The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-09-14
WAXING THEIR BUSTS.
HOW FRENCH TAILOas MEASURE
THEIR LADY CUSTOMERS.

SOI SOUS 1uQ DFc5S ATlmmlQR.
(copyri9ht.)
NEW YORK, Sept l3.-The tailor-made
girl has been the subject Of romance and
paragraph until she has become the very
modest Of chestnuts, aud yet nobody ever
went to the trouble Of telling the dear pub
lie how she is made.
l assure you it is a fearf II and wonderful
process. 1t is only few years since the
American girl took it into her head that a
woman could not make dress. The smooth,
na.ty, comfortable suits OF their brothers
filled these feminine souls with consuming
envy, and they bega to say to one another:
''Why can't we have taior-made suits,
toop Why, indeed! There seemed to be
no very good reason, save that dress, in
order to fit, must needs be fitted, and how
was it to be done!
Agirl might with perfect impunity, un-
cover neck and arms, yea, even bust and
shoulders, and 60 into q crowd where 500
men migut look at her; but to allow one
poor solitary tailor to LOOK at her in her cor
set cover-why, it would never do in tie
world; of course not. sucl thing was not
to be thought of Aud so the dear creatures
were, as John Bunyan might have remarked,
much put to it." until an ingenious
Frenchman stepped into the breach. and
devised ways and means that answer every
objection.
The name OF, this beuefactor is Francis
X. Ledoux, and he had enough good bust
mes tact about him to protect his discovery
W h patent.
After l have told all about this unique
plan Of procedure. my feminine readers will
not have the delightful uncertainty which
l enjoyed, in wondering what upon earth
this or thatwas done for, and what would
come next, it was ell so novel,
In the first place you GO to the tailor and
tell him you want a dre>s. He says: Very
WELL madam" without any question as TO
what sort Of dress 1t is to be, or the style
of it. He measures you about the bust aud
waist, whips out little book, saying, after
looking moment: "You may come next
Monday at IL o'clock, and please be
prompt"
but" you ask, "aren't. you going to
measure me any more THAI that, and don't
you want TO know"
THAT will all como later, madam" says
monsieur, the tailor.
And so you have to go without any
chance to talk il over,n which is such a
Disappointment.
We'll, when you get around the next Mon
day-you are taken into the back parlor,
and two lady attendants di9es5 you of your
and then to your utter establishment, an old
soiled skirt is put on you. 1t seems all
covered over with grease, or something
very hGe it, and your wonder grows when
the half of waist made of heavy black
wooden cloth. and likewise greasy, is slipped
o you. Of course it only hall covers YOU.
On the other side a half waist is put, of
clean white jersey webbing, and the at
tenGaDts proceed 10 stretch it over
ba holt
they stretch and pin until it is ns smooth as
your SKIN. | forget TO say that high stiff
linen collar is buttoned rouad the neck,
before this fitting begins. When all is SAT-
isf1c5orily pinned, you sit down and tho girls
get on their knees beside you. aad proceed
to sew you up. Every sean is closely sewed
over and over. Then piece of the web
bling is fitted over your arm in the same
way, cut out to fit, and sewed up and sewed
in. A collar Of some stiff material is fitted
and sewed on, ard there you are half black
and half white. like prison convict, and
the whole business sewed fast to you At
this stage the tailor is C lied in, and comes
bringing kettle of something that steams.
You begin to feel Bit uneasy, but every
body looSs harmless. so you keep still.
| could not forbear, however, asking
what it was, when the steaming kettle, with
a big brush il it, came my way. THAT is
melted wax" was all the explanation got,
and straightway he began to plaster me
with it. [ advise everybody to whom this
description IS new to have this part done in
cool weather, for | don't think hot wax
would make comfortable jacket in July.
OF course as soon as the wax cooled it
was hard, and then began the measuring
and marking. All the lines were drawn on
the ak surface, until it looked like an out
line map. Then came lot of measuring
that went down in book. Next, a straight
line was drawn by rule down the front
and another down the back, and another
lengthwise of the arm. With a sharp
knife the waxen arpor was slit just
where these lines were drawn, taken off and
set upon the table, and there was me, or the
upper half of me, done in wax.
The next thing was the dress. The tailor
came back, aud instead of asking what sort
of dress | wanted he began to tell me
what ought TO have. Before he finished /
decided that lie knew exactly what he was
talking about, and abandoned entirely my
former ideas and got what he told me TO.
The result was dress that is joy forever.
It is at ones artistic and stylish, a perfect
fit, and very easy. Now" said the tailor,
when the il terview was over, II can fit n
thousand dresses for you if you wish, and
you need try them on but once. This
model will last as long as you remain the
shape you are now"
| was curious to know what use was to be
made of this wax image.
Il cut it all to pieces" said Monsieur Le-
doux-for it was the inventor himself who
made my tailor-gown-"The 1 lay it down
fiat and cut pattern of heavy paper"
"You SEQ the wax that is put upon the
cloth makes it impossible for it to stretch or
get out of shape in any way. II I were to
fit a cloth pattern upon you tightly when it
was taken off 1t would spring back into
shape ard the pattern would be too small.
But here have the exact lines of your body
and the shape is absolutely correct"
why is it that women cannot make
dresses as well as meng l esked the tailor
Because" he replied, "a woman pays
too much attention to detail. She depends
too much upon tie effect of trimmings and
drapery. Now, the only beauty there is in
garment is the correctness with which it
follows the outline of the figure. A dress
must first be properly cut and then prop
erly fitted, otherwise it Is a failure. Any
body" said monsieur, with al expressive
shrug and gesture, "can.put;these things on
dress"-indicating frills and drapery-"but
no amount of them can ever give any style
or any elegance TO garment that is badly
cut"
what do you think" asked, "of the
notion women have lately taken of going
without corsets2 Do you think a woman
can have really fine figure without a cor
set?
"Wel," replied monsieur with smile,
"a woman either has foe figure or she