Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-26
SCHOOLS FOR DRESS MAKING.
London Establishment That Might
Well be Initiated Here.

A London Establishment That Might
Well be Initiated Here.
From the New York rimes
In the busiest and most fashionable thorough
fare in London is situated school where the
whole art Of dress making is taught from be-
ginning to end, as trades are taught at techni-
cal schools The term is six months. The
class rooms are open from 10 o'clock in the
morning until O'Clock in the evening girl
learns to cut, ft, sew, drape and make dress
in every detail in six months and lie given q
diploma The cost Of learning is about sS5
The endless complaints heard on every side
from everybody against incompetent dress
makers, who send out il-ftting and badly made
dresses, indicate that O school for dress making
in New York would be benefaction to sewing
girls and their patrons. Not only the dainty
dame OF the middle class grumbles that her
clothes are ruined by poor dress makers. but
Bridget in tho kitchen bewails the fact that
there is no fit TO her clothes
The Young Women's Christian Association
mas q sewing department superintended by a
woman OF excellent skill and artistic taste.
Applicants are admitted between the ages Of
thirteen and thirty-ive, and no sum is enacted
Tor the teaching. The pupils according 20
their ability handle the needle more or less
skiIifully and leave the department competent
70 DO plain sewing and to make children's
dresses. The clever ones of taste and skill
might make successful dress makers, but they
do not make dresses during their term Of learn
ing. little maid of thirteen years proved to
De the best sewer in class recently finished in
tins department. The girl who wishes 10 learn
dress making must pick up the art best she
can In the establishments in which she works
As an apprentice she runs errands. rips. bastes,
mems and does the general drudgery of dress
making, and at the end OF six months has little
practical or helpful knowledge Of the art Per-
maps she Is taught to make sleeves and does
that and nothing else for the rest of her life or
as long as she is employed. The division
OF work prevents the sspirant from learning
the whole system. The waist hands make
nothlng but waists, the skirt makers devote
their time wholly to making skirts and those
who are artistic and are apt at designing spend
thelr time draping and arranging trimmings of
dresses. This system no doubt insures a per-
lection and finish in each ones work 1t might
not otherwise have, but when an ambitious
girl with more verve, force and capability than
the rest leaves the ranks and starts in business
ror herself then the grave mistakes OF this sort
OF training become signally apparent She has
good intentions, artistic ideas of style and
grace, but alamentable lack of practical knowl-
edge OF cutting and fitting spois her finest
connections She may make dresses cheap and
get numerous customers, and as there are ten
incompetent dress makers to every good one
P".a ohs uespaI iHRLy hcCept what tney can get
ana grow old worrying over the disappoint-
ments and irritations caused by ill-ftting and
badly made dresses.
A school for dress making would make many
housekeeper independent of dress makers Ii
she knew the art she could make her own
dresses and be able to dress better and more
becomingly with less expense, for the price of
making a dress is often many times the cost of
the material. Plain women who haven't the
fatal gift of beauty could make themselves at
tractive by studying their defects and best
points and adopting style of dress which will
subdue the one and enhance the other. A
woman can be picturesque, yet not bizarre.
The possibilities for making money at dress
making are not appreciated by the unskillfuL
Many women have retired from business COM
paratively wealthy. and live in much comfort If
not luxury on the income derived from dress
making. The salaries earned by girls working
In shops and large dress making establishments
compare favorably with the wages earned in
other departments open to women. Sleeve
makers earn from So to $l0 a week, as much
and more than many downtown type writers
receive; waist trimmers get from : 10 to Sl2 a
week; filters vary from Sl2 to $40. and drapers
earn from els to $50 a week, sums equal to
those earned by many teachers in aristocratic
schools. The fore women who do skirt cutting
and attend to the work room earn SIS week.
and the forewomen who superintend the trim
ming OF waists and special orders got from so
to $50 week. A well-known dress maker ION
the avenue" charged S125 for making and
trimming OF simple ginghsm gown. The
dress was daintily artistic and the trimming
was exquisite embroidery, beautiful and sheer
In texture, but the whole CONNECTION was not
elegant enough to cost $l25. The wearer paid
for the artistic skill, name and chic Of the dress
maker.
The manager Of the New York Exchange for
Woman's work says she .'hopes some day to
have school for dress making in connection
with her art school," She adds: IF school
could be established where measuring cutting.
draping, trimming, correcting, sewing, making
up. matching, fitting, copying designs, manag-
ing work rooms and giving estimates and buv-
ing-in fact, doing everything that successful
dress makers have to dol think it would do
good the beneficial results of which cannot be
estimated" Women who are good buyers and
have the ability to superintend large work
rooms earn salaries varying from $500 TO
$500 year. and they spend three or four
months OF every year in Paris or London at the
best hotels. The buyers for Boston firm have
an elegant home on Beacon street, and while in
Paris last year were thought to be American
heiresses, and nobleman with more title than
pocket money was assiduous in his attentions
until he learned one day that the ladies were
no heiresses, but two very able, successful
American women who had earned sufficient
fortune to keep them in comfortable circum-
stances by their own industry and trustworthy
ability.