National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-05-07

| USELESS ELABORATION IN DRES&.
writer In the New York HaR gives the fol-
lowing excellent advice to the women who need
It: In the old days Of hand sewing how pathets
ically women used TO bemoan their fatesI Then
the sewing machine came in, as lift were the
herald Of the millennium. There were never
to be any more songs of the shirt. All the
sewing was to be done up, IN an emergency, By
that good Fairy of the Household, in trice,
before You could snap your fingers and say
Jack Robinson. Oh, what oceans of time
women were going to have for eveyy conceiYa-
bic project under the SUM But straightway
they wheeled around, and almost turned the
blessing into q curse. Instead of doing as they
had promised to do, getting through The sew
ing and having time for other things. thew used
sewing machines 10 turn every article of dresa
into mass of unheard OF elaboration. What
miles of braiding and yards OF tucking and
forests OF founees the sewing machine is re-
sponsible fori
1t is responsible, too, for the elaboratepess Of
style, finish, and ornament which has distin-
gushed the fashions since its advent. TO IL
we owe the utter extinction Of simplicity in
feminine dress. 1t was 30 easy to make up a
simple dress upon it like those worn, perforce,
in the old days of the needle, in very shors
or RULES was not to be resisted by any woman
OF artistic tendencies-and that means ninety
nine women out of every hundred, for they are
nearly all born with more or less Of the artistic
instlnet ior adorning and beautifying-and this
.Tan OF feminine character, for lack of proper
training and proper channels of outlet, becomes
In woman one of her faults when II shonld bava
been one of her virtues
Now, the curse of the day is the brrlsnino,
OF all feminine clothing with mass of suDer,
fuous ornamentation which costs the life and
health Of women, and is death to all her biobe-
mental aspirations. If the sewing machine
were used as originally tntended-as a helper
to work of all the sewing of the week in few
hours, then IL would indeed be a blessing.
Why not make it sol Why not take a new De-
parturel Why not decree such fashions in out
side dress as shall enable any woman to make
new one entire within few hours from tho
time she buys the material and the pattern, on
to have IL done within that time by some one
elsei In either case the saving would be i'm
mense in every way. The same rule could
Dc adopted for all inner garments; and that
division of the wardrobe which comes under
the head Of ''lIngerie"
mean that all of them could be Invested Of
most OF their superhuous RULES and trimmings,
and at the same time gain immensely in strict
~ artistic beauty. 1t was with the immensit1
OF RULES on wash goods that those terrible
"laundress bills" came in. Had it not been
lor the sewing machine enabling q woman to
founce Victoria lawn to the waist, she would
rot now have to pay IS or $40 to get il prop
erly done. After ALL it is the fslsest Of economy,
as 1t is the worst of taste, to hide a garment in
forest OF ruttting, because it is so easy to put
1t on with the sewing machine, in sooth. "But, %
says somebody, "yon'll take the bread out of the
mouths Of hundreds and thousands of sewing
machine operators and laundresses if you do
anything like this" +,
1ndeed2 Thought women wanted to 90 I'D
higher In the professions, and not be hewers Of
wood and drawers of water forever! It is
argued that there are many healthier and more
remuneratiye occupations, now mostly monop-
olized by men, just as suitable to them as the
above named ones. II women have to be driven
into them, 1t is their own fault, and we arc
certainly not bound to keep up a wrong state
OF things by which whols community suffers,
Tor the sake Of any particular class or guild in
lt. III sewing machines are ever to fulfill their
legitimate aim of labor-ssYing inventions, there
must be less call for sewing women and spe-
cial laundresses.