Page:Vincent's systems of cutting all kinds of tailor-made garments.djvu/236

 THE LAWS OF ORNAMENTATION.

It has been laid down by competent authorities that all kinds of ornamentation may be brought within the range of five laws, viz.: (1) Repetition; (2) Alternation; (3) Symmetry; (4) Progression: and (5) Balanced Confusion; and as these apply quite as well to the product of tailoring as they do to the decoration of the universe, I here show how these principles are applied to garments by the aid of buttons, braids, stitchings, strappings, pockets, seams, etc.

First I give illustrations of Repetition. The border is

braided with loops formed at intervals. The first forepart has lines repeated, the second checks and buttons, the third braids, all of which serve to show how the same thing repeated become decorative. Another application of this principle is consonance or the repetition of idea, as in the case of a flap being rounded in harmony with the front of the jacket.

The second illustration deals with Alternation, and shows how two styles of trimming are used at intervals, thus—on the edge the braiding forms a crow's toe and an eye. On the first fore-part the twill runs first one way and then the reverse. On the