Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1892-11-24
HOME DRESSMAKING.
THE IMPORTANCE OF HAVING GOOD
BUTTONHOlES.

They Are One of the Prime Requisites
The Making of a Standardization to
Little Details Necessary.
copyright, ls9a, by American Press Associa-
ton
NUMBER III.
In the cutting of dress the waist should
which can be made as ample as the amount
of material will allow. but the waist will
bear no scrimping.
When the waist has been pressed, then
work the buttonholes. Cut the holes
evenly, then "bar" them with coarse thread
and overland them, after which work the
buttonhole solidly and WELL for nothing
looks more slovenly than wornout button
holes. The buttons had better be left to
the last, as thread catches around them.
10 get them on straight lay the two fronts
together and pass an iron lightly over the
buttonholes, or mark down through the
holes with pencil and sew the buttons on
exactly there.
To make and sew collar on a dress is
neat job, and if it is plain one should be
first cut out of strong wigan, and that
basted on silesia or other lining, and then
faced with silk or satin, whatever the
outer material is made Of The collar is
to be pressed with piece of damp cloth
laid between that and the iron. Then cut
nick exactly in the middle of the collar
and fasten this to the center of the back
seam, and tack the two ends to the fronts
and haste them; that on the left side, how
ever, must reach only to the line of but
tons. The outer material, lining and
wigan are all to be taken in one seam with
the waist of the dress and carefully basted
first, and only sewn when sure it is right.
The collar should then be raised and it's
position and the facing sewn down and the
whole firmly pressed.
The bone castings can now be sewn in.
They are better made of bias silesia but
some use tapes and others the steel cased
bones, but nothing is so good or lasting as
the regular whalebones, and on the proper
adjustment of these very much of the
beauty of a waist depends. The castings
should be just wide enough to let the bone
slide in snugy, and they must be sewn
only to the seams and no stitches visible
from the outside. Scrape the bones at each
end with piece of glass until the ends are
flexible, and thus they will not wear
through the dress nor make an ugly hump.
For very stout ladies the bones are doubled
in the middle and shaved thin at the ends,
and if placed in hot water a short time
they can easily be sewn together with fine
needle. 1t is usual to place a bone in each
dart in the side seams and one in the back
When the bones are all in, the ease belt
can be sewn in This is to relieve the
strain about the waist. and is to be neatly
diamond stitched in the middle of the
back and on the under arm seams, and it
is finished by hem and strong hook and
eye. Then the final finish around the bot
tom can be put on.
This can be done in many ways, but the
standard is to face it neatly with the same
material as the dress, or silk or satin. If
of self goods, the facing extends the six
tenth of an inch below the waist, giving
the appearance of a piping. The silk lin
ing requires that the outside be turned I'M
der SO as not to show. In facing the bot
tom great care should be taken to see that
it is trimmed exactly even, for crooked
lines there mark the amateur at once.