste in a seam. (Ill. 15.) It will then be seen that when the joined strips are lapped back, the grain of both pieces runs correctly in the same direction. (Ill. 16.)
PERFORATIONS. Every piece of the pattern is marked with perforations and notches which have different meanings and different uses.
​Ill. 17. A Line of Large Double Perforations is Always Laid on the Material Lengthwise and Parallel to the Selvedge or Crosswise from Selvedge to Selvedge
Large double perforations are used in cutting. (Ill. 17.) They show you how to lay the pattern on the right grain of your material. These large double perforations form a straight line which is always placed lengthwise or crosswise on the material.
Ill. 20. A Large Single Perforation
When they are laid on lengthwise they are parallel to the selvedge edges.
When they are laid on crosswise they run across the material from selvedge to selvedge.
Ill. 18. Large Triple Perforations
Many women take a ruler and draw a straight line through these perforations for it makes it a little easier to see that the line is the same distance from the selvedge from end to end.
Ill. 21. A Small Single Perforation
These large double perforations must be laid on a straight thread of the material so that the garment will set well and have the best effect when finished. If they are not placed exactly parallel to the selvedge or on a straight crosswise thread the garment will twist and look badly.
The large triple perforations are also used for cutting but they are always laid on the fold of the material, either a lengthwise or crosswise fold. (Ill. 18.)
Some skirts are cut with one bias edge on each gore. Others have two bias edges, depending on the design of the skirt. The perforations in the pattern will show you just how that particular skirt should be cut.
Ill. 19. Small Double Perforations
After you have pinned your pattern on the material it is advisable to take a ruler or tape and measure the cutting line to be sure that it is the same distance from the selvedge on each group of perforations.
Ill. 22. Single and Double Notches
Small double perforations are always used to mark the normal waistline in skirts, blouses, coats, etc. (Ill. 19.) In some cases they are also used to indicate special outlines at the neck, etc.
Large single perforations (Ill. 20.) and small single perforations (Ill. 21.) either alone or together are used for different purposes and their use is always shown in the Illustrated Instructions.
NOTCHES (Ill. 22.) are used at seam edges to show which edges should come together. Edges marked with notches are put together with the duplicate notches matching.
Pin the pattern in place with small pins placed as close together as necessary to hold the pattern firmly. Do not push the pins through the material recklessly, but take up as few threads as possible so as not to mark the material.
In cutting you must use sharp dressmaking shears and follow the edge of the pattern exactly. If you cut with small dull scissors you will get a jagged edge that you can not follow in basting. If you cut beyond the edge of the pattern you will change the size of the garment.
​Ill. 23. Basting Through Outlet Perforations ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS. In the pattern envelope you will find THE DELTOR in which are the BUTTERICK ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS. Look these over and see how easily your dress will go together.
THE ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS show you with a series of pictures how to join every part of the garment, just where to baste, tuck, drape, etc. You do not have to read long, confusing directions for it is all told in pictures which, with a few explanatory words, are impossible to misunderstand. You see at a glance what you are to do just as if there were someone at your work-table putting your garment together for you. Ill. 24. Basting a Three-eighths of an Inch Seam
THE ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS show you just how to use every perforation and every notch. If you have never used a pattern in your life the ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS make it possible for you to make any type of garment without any knowledge of dressmaking, because the knowledge is supplied you by an expert who has reduced it to pictures.
* Ills. 25 and 26. Right and Wrong Methods of Terminating Darts |
OUTLET SEAMS are marked by large single perforations (Ill. 23.) In basting them the basting line should run exactly through the center of these perforations. (Ill. 23.)
Ordinary seams are not marked by perforations but are basted exactly ⅜ inch from the seam edge. (Ill. 24.)
The outlet seam is deeper than the ordinary seams. It is made so on purpose so that it can be let out if it is necessary to make any slight alteration to suit the individual figure. They are generally used at underarm and shoulder seams, and very often in the seams of sleeves. In so many cases women's shoulders are not exactly even or there are some slight variations from the average at one point or another of the figure. These outlet seams give you a chance to alter the garment in an easy, simple way.
ORDINARY SEAMS. A ⅜ of an inch seam allowance is made on all edges not cut on the fold of the goods, or finished with a hem. In basting, the seam lines must be followed exactly. (Ill. 24.) If you make them deeper or narrower you will alter the size of the garment.
DARTS are marked by V-shaped lines of perforations.
A dart is made by bringing the two lines of a dart perforations together and basting through the perforations. (Ill. 25.)
​Illustration 25 shows the easy curve which should be followed in finishing a dart in a waist pattern. The illustration shows the material basted with the corresponding perforations matched according to pattern instructions. The line of the basting should follow a reverse curve toward the point, running into the fold almost on a line with the fold. If a reverse curve is not followed (III. 26.) you will get a pouch effect, a sort of pucker, something that is seen at the top of a badly sewed dart.
All perforations and notches should be followed faithfully. They are the work of experts who have gone to an immense amount of labor and study to show you the absolutely correct way of putting together your garment. It takes a little time to mark them all carefully in the beginning, but you save that time over and over again before you are finished.
All the working perforations should be marked with tailors' tacks, using different colored cotton to mark the different sizes and kinds of perforations, so that you won't confuse them after you have removed the pattern from the material. (Chapter 16 III. 146.)
THE DELTOR gives complete suggestions for finishing the garment in the different kinds of material to which it is suited. The finishes given in the Deltor are those that would be used by the best Paris and Fifth Avenue establishments and if they are followed carefully the garment will have a well-made French look instead of "the home-made look" which is the result of improper and careless finishing. The suggestions given in the Deltor are explained and illustrated in The New Dressmaker. For example, if the Deltor tells you to use a French fell seam or a bound buttonhole, you will find illustrated directions for making the seam and the buttonhole in The New Dressmaker.
NOTE: If after reading this chapter carefully and following the instructions you are not entirely satisfied with the way you ha'e made any style of garment from a Butterick Pattern write to Eleanor Chalmers in care of the Butterick Publishing Company, New York City. Explain your difficulty as fully as you can and Mrs. Chalmers will help you.