New-York tribune., 1911-11-19
Your Daughters Vocation
Career of q Fashionable Dressmaker Full OF
Opportunity for the Right Woman.
BY Mary Marshall.

QrtSSmakers and great importing establish
ments She can also, by trips to the fash
ionable stores, the theatres and famous
I.romenades. get slmpses of the fashion
able world that will give her insight into
the problems Of dress.
The first steps in dressmakng are lessons
in plain sewing. and there are three pos
shle ways of giving your daughter this
erounding-in the shop in sewing school
or at home. You may. when your daughter
is fourteen-that is, as soon as the law al
lows in most states-put her to work in a
reputable dressmaker's establishment
where she will earn from 81 to s. a week.
Here. between running errands, picking up
pins, tying bundles and answering the
telephone she will in the course of year
or so gain the necessary knowledge Of
sewing This is an excellent beginning,
but if you don't like the idea of putting
your daughter at work when she is so
young you can send her TO sewing school.
where, for three or four months, at a
charge Of anywhere from s. to $50, she can
learn all she will need to know about the
various kinds Of sewing In every city
Of fair size such sewing classes are 10 be
found. The Young Women's Christian
Association makes point of just this sort
Of training and there are other endowed
schools-such as the DreXel Institute. in
PhiIadelphia-where everything in sewing
from threading a needle and making a
knot TO the most elaborate needlework is
thoroughly taught
A third way for your daughter 20 learn
these first principles is through actual ex-
perience in making her own clothes.
Important as are these first principles in
sewing, remember that general education
carries a good dressmaker a long way. for
the more general education she has, the
more she knows of the world, of art, Of
history and Of society, the more ideas she
will have when it comes TO designing and
originating costumes
After a month or so in the dressmaker' S
school there will be a strong temptation to
start out independently at once-to open UP
a little establishment in the home town
or TO start in dressmaking at from - to
s. 80 a day. But experienced dressmakers
say this IS a mistake. II possible, every
graduate dressmaker-even If she under
stands the principles of cutting, httng'
drafting and designing as well as she ever
can-should spend few months at least in
a large dressmaking establishment, even
though she have TO consent TO the bare
subsistence wage of IS to $40 week while
so doing. 1t is never difficult to get into
one Of these shops, either through the dress
making school or through personal apph-
cation. The demand for able and eager
ressmakers-especially at the busy season
is always greater than can be met by
the supply. In few months in such a
shop the ambitious woman, besides earning
her living, can get valuable lessons IN man
agement. in buying and importing and In
tact In meeting customers
Thus trained a wealth Of possibilities
await the capable Gressmaker. She may
rise 10 a forewoman of the establishment
with a year-round salary Of SO a week
She may have her own establishment Tor
general dressmaking. and if she has the
right combination of push, artistic ability
and personality she can literally make hun
dreds Of thousands Of dollars at It, Or she
can open a specially dressmaking shop,
where, because she can make a certain line
Of apparel-mourning, debutantes', elderly
women's or children's-better than any one
else in town she will be able to gain large
profits.
Many famous dressmakers houses en-
plov trained dressmakers whose sole duty
| II is to mingle In society, to attend the opera
and theatre to study the shops and dress
exhibitions-to be ever on the lookout for
new and interesting phases Of fashion. For
such positions a knowledge Of sketching is
Of great value, as we'll as an accurate feel
ing for form. line and color. Such special
4 N-.sIT
but this salary is somewhat Offset by -1
fact that they themselves have to keep uI
with the ever varying changes Of fashion
Sometimes good business woman make a
success at dressmaking who have gone
through none of this previous training. A
few years ago social leader who had
| lost her money made the discovery of an
Italian tailor in a wretched quarter Of hei
home city who, under her guidance, was
able and willing TO make suits for her al
q total cost of about $25. They were in
every way equal TO suits she had paid -four
times that amount for in the days Of heI
good fortune and patronage Of the eX-
elusive dressmaking shops.
see here, Tony" she said one day, "the
only reason you aren't making money IS
because you haven't any ideas and don
keep up with the fashions. What makes
one Of your S25 suits as good as a 800 suit
| is because 1 tell you how TO make It.
Come, you work for me, and I'll pay you
double what you make now"
The upshot Of the conversation was thai
Tony and his wife, with a couple Of Italian
tailors. went to work for the woman. She
/ opened a dressmaking establishment which
developed into q fashionable tailoring shoI
Of the highest rank. She now produces al
/ average Of ten suits week and makes a
net profit on each suit, over and above al
| expenses, Of $l0-which means an income
Of 500 a week, or 5000 a year
! Dressmakng in some one of its forms
IS a vocation that women who are sud-
denly forced TO support themselves in
stinctively turn TO. Why not give your
daughter the training necessary TO make
a success Of II if she has 10 use it? Then.
no matter what befals her, she will have
a womanly. congenial way Of earning her
livelihood; and If nothing ever does be-
| fall her so that she must make her liveli-
| hood, she will know how to make and
/ plan her own clothes.
| Copyright. 1911, by the Associated Literary
| PTessD