Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-12-20
Expert Designer Would Have
Girls Taught to Sew and
Make Own Clothes
NEAT CLOTHES IMPRESS MEN
Mrs. Evelyn Foote Pleads for a Dress.
making Course in All Female
Schools, Declaring That Most Do
mestic Tragedies are Result of
4sIouchy" Women.

'The divorce evil would not entirely
disappear did every woman know how
% make her own dresses, but putting
her knowledge into practice would GER
tainly greatly reduce the number of dl-
vorces annually granted by our courts
So declares Mrs. Evelyn Foote. ex-
pert designer, who recently concluded
q lecture course In Illinois, Wisconsin
and Iowa, says a Washington specia
dispatch to the st. Louis Fost-Dispatcl
Mrs. Foote is preaching to the wone
Of these states that dressmakins
course should be added to the ,curricu
hum Of every girls college.
$50 long as the mistress Of the HON
Is unable to design and make her ow
clothes that home is imperfect con
tinues Mrs. Foote, who by reason o.
her fifteen years experience as an ex
pert designer is entitled to be heard.
"Women are taught cooking. VIII:
are they not taught sewing and dress
making? The husband returning lomt
tired in mind and body to a frowsy
sloppily dressed wife is the cause of {.
large percentage Of our divorce cases.
During business hours men associate
with women who dress neatly and arc
tidy and take care Of their personal ap-
pearance. II their wife greets them III
the evening In kimono or dressing
sack or a bedraggled dress compari-
sons are impossible to avoid, and they
are odious.
'Why is it you women dress for ev-
erybody else except those you love
best? Before marriage you spent hours
primping in front Of the mirror. Six
months after marriage you pay no at
tention to what you wear when your
husband is at home. Can you blame
him, then, If he seeks the company Of
wiser women who know the way to a
mans heart lies not only through his
stomach, but through his eyes as well.
THE young women of our SO called
higher institutions Of learning should
be taught dressmaking Just as they are
taught piano playing, drawing or cook
ing. Dressmaking is fine art. The
sooner we recognize that the better for
the stability Of our social relations.
II believe that every girl in boarding
school, seminary, college and university
should take course in the designing
and making Of dresses whether she re-
ceives training in higher mathematics
Or not. One of the first patrons / had
when began my career was a talent
Cd girl who had just graduated from
Vassar and who declared to me that
she would give almost everything she
possessed If she could but make her
own shirt waists. Today that girl
makes her own gowns, and they are
dne enough to wear to the most fash
ionable receptions.
"But it is the girl Of the poorer and
the middle, even the ordinarily well to
do, classes who need this instruction.
In my last lecture tour met young
bride who for several years had been
employed in business Office as book
keeper on salary Of $S5 month.
She spent her income mainly on dress.
Finally she married man who is re-
ceiving 500 or $125 month, pays $35
Q month house rent and has to support
himself and wife on the balance. There
is little or nothing left for clothing.
That girl is today perfectly miserable
because she cannot dress as well as
she did before she was married. She
cannot make one Of her own garments,
and she cannot afford to have them
made as she did before. If marital
tragedy is averted it will be simply be-
cause Divine Providence has taken pity
on the couple.
II repeat, let our girls and women
learn how to design and lake their
own garments. There is no telling
what the future will bring FORTH Even
In the present there is satisfaction In
mastering an art, for dressmaking is
indeed an art. I am devoting much
time in an effort to have a course In
dress designing and dressmaking add
ed to the curriculum Of the Iowa uni
versity, and ] am hopeful Of success.
tranquility, Of that am sure.
This work OF teaching the girls can
not begin too early. Dressmaking can
not and should not be taught in the
public schools, but fat sewing should
be taught there. Many Of our schools
already do that. All should do it. The
great trouble is the schools cannot at
ford to furnish the materials.
''Let every girl make her own simple
garments, bring material no matter
how cheap and learn by experience on
her own things. Recently in public
school in Chicago saw q poor girl
working, and what do you suppose she
had? An unwashed -four sack, with
-four still adhering to 1t! But that girl
had some splendid ideas, and she was
working them out oblivious OF her ma
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