Textiles and Clothing Part 22

After the waist is cut, remove and care for the patterns.

Make the sleeves, cuffs and collar band first.

Make box plait on right or left side as liked by the wearer and hem on the other side or face.

Baste shoulders and under-arm seams.

Try on the waist, making all changes necessary by enlarging or taking up seams.

Pin for neck band and mark for seams.

Fit sleeves and mark places for seams.

Arrange fullness and place tape at back of waist line.

[Sidenote: Making Plain Sleeve]

If the pattern is for a plain, one-seam sleeve with the cuff opening at the end of the seam, hem each side of the opening one or two inches from the bottom, gather the bottom between the notches, lay the gathers, baste the right side of the sleeve band or cuff to the wrong side of the sleeve, st.i.tch and _press_, fold in a hem on all edges of the cuff, fold the cuff over on the wrong side of the sleeve, baste, oversew the ends of the cuff, _press_ and st.i.tch the cuff close to all edges. After thus attaching the cuff, baste and st.i.tch the long seam of the sleeve and gather at the top between notches. The cuff is usually cut in the direction of the warp of the goods.

The sleeve described is the simplest that can be made. If the sleeve is to open at the back and finished with a tape, with a placket, strap or fancy lap, the seam in the sleeve is st.i.tched first and the cuff afterward adjusted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAIN SLEEVE WITH CUFF, SHOWING GENERAL METHODS OF SEWING ON BANDS]

The box plait is made if desired and the under arm and shoulder seams basted when the shirt waist is ready to try on. Make any change in the seams necessary. The neck band is put on in the same way as the cuffs, sleeves sewed in, fullness arranged at the back and a tape placed at the waist line. Three hooks or other fastenings should always be placed at the back to attach to corresponding fastenings in the skirt band. The bottom edge of the waist may be finished by overcasting.

[Sidenote: Bottom Finish]

If it is desired to have the fullness cut away at the waist line in front, determine the length, allowing sufficient for a blouse, gather the waist at the bottom and sew the fullness on to a band. Sometimes this band is carried entirely around the waist.

[Sidenote: Fit of Collar]

The fit of the collar or neck band is very important in any kind of a waist. Both the front and the back may be cut higher than the pattern, as it is easy to cut off in adjusting and more goods cannot be added.

To the unskilled the simplest garment is sufficiently difficult. It is wiser to make two or three perfectly plain garments before attempting to make an elaborate one.

After the pattern has been tested, fitted and all necessary changes made, cut a pattern from the fitted waist of cambric or cheap _new_ muslin and mark or trace all seams. (Never use old, worn-out sheets from which to cut a pattern.) After this permanent pattern has been made, do not change a single line.

[Sidenote: Tucked Waist]

[Sidenote: Full Busted Waist]

If a plaited or tucked waist is to be made, all plaiting and tucking should be done first, after which the same order of making is to be followed for a plain waist. No waist should draw or strain across the bust. This is especially important in tucked or pleated waists. To guard against this tendency, a graduated tuck can be pinned on either side of the front, beginning with nothing at the shoulders and widening at the waist line. This is done before the pattern is cut and will allow for especially full bust. The fold should be _on a thread_ of the goods.

LINED WAISTS

The plain, closely fitted, lined waist, with the curved back and side forms is the most difficult to make and requires the greatest nicety in handling from beginning to finish.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TYPICAL BODICE PATTERNS

(_a_) Front. (_b_) Under Arm Piece. (_c_) Side of Back. (_d_) Back.

(_e_) Collar. (_f_) Outside Sleeve. (_g_) Inside Sleeve.]

The pattern for a bodice of this kind should be of such a shape that in each part the woof threads will go as straight around the waist as possible. This makes the warp threads perpendicular and will give almost a perfect bias on the current seams in the back. Do _not_ cut the side forms out of _any_ piece that is big enough, without regard to the warp and woof threads. If this is done, the threads in each will run differently and all ways but the right one. In a well-designed pattern the back forms should be nearly as wide at the arm's eye as they are at the waist line. The swell of bust and shoulders should be accommodated by the back and front forms.

When material is to be cut on the bias be careful to have a _true_ bias (the diagonal of a square) around the waist and up the front and back seams.

PLAN FOR MAKING FITTED, LINED WAIST.

Pin pattern to lining, cut out trace seams.

Baste all seams on traced lines.

Try on lining. Make changes.

Rip lining, baste on outside and cut by fitted lining.

Baste seams and try on. Make changes if necessary.

Mark the turn for hem down the front, face and mark for fastenings.

St.i.tch and finish seams. Put on featherbone.

Put on collar; sew in sleeves.

Finish.

[Sidenote: Finish Lining First]

In making a lined waist, the lining is cut, basted, and fitted before the outside is cut. After fitting, the lining is ripped apart and the outside cut by it. For all firm, heavy materials the lining should be slightly fuller than the outside, that is, the dress goods should be well stretched over the lining, just as in a lined skirt, and basted closely and evenly, the warp and the woof threads of the outside and lining corresponding.

In laying the pattern for cutting the lining, just as much attention should be paid to the direction of the threads as in cutting a striped or figured goods.

[Sidenote: Marking Seams]

All seams should be traced on the lining with the tracing wheel, with a slow backward and forward movement, making the perforations clear and distinct. Soft spongy goods that cannot be traced may be marked with a line of basting, tailor's chalk or by taking st.i.tches with a pin along the line to be marked and twisting them in the goods. This will make holes that can be seen, but the twisting does not harm the goods. Always trace or mark the waist line, as this is the starting point from which to pin or baste. Bodice seams should never be begun at the top or bottom, but at the marks or notches that show the waist line, working towards the top and bottom.

After the lining is cut out, the seams should be basted exactly along the traced lines, with seams out, when it is ready to be tried on.

[Sidenote: Making Changes in Straight Seams]

If the pattern has been cut or drafted by the correct bust measure, the back seams should never be changed. If possible, make all changes required by letting out or taking in on the straight under-arm seams, leaving the curved ones and the darts untouched.

[Sidenote: Pinning and Basting]

Pins should be used plentifully while the fitting is being done, but they should be replaced with regular basting as soon as they are removed. Do not be afraid of taking up fullness in the lining by darts crosswise at the top of the corset or where the fullness naturally falls in front or back. Such darts should be basted, st.i.tched and pressed flat. If the lining is too short, it may be lengthened by letting out the shoulder seams.

[Sidenote: Outside Cut by Lining]

After the lining is fitted, it is ripped apart, the outside cut, basted to it and the seams are basted, beginning at the waist line. Never use a long thread in basting and always use short, even st.i.tches, especially where any curved seams are to be st.i.tched on the machine. This rule must be followed invariably if puckering is to be avoided.

[Ill.u.s.tration: WAIST LINING BASTED, SEAMS OUT]

[Sidenote: Shoulder Seams]

The pattern at the shoulder seams should be shorter in front than at the back. In joining this seam, pin the two portions so that the ends of the seam meet exactly at the neck and arm's eye. In basting, stretch the front piece to fit the back, holding it in or puckering it if need be.

Pressing will banish the pucker and give an easy seam that will hug the curve of the shoulder, as in a man's coat.