The Savannah morning news., 1901-02-03
GIRLS WHO MAKE POLKA DOTS.
A PrecariOus Occupation of Certain
East-Side Young Women.

From the New York Evening Post
While there are looms which produce
the style of veil known as the polka dot
their product is never equal to that made
by hand. The yelling is used for several
purposes, hat trimming, dress ornamental
tion, overdresses and evening dresses, as
well as wells pure and simple. 1t takes
a good eye and def fingers to manufac-
ture the material Most of it is done by
young girls, many of whom are so quick
and efficient that they make a fair liveli-
hood from the industry. In this field The
best workers are the French, the Bel
gians and the Russian Jews. The French
excel in designs, the Jews in thoroughness
and uniformity of work. The yelling or
net is usually given out to the operators
who take it to their own homes. A few
of these are contractors on a small scale
and employ several of their own sex TO
work with them, either at home or in
some small loft.
TITS an odd business" said one of these
polka-dot workers to a reporter of the
Evening Post land you can never depend
upon it, it is so irregular. L have been in
it for four years, but do not rely upon
it. | came to take it up, as did most
of the workers l know, when l was in
the necktie and fichu business. 1t is very
much the same kind of work, but simpler
and more monotonous. Occasionally, you
get orders from the dry goods stores. but
not often. Our chief customers are fash
ionable dressmakers and manufacturing
establishments. There is a large demand
in winter whenever it is fashionable to
wear lace or net overdresses in the even
ing There is a good demand i'm summer,
when fashion prescribes materials dec
GRATED with the polka dot or related de-
signs. In spring and autumn there is al
most no call at all Now and then we
get special orders that are quite out OF
the ordinary. These come from modistes
or from wealthy women who design their
own garments. / recall one in which the
polka dotting was done with silver dots
In another. where the net was worn over
a black satin, the polka dots were of gold
thread. Occasionally they want the dots
in a single color or in a set of colors,
but twice out of three times they want
the plain black or white dot which IS
familiar to every woman"
as the work trying to the eyes"'
at is to beginner. but every old hand
has learned tricks which make the en-
broiderlng easier. One OF these is to have
a sheet of white paper on the table on
which are ink spots separated by the same
distance as the dots upon the yelling. An
other trick IS to take a sheet of brown
paper. cut holes i'm it where the dots are
% come. lay 1t on the yelling. and mark
little holes with piece Of French chalk.
There are other devices employed, but
they are all more or less upon the same
principle Something OF this sort is nee
essary to counteract the effect of fatigue
upon the eyes. Everything runs very
smoothly for an hour. and then your eyes
feel a little tired. You do not notice it
Yourself but your work shows II. as the
dots are no longer placed at the same
distance from one another. Unless you
had some register like those described or
unless the yelling was stencilled by ma
chlnery, II would grow worse and worse
as you worked on. and after several hours
you would be putting dots everywhere but
in the right places"
about how many dots can you en-
broider?"
THAT depends altogether upon the
worker. beginner does a small one a
minute, but cannot keep 1t up for a long
time An expert will sew two a minute.
and can keep Il up for several hours. The
largest number ! know OF any worker do
ing was 1000 in one day, but here the
girl worked about fourteen hours stead
lily. We get paid by the piece, and aver
age about s. a week"