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LMOST invariably the small boy and girl, if given any voice in the choosing of their clothes, all select the suit that looks most like a uniform.

Women and young girls like middy costumes because they are attractive, useful and extremely comfortable for work or sports. This type of dress makes excellent school and play dresses.

Dark navy-blue flannel and bleached cotton drill are the materials used for these blouses or overshirts, as they are called. According to the regulations governing the uniforms of officers and enlisted men of the navy, the dark-blue flannel blouses are trimmed with white linen tape, while the cotton drill blouses are made with sailor collar and cuffs of dark-blue flannel, which are also trimmed with the tape.

In adapting this style for misses' and girls' wear, it is not necessary to be governed absolutely by the ironclad rules regarding color and material which are observed in the navy. Besides the regulation navy-blue and white, brown, gray and red and the unbleached "khaki" shades are considered quite correct for sailor dresses. Serge and cheviot are appropriate woolen materials, while linen, duck, piqué, chambray, galatea, etc., are a few of the suitable wash fabrics.

TO MAKE THE BLOUSE, baste the seams with notches matching, and try the blouse on, either by slipping over the head or lapping the fronts, as directed in the pattern instructions. If a yoke-facing is used, the underarm seams are left open to facilitate the work. The shoulder seams of the blouse are joined with the seams toward the outside; those of the yoke-facing toward the wrong side. Stitch and press the seams open.

The lower edge of the yoke is turned under a seam's width. If the yoke has a curved lower outline, the turned-under portion at the fullest part of the curves must be slightly eased, while at the sharp points it must be slashed as shown in Ill. 89. Lay the blouse flat on the table, spread out its entire length. Place the yoke on the blouse so that the shoulder seams come exactly together and the yoke lies smoothly on the blouse. Pin the yoke to hold it in place, then baste and stitch it to the blouse.

Plaits are made in the regulation sleeve by creasing from the perforations at the bottom to the corresponding perforations at cuff depth. These creases are brought over to the position marked by perforations and the plaits are stitched along the fold edge before the seam is closed.

Illustration 90 shows how the blouse may be laid out on the table for convenience in joining the sleeve. Baste the sleeve to the yoke with the usual three-eights-of-an-inch seam and then stitch it. Turn under the armhole of the blouse three-eighths of an inch, baste it over the seam, and fell it down. Make a second stitching on the body of the blouse one-quarter of an inch from the seam. The underarm and sleeve seams have been left open until now, making the work easier to handle and also making it possible