The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-01-10
MAKING PAPER PATTERNS.

One often hears of the severe fashions
Vi we olden tiraes;" of plain skirts and
pOaices, line in material but simply con-
suucted, even for ''the Sunday best"
and we can but look in establishment to
see the contrast few years have
brought about. Wondering how this
great revolution had taken place, re-
porter called on large fashion-house to
make inquiries. Having stated his OBJ
lect he was conducted to a suite of
rooms. each occupied by number of
pretty girls, all busily engaged in cut
ting and folding papers.
When dresses became more elabo-
rate, people in moderate circumstances,
little able to afford dressmakers' bills,
and who yet wanted to keep up with
the fashions of the day, were at loss to
Know what to do, till the inventive
genus of man came to the rescue with
paper patterns. This idea gave rise to
large business, which was taken up
bya few companies, generally in con-
nection with the sale of sewing-ma-
chimes, thus combining the advertising
power needed for the two departments
Since then several houses have started
idependently, and one large firm has
iScS4 given up the machine department,
a 81 patterns having absorbed all the
'eapNal, time, and attention of the COM
bany
''Wllyou tell me how the patterns
are madtp''
''Whena design has been submitted
designing styles is a profession by
itself-eitler made up from paper or
shown iron French drawing or plate,
and has beel approved, competent fit
tiers initiate he design in cheap muslin,
SIMPLY basti1g the parts together, yet
being extremity careful to obtain a per-
feet and well-itting model from which
the pattern nay be copied. These
models, to lnsule a sure and stylish
figure, are tittedto live model, who
wears the ghostly dress till every plat
is properly adjusted and the garment
made to compare exactly with the origi-
nal design. This Goth model is then
sent to the deScrntion-writer, who
carefully rips it apart, at the same time
marking each portion that it may be
exactly replaced from the directions she
writes to accompany each pattern
Next comes the grader, who takes the
dissected garment and cuts an exact
pattern of each part, putting in all the
notches and perforations as marked
upon the cloth by the descrption-writer
The latter by this time has sent the
directions to the printer, who is fast
making ready the envelopes to hold the
pattern when completely
"How are they made to fit different
persons?"
"The grader, who has system of
measurement known only to the pro-
tession, prepares separate patterns or
duplicates of the garment properly en-
larged or diminished to suit both great
and small. He sends these paste-board
patterns of the different sizes to the
cutters, who stand before large tables
with immense sheets of tissue paper in
AYERS of fifty spread before them. The
Y intern is then marked upon them and
w. with large shears, and then is
handed to girls, who with trained fin
fers rapidly fold and place them in
the envelopes now in waiting.
'Much art work is required in an es-
Enlistment of this kind, as the cloth
model, after fitting, has to be sketched
by skillful artists. who are to bring out
in the most graceful manner the curves,
folds, and various novelties represented
in the fashion, to make as acceptable a
wood-cut as possible to use in the illus
trated catalogue, upon the envelopes
and other advertising mediums. Most
houses issue fashion paper a few spicy
and catching notes from the outer
world helping the circulation of what
without these would be pure adver-
Using sheet"
care these patterns much sought
after?"
cover million of patterns are sold
yearly by one house, agencies being es-
tablished all over the world, though it
is conceded that the most substantial
orders are from the growing West and
from towns where the facilities for OBJ
tanning reliable styles are few and fee
bic. A love of being a la mode lies
either latent or expressed in the heart
of every woman, and to the favored
ones living in the city walk down the
leading street or avenue brings to the
mind of both young and old some new
idea of dress, with which the country
girl can only be blessed by the advent
Of city visitor or by hefashion papers
brought by the kindly mails. These
papers are eagerly waited for and
grasped on their arrival Each new
style is conned and criticised, and the
want of the heart filed and happiness
made complete by the knowledge that
a few cents will bring the requisite pat
tern and full directions for the making
of the garment desired"
Glow many new STYLES are brought
out q month";
'From fifteen to sixty new styles are
manufactured monthly, and these some
times form a nucleus for two hundred
page magazine partially made up of
stories, articles on art decoration, prac-.
teal housekeeping, etc, forming still
another solid medium for farther circu-
lation of the styles manufactured. Twice
year styles are "killed'' in order to
keep the stock reduced to the proper
number. The undesirable fashions are
easily detected on examining the orders,
which reveal sometimes a tickle and
ohangeable public taste. A stroll
through an establishment like this de-