Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-23
r1TrrSTYLESOF BUSTLES
,,.ny-ING TASTES OF WO-
TIE LIN or THE TIMES.

Now York Where Clusters
II lFa"" GIRLS Make Endless Numbers
Of pu,' kinds Of HOopskirts a Com
o. SKIRT Begun and Finished In
Eight Minutes
From the Net0 York Sun.
If busy girls sat before long
sewing machines in a big build
V"' walker street swiftly stitching
pS strips of broad white tape
,l'r .ds Of the tape were heaPed before
1op, r,acbine. and were quickly changed
t'Vu adatt manipulation Of the workers
+" sinoIe Wristbands, with broad rib
~" If tape depending from them like
wv mars. Younger girls gathered the
'.l ,1 tapes up into loose heaps, and car
nom over to another cluster Of girls
'I, ,aset before rows Of wooden frames
',a, looked like ing truncated cones.
g ,,' Girls fitted the Wristbands snugly
I...r me ton OF the frames, and in an in
O' .oat we're deity braiding strips of linen
.orored wire through the tape streamers
\ sot hing loose from the wai9tbands.
me- 1Ta worked with surprising sWItness,
Ir.dchatted pleasantly in low tones.
AM npere ,, said Manufacturer Malcolm
It'll "you can view at a glance the in
..llasting details OF an industry that
Il taons an army OF girls busy eight months
% he wear. and which just now reaches
~ rreatest rpsh. These girls are making
n boonskirts and bustles"
9o nointed to n curly-haired blonde
MIN sat before one of the wooden frames
simbly working with tweezers and strips
" swatch herr be said, ''and see how
simpe It is TO make hoopsklrt."
There were six streamers of tape at
,,eb.d 10 the waistband that the girl had
St,ad on the frame. Each streamer mad
twenty-five little loops or pockets cut in
il and extending in 4 row from top to bot
tm The girl ran strips of wire through
tbp nockets Of the elk streamers as quick
asa wink and fastened them to each
uocket with little brass clasps by p def
fwist of a pair of steel tWee2ers. In just
eicbt minutes the whole twenty-five rows
Of wire we're in place, and the girl lifted
complete hoopskirt of the ordinary style
from the frame.
"Of course all hOopskirts are not made
souick. That one is the simplest and
cteapest made, and the workers can av-
erags nve dozen of them q day right
along. When it comes to making skirt
with a hustle. and a skirt with a hustle is
the correct thing. you know, it is slower
and more elaborate work. The wires are
s.Wed in place in each pocket instead of
being fastened with clasps of metal, and
care has to be exercised in shaping the
contour of the hustle. A dozen hustle
skirts are all that the best worker can
complete in a day. The tape used for
holding the wires is manufactured on pur-
pose for the trade and is sent to us with
The pockets already cut. All that is neces-
sary to get Il ready for the skirt maker is
10 have our machine operators sew the
tapes TO waistband. That takes Just
about minute. The wire used for the
hoops is flexible steel, and can be bent or
folded without breaking, and viii allow
the hO0pskirt TO be successfully packed in
very small bundle. Anybody who ever
tried TO pack an Old-fasbiOned hOopskirt
in a bundle VIII understand in an instant
what an advance civilization has made in
this direction over the days Of our grand
mothers"
The manufacturer walked down stairs
lnto bis show rooms. Skirts hung on the
walls on all sides, and bustles were
heaped in great profusion on the wooden
counters. The variety of shapes displayed
IN the h00pskirts attracted the eye of the
visitor.
DO fashions hOOpskirts vary muchp
well, l should say so. One year
tneyre big, the next year they're small.
Just as male trousers are tight one year
aud big and baggy the next. But q sin
GUAR thing about the hOOpskirt fashions
tnat masculine creation knows nothing
about, and even the women themselves
are scarcely aware OF, is that the kind Of
SKIRT that the women of one section nf the
country wear will not do for another sec
llOQ. Each dpmanrlC r. Ia
style, and gets it."
Inc manufacturer yanked a new-made
hoopshirt down from overhead as he said
tals, and put it up on the counter before
the visitor.
1T may be truthfully said" he con-
uuued, with A laugh, THAT Boston lust
now takes the cake for big bustles. There
- a weird and wonderful expsuse to
1Ieir bustles that gives the women of the
nuD an exclusive distinction in the mat
UT Oh hoopskirts. This is the Boston style
u SKIRT you re looking at now"
~ looked like giant conical rat trap
mat had been oulged out at the back. The
sAlTI was 50 inches long. and the hustle of
ssne same length. Two strips Of cloth were
lasleIed at the back on the hustle. They
."u.u De drawn together with a lace like
l"e Two parts OF a corset. The lace per
united the hustle to be contracted or ex-
p'4ueq as a sailor might reef or shake out
~ Boston girl wants her dress to
se.oA OUT very prominently behind" the
nae ulacturer said. ''she Just takes a reef
q" .ne stays and is happy"
haI 40 the Gotham girls fancy?" the
alsl9r asked. as the Boston hoopskirt
vac hung upon the wall again.
tney come down just SIX inches on the
. 0aslle part" the manufacturer replied,
i "uu Vney are mighty particular that the
b"I snah. I De longer than "a inches. The
"uslie is only II inches long, and rests
'9llg on the hips. IL il called hip bus
~ Nc ne critical eye would detect, further
, Ioi . mat the New York girls don't take
~ y Ieels IN their bustles. They are made
a. neAlole wire. and covered with light
Nounces or pulled clotn.v
.1 W nav 90 the Philadelphia girls wear?"
- lnhts all" said the manufacturer.
the counter. '"'''e v"
~ was made OF three coils OF wire that
other. P4'S" o"e "OOFe the
~, 70 20 lar as IL concerns bustles.' - he add
~, ! hlladelphia is away behind the age.
90 ~, slIls Wear the smallest bustles on the
ossnnuhenl, and they never anpear TO
,.i.auks Jheir taste about il, either. des-
ite tie ambitious example set them bv
- kris Of Boston. The Philadelpbin
u9se Us shy and retiring thing that
ott11nQs Just about nowhere in the fashion
"D.e ihoopskirt world.
u ine girls Of the boundless and growing
s.avs| the hoopskirt maker concluded
are not Dartfcutarfv t,r.;,,ts..,f ''.