The sun., 1908-06-07
ART ON A DRESSMAKING BASIS
FINANCING THE CAREER OF
TWO GIRL STUDENTS.
They Started with Just Enough Money for
single Term at an Art school In Now
York and Then Discovered the Need
W9r.en Feel Of Having Summer Dresses

York and Then Discovered the Need
WSI.en Feel of Having Summer Dresses
For the last three wears two girls in
: New York. art students. have been paying
their expenses by making summer dresses
' three months Of the year. One girl is from
the middle West. while the other Is from
the cotton belt Of the South.
Three and half years ago they came to
New York with just enough money to pay
their way through one term in an art school
They had both left home with the idea that
after one term it would be easy for them
to earn a living as illustrators.
"We got that idea rubbed out fast enough
. when the teacher put us back to drawing
straight lines" the Western girl told the
reporter. Before the end of that term we
, both realiEed that there wasn't the glimmer
Of a chance for us to pay our way as illus
traitors.
~ -We had had the conceit knocked so COM
pletely out Of us that l am sure neither Of
us could have been induced even to look
In the door Of an art EDITORS Office. We
? had learned just how crude our work was.
) but as our teacher had told us we had
q talent neither of us was discouraged.
"Since we had talent we decided the only
thing needed for that cultivation was
money and our only way Of getting money
was to work for it.
Having brought the problem down to
that basis. we proceeiei TO look about to
see what there was to be dore in New York
that we could do Every woman in New
York knows that in spite cf the multitude
Of dressmakers there is always cry for
iay fYio inc k1l kat &C
them knew how to make muslin frock
we decided to try to earn money to carry us
through by teaching thcm.
1T was in December that we worked
out our plan and our first step was to rend
out little hand painted announcement
cards that we would to pre- pared to take
orders for summer gowns efter January !.
We gave the names cf our few women
friends here in New York as references
and in sending out our first batch of an
nouncements confined ourselves to their
visiting lists.
You see. the term II the art school ran
through January and the way We figured
II out was to get orders fer a few dresses
and to do the work at night We were to
take it turn about. staying ut home to re-
ceive customers during the hours named
on our cards
During the first week Of that January
We took orders for fourteen muslin Gresses
Knowing that it would take pretty long
time for us to make fourteen dresses work
ing only atnight, we decided to get help.
-My friend being Southerner, her
taste naturally turned to colored seam
stresses By the middle of the next week
we had managed to get four. hut in the
L.l IL.
I'VE did our utmost to get our squad
Of sewing women up to ten, but az we
could only get six that were satisfactory
We decided to refuse to take any more
orders after booking forty-five gowns and
almost as many fancy waists. That re-
fusa proved to be about the best adver-
tisement dodge / ever heard Of.
Every one Of our customers insisted on
putting her name on our order book for
next season. From those forty-five gowns
we cleared $500, which gave US both a second
term at the art school,
Instead of going home for the summer
we secured clerical positions in fashionable
summer hotels, No, not the same hotel.
We didn't try for that because we worked
it. out that wa, would have more ideas for
our next winters campaign as designers
II we went TO QlHerent places.
"All during that summer we both made
sketches and notes Of any and all ideas
for gowns that came into our heads. Un-
less a woman has tried it herself she has
no idea what pretty gowns can be got up
by combining the effective points of tho
different costumes that are to be seen at
almost any fashionable hotel
"On our return to New York that autumn
ws both had large folio of sketches for
summer gowns. We began by renting a
larger studio than the one we had occupied
the previous year, Our next move was
my friends writing to Virginia and en-
gaginG the colored woman who had done
sewing in the neighborhood Of her home
for years to come to us in January, bringing
SIX assistants.
& you see we had plenty of names on our
order book to make us feel pretty sure Of
success. We sent out hand painted an
nouncement cards and this time included
q number of ladies with whom we had
come in contact during the summer.
n "Our sewing women arrived during the
first week in january and before the end
CT the second week we had sort for ten
more. We kept those seventeen negro
women busy until the first week in April,
when they all returned South with full
pocketbooKs leaving my friend and me
with 5000 apiece clear gain.
That was three years ago This spring
and sast we followed the same programme,
With variations only to fit special circum-
stances. We haven't always had exactly
the same sewing women, though we have
always brought them up from the South
and allowed our leading woman to select
them. By doing that I believe we have
secured harmony both in our worxrooms
and in our household
During the three months that we devote
10 dressmaking our sewing women occupy
rooms in the same building. We treat
them just as they are treated in my friends
home-supply them with both food and
oomfortable lodging.
T"Now Of course we could make our way
as illustrators, but as neither Of us is par
ticularly partial to that field we shall stick
at our dressmaking another year and
then 20 abroad to complete our course
While both Of US have earned a good many
odd dollars with our art, the money on