Huntsville gazette., 1890-03-29
HOME DRESS-MAKiNG.
There Is No Reas II Why Homemade
Dresses Should Not Fit Nicely.

Every woman ought to know how to
make her own clothes, even if circum-
stances do not compel her to do it. A
woman who has never taken the trouble
to acquire such knowledge is certainly
at a great disadvantage; the unexpected
always happens, and she may at some
time suffer the greatest inconvenience
from the lack of just such knowledge.
Now, there is no reason why home
made garment should look ''home
made When an amateur garment
looks badly made, it is the result of two
faults: ignorance and carelessIess, and
both may be easily remedied. ] do not
assert that any untaught woman can
equal a professional dress-maker, but
there is no reason why a woman of av-
erage capacity may not do thoroughly
good work. The greatest requisites are
neat sewing, careful cutting and exact
measurement, This last necessity is
oftenest neglected by the perienced;
they are apt to think that if the article
Is not cut just right they can make it all
right in the basting. A good profess
sional never falls into this error; she
knows that such inaccuracies are only
set right at the expense of much time
and trouble. | used to think that the
hardest thing in making frock was to
make the skirt hang right, but that trial
is entirely conquered now, because it is
always carefully measured before being
gathered and put on the band.
In the way of patterns, one must be-
gin by having that of good gored skirt
and a well-ftting basque. One may buy
very good paper patterns, but it is far
more satisfactory to have a basque pat
tern cut by good dress-maker, so as to
secure perfect fit All figures differ in
proportions, and the cut paper patterns,
while they may be the right bust meas
urement vary too much for woman to
fit herself without great trouble. An
individual pattern, cut to a perfect fit
should be made in paper muslin, so that
it will not wear out, and handy per-
son can cut any style of basque from it,
Having seen to your measurements,
SO that cutting and fitting are correct,
next look to your workmanship, and see
that you have all the ''ixings." 1t is
impossible to do good work if you have
to use makeshifts in the way of Innings
and so on-that is to say if the gown is
new. To make a nice cloth gown you
need four sorts Of Innings. First, double
face lining for the basque, black on the
side next the goods (that is if the ma
terial is dark, and some fancy color on
the side turned out The old-fashioned
silesia is little used now; indeed, good
quality of gray silesia usually costs
more than the double-faced lining
The skirt lining consist of a foundation
Of gray muslin, or lining cambric; at
the bottom there is facing of black
canvas twelve inches deep, and over this
is facing six or eight inches deep, of
black lining alpaca, which not only
makes the bottom firmer, but also repels
dust OF course the bottom is finished
with braid; the use of the plated braid,
which was quite popular, is now on the
wane. 1t wears out quite as soon as the
plain braid, and it is so liable to tear off
in great lengths whenever a stitch gives
way.
The gored skirt forms the foundation
lOI ulOob VI tnO pINoCiO plaiii ohii Oo' anu
it is very necessary that it, too, should
fit we'll, SO as to be just the same length
all the way round. but the amount Of
slope varies according to the figure Of
the wearer. Thus, a person with very
full hips requires deeper slope at the
sides than Simmer figure, while the
disappearance OF reeds and bustles
lessons the length of the back breadth.
Measure the length of well-fitting
skirt, or have some one else measure
you as you stand, and see that you keep
to the right length.
Among small furnishings do not for
get whalebones for the basque; they
should be put in every seam. BE sure
you buy whalebones in the lengths, not
those covered denominations. They are
snare and delusion; they look so easy
to put in, but they are not really easier
than the old way, and instead Of being
bones they are steels, which soon wear
holes through the coverings and often
through the basque too. See that the
seams are neatly overcast; then, when
they are pressed open, baste on fiat mar
row bias bands of the lining, for the
casing of the bones. This is done be-
fore the bottom of the basque is faced,
and the effect isnvery neat.-Patty Gas
ton, in Rural New Yorker.