The leader., 1905-04-01
WHEN TRYING on DRESSES
This Moment Perhaps the Most DIFF
AcuIt and Important in the Work
Of the Dressmaker.

It Is after all the cutting and all the
sewing have been done that the brave
little house dressmaIxer's most depress.
Ing moments sometimes come in the
trying on.
Some popularity in the figure Of the
one who is to wear her handiwork Is 4
often responsible for lack of perfect fit
despite careful measuring and all care
in the after process.
The erect figure with short back and
full bust may need the back lowered,
and the front heightened, to take the
shoulder seams farther back; while an
other class Of upright figiure, with long
slender, hollow back and waist may re
quire the back heightened. With such
figures it needs to be made long, appa1-
entity longer than the measures taken
by the tape in the ordinary way indicate.
The STOPPING figure has slight bust.
long and wide back. and short and mar.
row front, and wrinkles would probably
show across the bust and under the arm,
level with the top of the side, and also
down the front of the shoulder; whilst
the back would be short WASTED and
form large wrinkles across, also at level
Of side, though the length may still be
seen pushed up to the neck, which is
much too high for comfort The filter
can either take out the little waist seam
in the lining to raise the waist line OF
the front where it joins the side pieces;
or the dress can be wadded well around
the armholes and down the hollow front
Wading is a great boon to hollow-shoul-
dered or spare-chested people, who,
without its use, have to choose between
untidy and unsightly wrinkles down the
front shoulders or dress painfully tight
across the chest from arm to arm.
All large, matronly figures, whether
well or Ill formed, have short sides and
large shoulders, and generally have less
hollow at the front of the waist than the
younger slight figures. With such fig
ures the fronts will wrinkle across be-
tween the darts, and also between the
darts and front edges, unless they are
either thrown out in the drafting or let
out in the fitting-on for about half an
inch all the way from the bust to the
bottom of the bodice.
This should be done of course without
altering the shape of the fronts, care
being taken to preserve the run of the
lines in every other respect Such fig
ures require fair sized cross seam or
dart at the bust in the lining only
Where the bust is inclined to spread
away under the arms the chest of the
h0dipa ch0It1d Ea ,,oa,5<. 80 1,-sdo, -, Az
figure can carry, and the hollows wadded
in such way as to keep the bust as
forward as possible; this is helped by
carrying the bones in the side seams as
high as comfort will permit.
II the dress Us short waisted at the
back it may be either because the waist
is too high-that is, because the house
dressmaker has cut the back too short
or because the armhole is too small.
If the bodice is too long or too short
wasted to the extent of half an inch
only. the altering is easiest and most
satisfactory if made at the shoulders
either by letting down or taking up.
If the required altering is more than
half an inch, the waist line should be
raised or lowered as we'll, half of the
altering being made at the shoulders
and the other half at the waist, and the
spring below the waist run to the new
waist line.
This lengthening the bodice by drop
ping it at the shoulders can be managed
only if the turnings at neck, shoulders
and under-arm viii allow If they are
not large enough, the whole altering
must be made by raising or lowering the
waist Chicago Tribune.