The Indianapolis journal., 1904-05-15

EyJ he was spared one which haunts
EsAzHv} the modern woman. Dressmak-
ES6ksS ersl If long-suffering Mr. Job had
SA4s*AsS been subjected to a plague OF
dressmakers he might not have come down
the ages with that fine reputation for pa
tience unimpaired.
The dressmaker is necessary evil. The
expectional woman who can stitch things
together so that they do not shrek aloud
that they are homemade and who has the
time to fuss over the intricaces of full
sleeves, bias bands and pointed girdles can
snap her fingers at the dressmaker if she
wants to--though what satisfaction there
is in swapping ones fingers at anybody no
one knows. But the woman who can't sew
and her name is legion in this imprac-
tical, modern age. when girls are instructed
in higher mathematics and golf and left ut
terly ignorant of the uses Of the powerful
needle; and the other woman. whose name
is Legion No. 2, who works for her living
and who hasn't moments time 10 use
her needle whether she knows how or not
these women are utterly at the mercy of
Madame the Modiste.
indianapolis women have their troubles
with the dressmaker just as women every
where else. except perhaps on those isles
of the blessed where clothing consists
troubled smile. and where the mornings
mail never brings a breath-taking bill for
materials, and making. and findings. Now
and then in indianapolis. as otherwhere,
one strikes the rare woman who has found
a dressmaker with some humane instincts
and attributes, and who consequently has
pleasant things to say of her.
But mostly woman joins with her sisters
in a wall against the dressmaker. She
charges too much, she is perfectly unre-
liable in the matter of promises, she is i'm
nrfi I'M ant w in6 N
never let her make me another gown, only
she understands my style so we'll" There's
the rub!
&++
The chief cause for complaint against the
dressmaker is that she never keeps her
promises. OF course, woman is pro-
verbally unreliable, but it must be con-
fessed the average dressmaker rather over
does the matter of consistency I'm her dis
regard of promises. This is the experience
of one Indianapolis girl overheard on the
street car the other day.
Don't say shrtwaist suit to me, please.
1T makes me shudder to hear the term. 1
ordered shirtwaist suit in February. I
went to Madame Dash-yes. / know she is
awfully expensive, but she does make such
dandy clothes, so / afford her two or three
times a year-I can't do il oftener, not
merely on account of expense, but be-
February, and she was going to close her
shop for fortnight while she went to New
York. She would get the goods for me
while she was there and make my suit
within the month. We agreed on a wool
plaid. Well, the fortnight passed and L
went up to see her. No. she hadn't got
the goods-all the plaids she liked were so
high priced she thought that 1 wouldn't
care to afford them for 'shirtwaist suit.
She would look around here and see what
she could find. 1t was a week before 1 was
fn1 70 In nd cha
hadn't had time to look. When she finally
did get to the looking she couldn't find any,
thing here that she liked; then she sent TO
Chicago for samples; We agreed on one, and
she sent for it-but from the way she kept
putting me off over the phone saying that
the goods hadn't come. think it took sew
order. The end Of that was that the firm
sent word that all of that pattern was
sold. BY that time the weather was be-
ginning to show signs of springtime and
won't have any use for a wool shirtwaist
dresS-suppose you let me make you little
silk one-you'll get so much more good out
of that That was all right with me: so
one day two or three weeks ago she sent
me word she had some SAMPLES from the
shops here, and for me to come UP and look
out the one I liked; then waited for a
summons to be fitted Finally one day she
called me up and said that she would get
the silk, cut out my dress and be ready to
give me a fitting the following Friday.
Friday came, and trustfully / went my
way. She met me at the door. why,
didn't you get my note?' she said? My
heart went clear down into the tips of my
tan shoes. Why, / wrote you saying that
/ simply couldn't match that sample YOU
picked out-and for you not to come to-day
But l saw some charming embroidered
linens-so sweet. What do you think about
white linen suit instead OF the slk?' I
don't really know what / said. 1 don't
know whether I'm committed now to
w iSt whether q
things off. I'm merely waiting for further
developments"
The shirtwaist suit girl is not alone in
her glory. She is merely one of vast
sisterhood Of women who trudge or drive.
time after time, to their dressmaker TO
keep an engagement. only to be told that
madame is not ready for them. The high
er priced dressmakers are, of course, the
worst in this respect; they know that
women who can afford to pay their prices
will submit to almost anything to get
their gowns made by a modiste whose
ion; they are perfectly independent in
their methods. There are certain of their
customers who are subjected to little Of
their procrastinatfon. the ones for whom
they have a special liking-for even smart
dressmakers are human and have prefer
ences-and the women whose dress allow
priced gowns year and who consequently
have TO be treated with more consideration
than the women who, though they pay the
same rates, cannot do so more than two
or three times in the twelvemonth, and
whose patronage is proportionately less i'm
portant. And IL isn't only the high-priced
dressmakers that assert their freedom from
obligations, either. The average and the
below-the-average modiste. is as apt TO
keep you waiting for your frock as is her
sister of the more altitudinous prices and
the carriage customers. But she isn't quite
so independent IN her attitude; she is
apologetic in her manner; she hastens to
pile one excuse top of another when the
promised gown is not forthcoming at the
psychological moment. Now don't you
know Miss Mary. I've had the worst time
with my girls. Seems like you can't get
good one that'll stay n0ways. Now, when
you come In with your dress and I prom
ised IL for now / had such fine skirt hand
but she W and quit on me last week. and
there was such pile of things that was
promised before yours that IL seemed like
we Just couldn't get 10 your dress. Oh.
yes'm. yesri. it's cut out-only IL amt
basted up yet Now. I'm awful sorry 10
disappcint you. but I knowed you'd UNDER
stand how liz was. and told Lucy only this