Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/663

 637 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN DRESSMAKING Continued from pagt sij. Part 4 By M. PRINCE BROWNE Examiner in Dressmaking, Tailoring, French Pat/em Modelling, Plain Needlework, and Millinery, of the Teachers in Training at the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, Cardiff; the London Higher Technical Examination Centres, etc. ; First Class Diploma for Tailoring; Diploma of Honour for Dressmaking; Diploma of Merit of the Highest Order for Teaching; Silver Medallist, Undon Exhibition, jgoo ; iiilver Medal, Franco- British Exhibition, igo8 ; Author of  Up-to-Date Dresscutting and Drafting, also " The Practical Work of Dressmaking and 'Tailoring J" FIFTH LES50N. A SIMPLE SKIRT A Simple Walking Skirt— How to Measure for a Skirt— Drafting the Gores— Fitting the Skirt •ynis skirt can be made of serge, tweed, etc. Three and a quarter yards of material, 54 inches wide, would be required for a skirt 42 inches in length. The measure- ments of the person for whom it is to be made must be ascertained. Take the waist measure first, rather tight ; then round the hips, about 7 inches below the waist, rather loose. Measure the length of the front, from the bottom of the waistband to the -floor ; the side, from the bottom of the waistband over the fullest part of the hips to the floor, on the yipM and left side. N.B. — The size of the hips is not always the same on both sides, and where this is the case allowance must be made for it. or the skirt will not hang perfectly even all round. Next measure the back, from the bottom of the waistband to the floor. The person must stand perfectly erect while these measurements are being taken, and they must all be to the floor, but the skirt can be made any length desired. For a useful walking skirt, it should be the same distance off the ground all round, about two or more inches, but this is a matter of fashion. The measurements taken in this way should be kept, as any style of skirt can be made from them. Whatever material is used for an unlined skirt should be of a good and firm make. Black or navy Estamene serge (shrunk), 54 inches wide, can be had from 3s. 3d. per yard, and cream serge (shrunk) for 3s. 4d. There is no up and down to a serge, so the gores may be cut some one way and some the other (if it will economise the cloth); but, of course, all the gores must be cut selvedgewise and not across the material. As there is a right and wrong side to serge, care must be taken that the gores of one side of the skirt " face " the other, and that they are not all cut for the one side. To ascertain the right side of serge, place it on the table, look at it from the cut edge, and if the diagonal lines run from left to right, it is the right side ; if from right to left, it is the wrong side. If the gores can be cut from the serge folded double, they will, of course, match. Three and a quarter yards of material, 54 inches wide, are required for a skirt 24 inches round the waist, 42 inches round the hips, and 42 inches in length all round. Open out the material, and place it wrong side uppermost on the table, and, with a piece of tailor's chalk and two tailor's squares (.see Lesson on Tailoring in Part i), draft the skirt on the material from the measurements (no pattern is necessary). From the " cut edge " measure down the selvedge 4^ inches (for the hem and turning), and make a mark. From it, measure 42 ^ inches (the length the skirt is to be when .Selvcdci iSBSu Diagram I. Squaring the rule finished, plus half an inch for turning at the waist) and make a mark, and tiiree inches beyond it, make another mark. At this point square the rule (as shown in Diagram i) by the selvedge, and draw a line 12 inches long (half the waist measure) and a curved line for the waist from the mark on the selvedge to the end of the line just made (as shown on Diagram 2). Draw to the left a second curved line, 7 inches below the curve for the waist. for the hip measure. Deduct 3 inches from the half hip measure (21 inches), and measure along the hip line 18 inches, and make a mark. Place two squares with the short arms side by side (as illustrated in the first Lesson on Tailoring in Part i), and the long arms forming one long line from the end of the " curve for waist." passing through the mark on the hip line, and draw a long dotted line for the centre-back seam. From it, measure i^^ inches, and draw a long chalk line for the turning. N.B. — This extra wide turning on the back seam is an advantage, as it makes the skirt hang better. From the " curve for waist," measure down the centre-back seam 42^ inches (the length for the back of the skirt, plus