Morning journal and courier., 1890-02-25
Dress Wearers and Dressmakers. Sl,o AIorx

4A0 DAo0AWoJ lAOSOSSA0A AO00 OhS oAAAAAoAA- aires, women folk in satins and velvets; shop girls following them afar off in satines and velveteens; stage ladies making as fine an appearance on the pavement as on the boards; factory girls gotten up eheaply, but in the latest style; servants who might be mistaken for their mistresses; literary wo- men, who, according to all tradition, ought to be dowdyish, dressed within an inch of their lives. The only general exception to the rule are the. dressmakers' assistants, .wo-. men and girls who spend their days in put ting millions of stitches into other women's finery, and who have, many of them, be. came living examplar of the saying: "Too much familiarity breeds contempt" The ssleslady must needs make 8 good appear ance while at her business, but it is different with girls who are shut up all day in some great upstairs room, surrounded by dress forms and work tables, and sewing, as they say, with red hot needles and burning thread. The ubiquitous forewoman, who can usually scold with equal volubility in French and English, knows how much work can be done between a. m and 6 p. m., and in the mat ter of loa6ng and gossiping she is far less merciful than the authorities in store. | 4u6 Mdudus d6 bu6 OWu6I anu lupOIG6I lb termed. must be well dressed, for she Is her own sign board, and the "parlor girls" who attend and fit the customers must, for the credit of the establishment, be stylish in ap- pearance; but the swarm of workers up stairs, go their white aprons are clean, may buy their clothes from the rag man. A great swarm they are during the busy season waist hands, sleeve hands, skirt hands, drapers, buttonhole makers, prentice girls oy,l a1x,r fha {rDo l0lvo a week of the over seamer to the twenty five dollars week of the draper, on whose artis- tic talent SO much fashionable patronage de- pends. Some of these remain in one "Msi- son des Modes" for twenty years or more; others will work in twenty places in one year. When the writer once ventured to re- monstrate with sewing girl whs had changed her place of work five times within two weeks, the latter replied:
 "The Madam scolded me yesterday because quit work to go to see the doctor, and I'm not going to take six dollars a week and sass."
 "How much ought you to have"
 "Seven dollars at the very least-a girl that can do the fussy work that do-any- body can do plain stitching and hemming, but it ain't every body that can undertake to sew on waists. It's an awful warm day to wear Newmarket, ain't ita"
 "Yes, why didn't you wear your jacketi" "Bscause that don't cover the holes in my ! dress, and I ain't got time to sew lem up. Some folks say that dressmakers ought to dress better than any other working girls, as l they know how to make their own clothes, but after have been stitching away at some- l body else's dress all day long, I ain't got | enough strength left iu the evening to do ! anything but read story paper or Tempest and Sunshine,' or something else that's in- ! teresting. And then what's the use of put l ting much work on the cheap stuff that Id have to buy. couldn't afford to pay more than ono dollar yard for dress material, and that ain't the kind I'm used to making up. Look here, will you" (taking from drawer | a great handful of pieces.) sI brought home lot of these to make crazy quilt, but I'm afraid that quilt will never be begun. This velvet Is for a pin cushion. It cost twelve dollars yard, and was left from the dress of Jewess whose husband, they say, started in business as street peddler. This lavender | colorsd silk cost seven dollars yard. We | made up the dress last week for Mrs. Al | (naming the wife of a popular minister), "and it had to be altered twice. It's well l her husband gets big salary, ain't it2 This | cloth of gold cost twenty dollars yard. | No, the dress wasn't for either Mrs. Wander. bilt or Mrs. Astor. It was for Miss O." Ca
 well known actress), ''who is one of our reg | ular customers, and an awful lot better pay
 than some that have rich husbands. This
 black silk is only four dollars yard. It
 came of the last dress we made for Mrs. D-n (the wife of Q capitalist) "She spends aw
 ful little at our place, considering her bus
 band is. as you might say, made of money
 These three pieces a.e real good material, two
 silks and satin, and not one cost less thar
 ten dollars a yard. We had to work ovel
 time to finish them for Mrs. E." ta bankeri
 wife), "before she left for Washington, anG
 she was in such a hurry that she couldn'
 wait for them to be sent home, but came fol
 them herself in her carriage. I guess sh, I would have been shocked if she could hay,
 overheard the way the parlor girl gave th
 order through the speaking tube: Get Mrs
 Els rags together; she has come for them.
 This white satin cost fourteen dollars yard
 it was ball dress. It took lot of goods t,
 make the skirt, but tell you there wasn'
 much wasted on the waistl The sleeve
 wasn't nothing but bands an inch wide, and
 as true as live, it wasn't only five inche
 from the belt to the point of the sv.' No
 the customer we made it for didn't have ex
 tra pretty arms and a bust-a5 least that'
 what the filter said but it would heve beel
 all the same if she had had gridiron necl
 and pipe stem arms; society ladies are al
 ways bossed by the fashion of the day, n
 matter whether it turns them into frights o
 fairies"