The Savannah morning news., 1904-05-01

This is the year when the home
dressmaker will look we'll before she
leaps, scissors in hand, into the folds
of newly purchased fabric. Never has
she been confronted with such subtle
dangers of over-trimming. The pat
ems and designs look simple with
their bands of shirring, but they often
work out abominably under the mex
perienced hand.
Shirrings, ruchings and fiounces, in
1860 and for almost a decade longer,
were primarily designed to make the
figure as broad as possible, and the
hoopskirt was employed to help on
the good work. But in the year 1904
there must be shirrings, ruchings and
flounces without "bunchiness" and
without roundness. How to preserve
the slender, graceful lines of the fig
ure and still empoy the fashionable
styles of trimming is the problem
which must be solved.
Naturally, the first aid is the wise
selection of materials. Certain fab
RIGS lend themselves particularly well
to the prevailing modes of decora-
ton, and it seems as if manufacturers
foreseen this sartorial crisis. The
new voiles and CLEANLINESS are more
silky in their finish this year, and
crumple in the hand almost as readily
as silk. These are particularly valu-
able for fashioning smartly trimmed
afternoon costumes. The best taste
demands a silk drop skirt in self
tone, though the dashing woman still
hungers for the drop skirt of con-
n,Yt II i1iV
as pale blue or yellow with brown
wolfe, pale green with heliotrope, and
so on.
Crepe de Chine in Demand.
Crepe de chine has never been in
greater demand than this season, since
it lends itself we'll to shirring. 1t can
be bought at all prices, starting at SO
cents a yard, and in various widths.
1t comes in all the popular day and
evening shades, and invariably calls
for silk Innings.
1t is one of the few materials which
will admit of the shirring in conven-
tional designs which marks many of
the imported gowns. A frock from
Paris, recently shown at an opening,
illustrates this fact.
The material is oyster colored crepe
de chine, combined with lace medal
lions, made over soft silk in self-tone.
The skirt is shirred at the waist to
form a yoke, which is short over the
hips. deeply pointed in the back and
stops on either side of the front
where the seams of the middle gore
would naturally come. This forms a
semi-circle on the hips, and a plain
panel for the front gore, with plenty
of fullness on the sides and back.
Just below the knees there runs a
band of medallions, overlapping
slightly, and below this come two tiny
shirred ruffles of the crepe de chine.
Then comes a four-inch band Of ornate
shirring, laid in the form of hollow
squares with a medallion set in each
square, and below this are three ruff
fies of shirred crepe de chine, grad
uated so that the deepest is around
the foot of the skirt.
The Bodice Tight Fitting.
The bodice is tight-ftting in the
back, with shirrings tightly and
smoothly laid on the silk lining. A
smooth-fitting yoke of all-over lace
to match the medallions has a plain
tight-fitting collar, and is met by the
blouse proper, which is curved at the
upper edge in the form of half moons
cutting off the yoke at the shoulder
line.
~Al o. 0toldLlNC VI pei maps al lIICH
these half moons are outlined by shir-
rings in a convenient design not I'M
like the petals of the lotus bloom
which, after following the line of the
half moon. run down in four tiny shir-
rings to the waist line, tapering almost
to point. Directly under the upper
curve of this shirred design is laid
a medallion, which gives four shirred
designs and four medallions across the
bust.
The lower half of the sleeve is
formed of tight-f1tting shirrings, and
the upper half is a voluminous puff
with a semi-circular cap shirred tight
ly into the arms eye. and finished with
shaped rufffe, covered with medal.
lions. The girdle is pointed and COW
cred with all-over lace, and finished
with buttons in nouveau art.
The Newest Thing. in Silks.
Among silks, the newest favorite IL
messaline, which resembles both India
silk and chiffon. and is most pliablt
and dainty for the much-trimmeC