5

C ut s a n d a
R e di ng Ma t t e r
C o p y r i gh t , 1 9 19

By
Wm . L eh m a n n Ch i c a g o
,

U S . . and Ca a da n ~

% CI A5 .
25 3

MAY - 2 5 9 19
 Pr e fa c e
I am convin c e d th at th i s boo k givin g co r r e c t ins truc tions
,

h ow t o a l te r ill fi tti ng ga rm e n t s wi ll o n l y b e c o nsul te d if my

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,

coll e agu e is con f ro nt ed With a mi sfi t wh ic h onl y l eave s hi m the

,

a l t e rn a t i v e o f a corr e c t and th oroug h a l t er at io n

“
.

C lo th e s ma ke the ma n bu t ve r y o fte n e x t en s i ve a l te ra
”
,

t ions a r e e s s en ti al b ef ore they fulfill thi s m ission .

I m ight co mp a r e a g a r m en t whi c h n ee d s a l te r a t ion wi th a

, ,

p a t i e n t s eek ing r e li ef in th e o p e r a tin g roo m . S o m e tim e s the

cu r e Will be succ e s s ful but o f t en ho p e s ar e not r ea li zed
,
.

Th e c aus es whic h m ak e fa ul t s appea r a r e nu me rous an d

ve ry d iffe r e n t R igh t at the s ta r t mis ta k e s a r e m a de eit h er b y
.
,

no t taking the co r rec t me as urem en ts or c ar e l ess d r a ft ing o f

the m o del or b y n ot u s ing a d ep e n d abl e s y s t em r e sul t i ng n at ur
, ,

a ll y i n a fa ul ty c ut If aft e r t r y ing on the gar ment i t is no t

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a l te r e d in the r igh t wa y i t n ee d not surp ris e a n ybo dy i f the

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rea dy g ar m en t d o es not fit On the o th er h an d a ga rme n t

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m ea sur e d and c ut corr ec t l y m ight not fi t i f th e ta iloring d o e s

no t con f orm wi th the c ut .

The purp os e o f this boo k i s to s h o w h ow t o m ak e a l t e r a

t ions in a s ucc es s ful a nd ve ry si mpl e ma nn e r And my col .

l e a gu es wi ll j udge i t s v alu e a ccor d ing t o the p r act ic a l a dva n

e

t a g e which t h ey will der i v e fr o m i t A ta ilor o f many y ea r s

.
%

e x p e ri enc e will fi nd no t hin g p a r ticul a r l y new bu t a b e ginn e r

,

a nd l es s e x p e ri e nc ed tailo r will fi nd v a lu a bl e i n s t ru c ti o n s r e ~

g a r din g t h e m os t di ffic ult alter ati ons f I t r equir e s a c a reful

stu dy to b eco m e an e xp ert in the tai lorin g lin e V e r y o fte n i t .

is en tir e l y wr ong t o corr ect a faul t wh ere it sh o ws The cor .

re ction h a s to be m ad e in an in dir ec t way and in such a c a s e i t

is ver y i mp ort a n t to k no w ex a ctl y how the fa ul t ori gin at ed .

Furth er mor e t his boo k will s h o w t h at o f t e n a n a l t er ati on m us t

,

b e succ e e ded b y a no th er one to get th e d e si r ed r esul t If t h e .

p ro p or t ion o f on e pa r t t o a no t h e r is ch a ng e d
,
t h i s c ha n g e m us t
con f orm wi th the othe r pa rts in or de r th at a faul t correc te d
,
in o n e p l a c e d o e s not a ppear at anot h e r Ve ry often t hi s is no t.

g iven d u e con s i d e r ation .

The pu rpo s e o f thi s bo o k i s a d o ubl e one .

It s ha ll s e r ve not on l y a s a n in s t ruct or f or un avoi d abl e

a l te r atio ns bu t a ls o di r ect the attention of the r ea d e r t o the
,

cau s e o f the fa ul t a nd wi ll give in f ormati on wh ich will av oi d

,

mis ta ke s f or the futur e .

In the s a me s e ns e c a s es wi ll b e e xp l a in e d eve n th ou gh an
a l te ra t ion i s imp oss ibl e .

T o a c c o mp li sh thi s i t i s n e c e s s a ry t o s h ow b y illus t rat ing ,

the i ll fi t ti ng ga r m en t s a n d how t o c han ge the c ut i n whic h

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,

way an a l te r ati on c a n b e ma d e in a m os t s imp l e a nd succ ess ful

ma nn er E v ery tai lor k n o ws f ro m expe ri enc e that th is i s ve ry
.

va lu able a s th rou gh incorr ect a l te r at i o ns a ga rm en t wh ich

,

o th erwis e mi ght b e s ave d w ill b e sp oil e d en ti r e l y .

The r ef or e th is boo k sh oul d b e o f e spe c ia l in te r e s t e n t er

, ,

i g a e n t ir el y ne w fie l d % n ame l y the a l te r a tion o f ill fi tti ng

n n ,
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g a rm ents .

N eve r th e l e ss my ins t ruc ti o n s c a n be consul t ed no t onl y

,

wh en the ga rm en t is r ea dy b ut al s o af te r t ry ing on i f i r r egu

,

la r i ti es s h o u l d s h o w in the fi t .

If the i n s t r uc ti o n s a r e us e d a ccor di n gl y eve ry coll ea gu e ,

wi ll s ee it s a dvanta ge a s it w ill ena bl e him in time t o av o i d m is

,

ta k e s a nd r esul tin g a l te r a tions E ve ry ta il o r kn o w s f ro m e x

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p e r i e n c e w h a t he w ill s ave on time a n d m on ey .

The bo o k i llus t r a te s the m o s t co mm o n faul t s i n o ve rco at s ,

co at s v e s t s a nd pa n t s
,
.

C erta i n l y it d o es not e xh au s t a ll a l te r atio n s wh ic h woul d ,

run in t o hun d r e d s even th ous an d s bu t whi ch in ge n e ra l c an be

, ,

t r a c ed b a c k t o ce r ta i n p o i n t s a nd c ha n ge d ac c o r din gl y .

I cl o s e wi th the wi s h th a t th e p oss e ssor o f this bo o k will

no t o fte n have o cca sion t o u s e it a s the l e ss i ll fi tti ng ga rmen t s
,
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he h a s t o a l te r the b e tt e r i t i s f or him B ut I h o pe wh o eve r i s

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co mp e ll e d to us e it will d e rive gr eat b en e fi t f ro m it

, .
 T he C u t t i n g
T hi s ch a pter is not supposed to be devoted to a discussion of
many cutting systems but shall explain s everal simple cutting
,

rules which many cutters and tailors do not deem necessary to

,
'

take into consideration The question as to whether the direct

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or the indirect cutting systems are the best will n ot be discussed

in this chapter This dispute will p r ob a b lv not be decided

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easily as each expert always believes his system the best and
,

infallible on account of his familiarity with it and his success in

business which he ascribes to the use of it Certainly if you
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conside r i t from this Viewp oint everyone i s r i ght ,

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In fact it is immaterial if a model is produced with the help

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o f trigonometry geometry etc or the proportion

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The main
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thing always i s that a correct cut be effected If then the work .

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manship is correct ( such as the cut requires ) the result will be ,

a well fitting garment .

Why is it that although nowadays the art of cutting is highly

developed always more mist akes occur than on e would think
,

possible % To a l a rge degree it will be found due to the fact that

many cutters are attentive only when cutting but are superficial
“
,

in the s haping and in workmanship I will explain in the fol .

lowing part that my assertions are correct

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E very expert knows that careless or bad w o rkmanship will

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spoil the best cut Now on e should think that the knowledge of
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thi s fact should cause each exp e rt or cutter to instruct the tailor
in a necessary and correct way regarding the sh aping of the cut ,

s o that no faults occu r It is to be r egretted that this is not

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always the case as many of my colleagues think they have done

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their duty if the piece is cut out But also when cutting one .
, ,

often will be careless For instance you s ee c h a lk ma r k s of

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about o f an inch on the separate parts so that the tailor ,

sometimes does n ot know where to put the stitches for the ou t

let %in front in the center or behind the chalk Notches for the
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putting togeth er of the separate parts ( Figs 3 5 and 6 show .

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same in little cross lines ) will be made very seldom so that the ,

t ail o r i s at a loss to understand and will in a cas e lik e this a s a

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rule baste or s ew on the different parts in such a way that the
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result will be a good run in the armh ole I f an extra seam in the
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armhole is not added on the model at the blade and at the front
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part the back part will come out of its right place compared
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with the fro nt part Figures 1 and 2 give very p lainly the proof
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for this assertion Fi gures 1 and 2 full lines show the correctly
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cut s epa r at e p a rts of the model put together in such a way .

Figure 1 shows the seams which have to be sewed in at the blade ,

towards the armhole and at the front p a r t at the side s eam also
, ,

in the a rmhole Also the combination points are especi ally

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marked here with sho rt cross l ines If on e now sew s the pa rts
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together according to these marks back and side parts will move
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in a horizontal di rection and j ust as much as the seams required .

S ide and back part however will retain the same height as
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before ( s ee the dotted lines in Fig It will be different if

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the previously described seams which must be added at the

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front and side pa rt in the armhole a r e not there and also no

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mark for the s ewing together In this cas e only the run in the
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armh ole has to be c onsidered as a standard .

If t hi s is the only mark for the sewing together the position ,

o f the side part and back part compared with the fro nt part

will be displaced and will extend too deep and too wide towar ds
the b a ck
.
 The dotted lines in Figu r e 2 show the displacement n ot only ,

of the entire back part but also ( as the combination points have
been placed a s a proof ) of the separate pa rts A coat put to
.

gether in such a way will be about on e inch too short at the top ,

and consequently will fall down the neck B e s ide s in the a r m

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hole diameter towards the back i t will be to o large %ac r oss the
back too wide % and below in the waist too lon g It also will be.

too tight at this place .

Thi s will show how little mistakes when cutting can cause
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much damage The combination marks are al s o of considerable

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impo rtance if when the cutter is rus hed the sepa r ate parts in
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their end points a r e n ot correc tly ma r ked o r cu t D espite this

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the parts will come together in thei r r ight posi tion and should
the a rmhole b e uneven thi s can b e equalized easily by utilizing
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the ou tlet I t is s elf under st ood tha t t hese ma rk s a r e necessary

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f or putting to gethe r t he b a ck and f r on t p a r t of coats and ove r

coats The s leeve in many cases is neglected too The cutter
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will instead of cutting out the unde r sleeve him s elf with only a
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few exceptions add a piece of goods and leave the cu t ting of the
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undersleeve to the tailo r If the undersleeve would be marked

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at the top sleeve the ca r eful tailor would have a mark h ow to

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cut i t but without thi s he is compelled to cut the undersleeve

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according t o his own j ud gm ent which will only be correct in a

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few cases Then is it a wonder if such a sleeve do e s not fit and

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,

i n man y ca s es s p oils the entire ga rment %

 W it h t h e c o ll ar i t will b e simil ar O nly a ve ry fe w t ail or s
.

u n d e r s t an d h o w t o c u t a c o r r e c t fi ttin g c o ll ar t h e r e fo r e t h e r e
,

should be added to each piece a correct and accurately cut collar

model But this is very seldom done Much aggr a vation
. .
,

trouble and time could be saved if there is a well fitting collar

on the garment as it scarcely can be believed how many faults
,

an incorrect collar can cause .

Therefore be very careful when cutting the garment to i n

struct the tailor in everything which he must know and make it
a standard rule not to permit the tailor to cut i mport ant parts ,

as he very seldom will possess the necessary knowledge .

The sacrifice on tim e is smal l compared with the faults which

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are caused by superficial workmanship s o that every cutter ,

should not omit to do the necessary work himself .

 T he O u t le t s
E ven if applying all p r e v 1 ou s rules
carefully alterations will always be n e c es
sary as nobody is infallible %not even the
,

most conscientious tailor Therefore .

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when tailoring according to measure out ,

lets will alw a ys have to be recommended ,

as they will make it possible to correct a

faulty garment .

E ven if one supposes that every tailor ,

knows on wh a t places he has to leave out

lets i t will d o no harm to gi ve some ex
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p lanations First t
. o explain the
,
value
and the purpo s e of certain outlets % and
second to prove that the outlets indicated
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on Figures 3 to 8 ( with dot t ed lines ) are

sufficient in eve r y case At the back part .
,

Figure 3 one will find outlets in the neck

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hole at the cent er s e am on both sides of

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the b ack s kirts and a t the armhole The .

outlet at the neck hole will appear too

small but will b e entirely sufficient for its
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purpose is only to equalize the neck hole

and a precaution for raveling goods .

F or setting the colla r higher it only

should b e used if necessary for the regu
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la t ion of the neck hole and not more than ,

about one half inch To correct a coat

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which pulls down at the neck by setting ,

the collar abou t on e inch hi ghe r is entirely

wrong as this fault has to be remedied in
,

another way Many wi ll consider the ou t

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let a t the armhole unnecessary as f or an ,

eventual widening of the back the out

let i n the cente r seam could be use d This .

may be the case once i n a while but no t ,

9
always Furthermore it sho ul d be considered that the back
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part must be corrected again which will cause unnecessary

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work that should be avoided when altering

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The outlet at the armhole i s also of advantage because even ,

tual defi ciencies which the a rmhole r ounding might show could
, ,

be adj usted It is never a disadvantage but is often of great

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advantage for s everal alterations This will be explained later

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on.

O utlets shown at the front part Figu r e ,

are well known to
5 ,

every tailor therefore it will be unnecessary to mention them

,

here .

The outlet in front at the br east edge is n ot necessary except

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on coats with revers .

T o be safe with other garme nts on e has to cut the button

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stand a little wider T o add about one to two inches more in

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front of the outlet will only be neces s a ry if the cut i s ve ry faulty .

10
 At the side part Figure 6 outlet i s only left in the a rmhole
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and in the waist seam T o place an outlet a t the back seam is of

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no purpose %it will only d raw If the seam has b een sewed and
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pressed already and on e would then le t ou t the outlet the old ,

seam alway s would appear a gain O nly a ve ry s imple custome r .

would n ot obj ect to thi s If the co a t mu st b e made larger the

.
,

outlet at the f r ont pa r t ha s to be used E ven if the old seam .

would s how a little this would n ot matt er very much as the

, ,

sleeve would cove r thi s .

“
0

‘ . 4 0

V fi s ‘ fi
“ - . q, “ q .

‘
-fl
o
s

-Q - -q
4 l

It s hould be mentioned here also that the side part must be

, ,

cut as wide a s po s si ble s o that the s eam doe s not a ppear in a

,

conspicuou s way .

E ve ry tailor will know how much ou tlet i s necessary f or the

s ki rt This is p lainly shown on Figure 7
. .

Regarding an eventual addition at the lowe r edge s ee the ,

direction s in connec t ion with the b ack s ki r t .

11
 The undersleeve Figure 8 has only outlet at the front seam
, , .

To place an outlet at the back seam is not recommended If on e .

would enlarge a sleeve by letting ou t the outlet at the back seam ,

this seam would turn too far on top of

the arm H owever it is different if the
.
,

sleeve is enlarged by letting out the out

let a t the front seam of the undersleeve .

In this case the seam will also turn a

little more to the front but as the un ,

d er s le ev e is alw a ys cut about 2 to 2 %

inches smaller than the top s le ev e the ,

front seam will lay ori ginally under th e

arm I f the j ust described outlet had
.

to be let out entirely as in exceptional ,

cases the seam will not extend over the

,

front center but always to the inside

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and therefore will not spoil the looks of

the sleeve .

The latter instance would b e the case

if the extension would be made at the
back seam I d o not think it has tobe
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emphasized e s pecially that the turnup

Shall not b e too s mall ( on top and under
sleeve ) and if the sleeve is made with
an open vent a button stand has to be
,

added to it at the undersleeve .

The foregoing explains what kind of

outlets are efficient on coats and overcoats but one should be ,

careful to give these an outlet in the back part at the armhole .

Also a rather large turnup below at the f r ont and back part
woul d be of advantage .

If the goods is wiry and hard finished the seams which have
, ,

an outlet should be sewed together by hand not by machine

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O therwise if let ou t the old seam would be visible again There

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i s no danger of this if the goods is rough and soft The pressing .

of the outlet seams has to be done very c a refully The same .

must not be pressed against the nap or too ha r d Nei th er mu s t

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12
 hard to discover but the pressure and uncomfortableness will
,

be noticed by the customer when wearing the garment .

Wrinkles whi ch r un str a ight and pe r p endicular are the

result of a too extensive width T o remove these wrinkles is .

easy It cannot always be said that they are faults This is a

. .

matter of taste and a rather wi de made garment can n ev er th e

“
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less be chic ”
The better clientage and the tailors se rving them
.

know this very well .

It is mo r e difficult to correct c r os s wr i n kles and on e has to

‘

“
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,
”
be very careful when doing aw a y with those of a too much .

Many an expe r t has and will be deceived b y altering in too large

a degree As a natural con s equence the faul t will show at an
.

opp o s ite place .

The wo rs t fault s a r e bi a s w r inkles The cause is mostly an .

incorrect proportion of the front and b ack length I will .

explain this in la t er chapte r s .

It is extrao r dinarily imp ortant f or a careful tailo r to j udge

those faults correctly which r esult th r ough tightne s s These are .

n ot evident but a r e the cause of faults which nea r ly always show

,

as superfluous width at an opp osite place .

U suall y these fa ul ts originate by clumsy alte r ing after the

trying on and can only be removed if outlet is there and the
,

same is not sco r ched The best way will be to rip open the part
.

which is un comfortable and too tight ( padding and lining also ) ,

and then to look up the cause .

All alte r ation s must be done in such a way that the collar
lapels and the neck hole remain untouched It is a well known .

fact that al t erations of collar lapels and neck hole nearly always
,

spoil the shape and the looks of the entire garment will be
,

Spoiled This damage can very seldom be made good

. .

I will endeavo r to show by the following illustrations that it

is very i mportant that alterations should be made wherever p os
s i ble without touching the collar O f course there are c a ses .
,

where the t r oub le i s due to a faulty collar itself .

After this introduction I will discuss s everal cases which ,

will be illustrated on skirt coats coat and overcoat in a buttoned ,

condition whi ch always show the faults most plainly

, .

14
 C o ats an d O v erc oats
I . B AC K S H O ULDER T oo S H ORT .

Figu r e s 9 and 10 s how these faul ts ve r y plainly Figu r e 9 .

s hows the coat unbuttoned T he colla r fits well b ut the f r ont

.
,

part s s epa r a t e a n d d r op to the b ack The coat f r om the back

.
,

s houlde r down st and s off the b ody and the s ki rt l aps over T he
,
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coat s o to s a y does n ot fit clo s e to the wai s t

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.

When the c oat is b uttoned t he colla r is l oo s e a r ound the

,

nec k and i t s how s w rink l e s up f r om the s ide of the waist to t he

s hou l de r s ( S ee Fig
. If the coat i s pulled down in o r de r
.

to r emove wrinkles the colla r will come too low and the back
, ,

pa rt will b e too sho rt in the neck and too long at the b ottom .

Co ns equent ly the c o at will b e all r ight in the waist but the s ki r t s

15
will drop apart In f ront the coat moves up a n d stan d s away
.

from t h e neck and the skirts cross too much in front Very .

often the coat is too tight across the breast ( S ee Fig . .

These are the evident faults but the i n ,

visible faults are there too The garment is ,

.

uncomfortable which only the wearer will

,

notice It pinches in front of the armhole

.

and shoulder because the front part will be

drawn down through the back part and con ,

sequently lays too tight on shoulder and “

arm If on e supposed the necessary outlet

.

is there and moved up the collar as much as

required about one inch % let out the outlet
,

on the skirt and took o ff the unnecessary

goods in the front apparently the fault ,

would be remedied The garment however .

, ,

w ould not look very good and remain u n c om

f or ta ble .It will lose in looks not only by ,

the waist seam being too high in front a n d

too low in the back ( skirt garments ,

but the figure will also have a sloping shoul

der effect because the shoulder seam will
,

come too much to the back and the back part

wil l be narrower at the neck by setting the ,

co ll ar higher about 1M to 1Vinches 2 .

D espite this alteration the pressure at the armhole and at the

shoulder will not disappear .

If one will remedy this by cutting ou t the armhole in front ,

— —
the garment will be too wide in the back on the blade and the
fullness will have to be taken in By doing this the coat will be
.

too small mostly across the breast and the garment would be
, ,

half spoiled The altering will not only cause much work b e
.
,

cause the collar has to be ripped off and made shorter but the ,

looks of the lap els w ill be sp oiled too ,

.

If one supposed that by putting the collar higher the back

neck increases so considerably every good tailor should ask him
“
,

self the question Is i t possible that I made such a mistake

10
when ta k ing the mea sure of the cus t o mer that the l ength of th e
”
waist i s one inch too short % By being a little thoughtful he
would know that the alteration whi ch I j ust described cannot be
, ,

right S hould the fault be due to the fact that the upper back
.

part i s a trifle too short that does not prove that the length of
,

the back is too short .

The length is correct on e can s ee that b ecause the faulty

, ,

coat shows what is missing at the top is too long at the bottom .

Tha t means that the length of the back is not distributed in the
right dimensions % above the b rea s t line n ot enough % b elow t he
breast line too much This mistake happ ens often because the
.

cutte r was not careful enough and omitted to mark the notches
in f r ont side and back parts In consequence of this the part s
,
.
,

a r e not in their right place I illustrated this in Figure 2 in

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,

—
the first part of this book The Cutting T his fault c a n be
.

alte r ed in the following way % Tu rn to Figure 12 Rip open the

.

17
skirt seam from ( d ) to ( c ) also the seam under the a rm from
,

( )
a l to ( )
b 1 and the a rm h ole seam f r om a little befo r e ( )
a l
to ( f ) The side part has to be moved upward a s mu c h a s the
.

collar i s% too low when the coat is

‘
pulled down smooth In this case it .

is on e inch so that the mark s ( a 2 )

,

and ( bl ) of the side body clo s e to

( )
a l and ( )
b 2 o f the f r ont part will
come togethe r After sewing together
.

front an d side part the armhole will ,

b e equalized by taking Off the uneven

cloth on the side pa r t or if by doing ,

this the a rmhole will be cut out too

much letting ou t the outlet in the
,

f r ont part In the waist line as a

.
,

rule only the f r ont pa rt ha s to be al

,
.

ter e d by taking away the protruding

pa r t f rom ( b 2 ) to S hould by ,

doing this the ski rt seam become

,

too hollow and s ag in a bad looking way a p a rt of the outlet ,

b elow ( bl ) mus t be le t ou t about half of the part moved up and

,

the front part nea r ( b 2 ) mu s t be s hortened only as much a s is

-

n ecessary . S hould the s kirt stil l b e too wide in the b ack the ,

change will have to be made in the ple a t .

By moving up the side part the a r mh ole wi ll b e l arge r and

outlet on unde r a rm must b e let ou t in order to enlarge the
sleeve O nly in a few cases will on e have to take o ff on the b lade
. .

It is unde r stood that the l ining and padding must b e taken ca r e

of at the s ame time I me ntion this although every tailor will
.
,

k now thi s .

It i s easy to r emedy this u s m g this simple alteration which

, ,

can be done in a sho r t time and without any dange r Coats and .

ove r coats when Op en show the same faults as coats with a skirt
, ,
.

But if tho s e are fully buttoned and pulled down in the back to ,

avoid the sloping wrinkles the faults will show in a diff e r ent
,

way The collar also is too low in the b a ck but inasmuch as the
.
,

coat i s not open on the bottom the back part cannot move down
, ,

18
is tight across the seat and shows horizontal wrinkle s in the
waist ( see Fig .

O n an overcoat it wil l show in a diffe r ent way The vent will

.

s p r ead and the c ro ss w rinkle s will disappe a r to a certain degree

.

T he alte ration has to b e made in the same way as the coat

mentioned before b ut the moving up of the back part must be
,

done in the s ide s eam ( see Fig . In case there is enough

19
turnup on the edge of the back part this turnup must b e let out
, ,

which would always be better th a n to shorten the front part

across the bottom
II F R O N T SH OULD E Rs T oo L ON G
.

. .

The effect of thi s is when the coat ,

is unbuttoned ( s e e Fig the same .

a s with a too short back shoulder .

H ere the buttoned coat shows another

figure because the front shoulder is
,

proportionately too long It will fit .

all right in the back b ut the front ,

edge will show up longe r only show ,

ing on the breast and lapel The col .

lar will fit close and be high enough

( s ee Fig .

To define exactly h ow much the

front shoulder is too long make a ,

pleat across the breast from on e arm

hole to the other which will defin e the ,

degree of the alteration Acco r ding .

to the width of the pleat the alte r ,

ation has to b e done in the same way

a s de monstrated in the preceding part

on Figure 12 .

In this case the back part is not moved up only the front is ,

moved down s o the protruding part at the side of the armhole

,

must n ot be taken away H owever the outlet in the front part

.
,

of the armhole at ( a 1 ) must be let ou t in orde r to give the arm

,

hole a good form Regarding the other alterations on the waist

.
,

line skirt sleeve etc see description in Part I

, , ,
.
,
.

If after this alteration the skirt seam should be too low in

front this would not matter much only the unnecessary front
, ,

length at the bottom of the skirt will have to be taken away

towards the back This is because the front part cannot be
.

shortened in the waist as the distance of the button holes would

,

be uneven .

If after this alteration it should develop tha t the armhole is

20
 Very often the p u fi e d back will be misj udged and what i s too
much in length will be taken a s too much i n width because the ,

side and shoulder seams hang away from the bo dy If the side .

part is taken in extending to the ,

waist b utton and the sho ul der from

the a rmhole to the neck hole then the ,

alteration i s made in the w r ong

place Through this wrong alteration
.

the diamete r of the armhole ha s b e

come too s mall the w rink le wi l l b e en ,
“

lar ge d and the p r e s sure a t the f r ont

,

pa rt of the a rmh ole will be g r ea t e r .

As a r ule to remedy this the arm ,

hole will have to b e cleared out in

front and cut deepe r Consequently .

the br eas t will be too na rr ow and the

coat too t ight at the brea s t measure .

In most ca s e s this cannot be r emedied

any more successfully This can o nl y .

be ch an g ed if the back part is sho rt

ened .

The best way to make s ure is to

fold a pleat ac r oss the back from on e
armh ole t o the o t her a s wide a s necessary to get the right posi
,

tion of the coat After pinning the pleat on e can see how much
.

i s necessa r y to sho r ten the back pa rt

,
.

Figu r e 17 s hows plainly how to do away with this fault with

ou t much work .

The alteration h a s to b e made in the neck hole and on the

shoulder After the seams ( e f g h ) are ripped the back part
.
, , , ,

in the neck hole and at the shoulder h a s to be cut down compar

ing with the pleat In o rder that the back and the shoulder wi ll
.

retain their original width the back must not become smaller
, ,

otherwise the front shoulder at the armhole would also have to

b e made smaller As much as necessary of the outlet of the back
.

must be let ou t in the armhole .

H e r e will show for the fir s t time the advantage of this pre

caution If through this alteration the back part looks too
.

small at the armh ole the part which has to be r emoved must be
,

take n away on e half in the b ack p art and the other half at the
-

front part shoulder extending to the nec k hole ( s ee the marked

,

lines in Figure
If one wants the width of the b ack on the armhole to remain
as wide as before everythi ng in the front must be taken away
,
.

In each case the back p a rt in the neck mu s t stay a s wide as

before.

A similar fault occurring very often on square sho ul de r ed

,
-

persons will be mentioned here at the same time

,
.

There are little cross wrinkles close below the collar from one
shoulder to the other S ee Figure 18 f or this alteration Inas
. .

mu ch as the surplus length will only be noticed above the middle

24
of the back the back shoulder should not b e made s horter but
, ,

only the back neck extending to the armhole should be shortened

comparing with the wrinkles Also the back part in the neck .

hole must r emain as wide as it was before If the b ack part of .

a coat and overcoat is too long cross wrinkles will s how at the ,

middle of the waist %also by sloping wrinkles from the a rmhole

to the waist The coat will also be too tight across the seat The
. .

long overcoat will pinch below the seat in the knee and the vent
‘

will part The f r on t p a r ts will come too much to the front %the
.

lowe r pa r t of the skir t s stand Off too far from the knees and
show too much flare in the f r ont ( S ee Figu r e s 19 and .

The change will also have to b e made a s wi th coat illustrated

i n Figu r es 17 and 18 .

IV . F R O N T SH OU LD E R s T oo S H O RT .

These faults are very evident in Figu r e 2 1 .

O n the front pa rts very ugly sloping wrinkles show from

neck hole t o a rmhole This p r esses in front and underneath the
.

armhole The coat is too tight across

.

the breast although it has the right

,

width because the width adva n ces in

,

a wrinkle to the armhole and it wi ll ,

show too loose in the waist l ine T h e .

ski rts also cross each other t oo m uch .

Also in most cases the waist seam in

front is too high The b ack view 1s.

t he same as m Fi gure 16 .

B efo r e on e starts altering on that

kind of a coat it is a dvisable to make
,

a thorough examination to find out if

the collar is set on too short because ,

this also will cause the described

fault % only in this case the shoulder
is also too long in the armhole If the .

coat fits tight the r e then it is a s ure

sign that the f r ont shoulder is t oo
s hort throughout If on e will pin a
.

25
pleat as is done for a back part which i s too long on e wi ll see
, ,

exactly how much the front shoulder must be lengthened .

The proper way would b e to let out the outlet in the shoulde r

but in thi s ca s e a new and longe r collar would have to be made .

In many cases the re is n ot enough goods fo r a new top collar

and therefore a new and s i mple way has to be found t o fix up the
coat as follows % Rip the under arm seami ( a l b l ) the skirt
, ,

seam from ( c ) to ( d ) and the armhole s eam f r om ( 1) across

,

( )
a l to e
( ) ( see Figu r e and move up the front pa rt as
much as necessa ry meeting ( b l ) with ( b2 a 2 ) with ( a l ) All
, ,
.

there remains to be done is to cut ou t or to deepen the armhole

and eventually to enlarge the s leeve .

In the skirt se am leave out the outlet in the front part ex ,

tending from ( b l ) to ( c ) If there i s no outlet on hand on e is

.
,

compelled to take the protruding part off the side to ( d ) S ee .

the ma rked part in figure .

26
 T hi s wi ll Often cau s e another fault namely the ski r t wil l flap
, ,

apa rt and s how too much flare on the side Figur e2 3 s hows thi s
.

alteration with punctured line s .

B ut fi r s t convince yo urs elf if thi s alteration is r eally n ec es

sa ry An alte r ation i s n ot necessary unles s the coat showed too
.

much s ki rt in the plea t befo r e alterat ion .

A coa t or an ove r coat with too sho r t a front shoulde r s how s

ugly c r oss w rinkles in front % is t oo tight ac ross the brea st %
pinche s in the a rmhole and is too loose a t the b ottom The ove r
.

coa t will flare i h f r ont lik e in Figure 2 0 The back view i s l i ke

.

in Fi gu r e 19
.

A pleat across the back will s how h ow much altering ha s t o

b e done Move the front part in the side seam upward the same
.

amount s o that the marks ( a 2 ) and ( a l ) and ( b l ) and ( b2 )

,

correspond with each o t her The f r ont pa r t of the blade whi ch

.
,

will become deep e r th r ough this alt e r ation must be vertically

,

b elow the o ri ginal which wil l make it necessary to take in the

,

27
same at the side seam of the front part O the rw ise the garment
.

will be too wide in this place The b ack pa rt must be shortened

.

below whatever is necessary T hi s very simple altering 1s

,
.

shown in Figure 2 4 .

V F RONT P A RT SA GGIN G B ACK ON AOOOU N T OF N OT E NO UGH

H EI GH T OF T HE S H O ULDER .

Figu r e 25 sho ws a very faulty coat . If the coat is u n bu t

28
a t the s l eeve hea d a n d is l oose enough which is usua ll y the ca s e
, ,

on e will s e e that the outlet on the shoulde r s ea mJ ( Figure 2 7

ll k ) must be let ou t again

- . Notice also that now the coat does
, ,

not sag back and that the colla r fit s clo s ely when the coat is
buttoned .

Through this ve r y s i mple alte ring the fault will b e r emedied

with little wo rk and without any dange r Figu r e 2 8 will s how
.

how by too much taking in of the s houlde r s eam at the a r mh ole

, ,

the whole f r ont par t came out of it s right place and had to s ag
back Appa r ently the coat got too wide at the s ide seam and
.

did n ot hug the wais t .

T hi s is not the case on the body as mentioned b efo r e T he

, ,
.

position of the back pa r t is right remains in its place and pre

,

vents the sagging back Of the front part through th e arms .

Very Often this fault i s cau s ed by padding the shoulder point

30
too much S hould however the shoulder become unnaturally
.
, ,

high it is advisable to re mo ve the sup erfluous padding This

,
.

refers also to coats and overcoats .

VI . C OLL AR S TA ND S OF F A N D C OA T H AN Gs B ACK I N T H E WAI S T .

I will now get to the fault whi ch

is brought on by un r easonable alter
ing and fitting The main cause Of .

this is the desi r e to make the coat

smooth and close fitting in the back .

Figu r e 2 9 shows that when the

coat i s open the collar will stand off ,

around the neck drawing the front ,

pa r ts backwards Through this ugly .

,

wrinkles form lengthwise at the

breast and in front Of the armhole ,

which pinches and feels uncomfort

able Across the back the coat looks
.

stretched and stands O ff in the waist .

If buttoned whi ch can scarcely be a c ,

complished because the width of the

breast was drawn back to the armh ole
in a wrinkle the whole front part ,

moves upwards % consequently the

lap els show to o long %the collar wil l be
drawn down still further in the back and the entire garment
looks as if the back part is too short .

All these irregularities are caused by too much taking in O f

the side seam Through this the blade measure becomes too
.

short the diameter O f the armhole too small and the front parts
, ,

with the collar are drawn to the back This causes the wrinkles .

in front and the pressure in the a rmholes resulting in a misfit ,

coat The back part has become too short by too much taking in
. .

A cutter who will not examine this thoroughly might have a

hard time and make wrong alterations If one would try to .

remedy this by cutting out the armhole in front at the pinching

part remove the width in the waist by taking it in and s et the
,

32
collar hi gher the r esult would be a too narrow breast and the
,

whole coat being too tight The coat would be a total m i s fit

. . ~

This can easily be altered if the front part has enough outlet

in the underarm s eam Rip ou t the sleeve from (i ) to ( e ) and

.
.

the seams ( a b d ) also loosen the padding and the lining s o it

- -
, ,

will give you more space to work on I f the customer puts on

.

the coat again on e will see that the outlet Of the front p art must
be let ou t below the a rm ext ending to the waist s c a m The
,
.

whole back part and the collar draws up towa r ds the neck %the
ugly wrinkles on the b reast and before the armhole disappear ,

and the garment will become comfortable and does n ot pinch

any mo r e It shall be emphas ized that the back pa r t too will
.
, ,

move a little highe r more than half of the widened part in the
,

upp er part of the armhole It can only be determined when fit

.

ting i f the outlet below in the side part must be let ou t extend
, ,

ing to ( d ) or if the front part must be shortened in the waist

,

seam f r om ( b ) to ( c ) .
 If the r e is no outlet at the front part in the underarm seam ,

there is nothing else to be done but to put in a new side part .

The position Of the side and back part discussed befo r e will
s how in Figu r e 3 0 with marked lines As in most cases the .
,

unde r sleeve is held in and the necessary widening can be easily

accomplished %but if there is not enough width then the outlet ,

on the f r ont seam of the under sleeve must be let ou t as much as

necessa ry If such i s n ot there it will be necessary to piece the

.
,

unde r sleeve .

Thi s alteration can be done m a short time and h as the a d v a n

tage that the f r ont pa r t remains untouched .

I will mention here especially that in many cases the cause

, ,

Of a fault wi ll be in an other place than in the place where it

seems to be This could Often be determined ea s ily if on e could
.

imagine the s mooth place r ipp ed If on e ha s decided tha t b y

.
,

Openin g Of the seams in question the fault can be r emedied it ,

Wi ll pay to t r y it and on e will s ee Often that on the most smooth

,

looking pa rt the g a rment i s too tight because the s eam wi ll open ,

a tr i fle and it will be s een that the outlet if any must b e let out , ,
.

This wil l put the sepa r ate pieces Of the garment in the right
place th r ough which the faulty coat can be b r ought in shape
,

without al t ering in the place where the fault s eems to be an ,

alter a tion which is very tedious and doub tful .

What is said before r efers also to coat s and overcoats .

VII . I N S UFFICI E N T AB D O M E N .

Fi gu r e 3 1 shows a c ommon fault When the coat is buttoned .

w rinkles wil l develop from the armh ole to the s tonTa ch which ,

by movements will draw upward % the b reast will b e too wide %

the lapels and colla r will be too long %and the colla r will lay too
deep in the back If the coat is Opened at the lowe r button until
.
,

the wrinkles disappear s o that it fit s closely in the neck and on

,

the breast it will droop b ack at the bottom and stand O ff the
,

body in the s ide even if the right width O f the waist is there
,
.

But if it is too tight in the waist it will also be too smooth in

,

the sides.
 These signs will show
that the coat has not enough
goods in front Of the abdo
men .

The following illust r a

tion will show how to r emedy
this.

If sufficient outle t is
the r e the p r ope r change can
,

be made when trying on pro ,

v i d i n g th e f r ont ed gi ng is

n ot yet finished and button

hole s not made .

F or thi s purpose cut a

new%coat model out Of the
original and add to it the
mis sing pa rt in the abdo
men % that means half as

35
 much as the parts drop ap art
when the lower buttons are
opened Also take O ff as
.

much on the side p r oviding ,

that the garment has the right

width in the waist without the
front addition .

But if too tight in the

waist less must b e taken
,

away in the side S ee Figu r e.

32 lines The n .

place as in Figu r e 3 3 which

, ,

is now in r ight position an d

which i s he r e marked with
broken lines at the o riginal
, ,

which is marked in full lines ,

and you will see where and

how much altering has to be
done at the certain points .

The neck point ( k ) must be

placed more to the fr ont the ,

shoulder extending to the

armhole must be s ho rtened
and made smalle r in the arm
hole a t ( l ) The neck hole at
.

( )
n will be deeper and in or

de r to r egain the right fron t

length the outlet in the waist
at ( c ) must be let ou t but a t ,

( )
b as much must be taken
away as was added at the arn ‘

hole at ( a ) on top What is .

lost at the edge Of the breast

must be replaced extending ,

from ( a ) to ( b ) The armhole

.

in front and b elow r emains

unchanged Then the trifle
.
,

36
Of the armhole can be let out as shown in Figure 3 5 wi th, ,

lines The under sleeve will h a ve to be cut out a little

. .

S hould however the armhole become too deep which only

, , ,

can happ en if it w a s too low before only entirely n ew front

,

parts will save the coat .

Coats and overcoats show thi s fault very seldom S hould .

occasion arise the front part will have to be turned the same as
,

the coat H owever the alteration will only b e successful if the

.
,

surplus rounding on the front edge can be cut away as otherwise ,

the same would slop e down This is only possible when fitting
.

or on the ready made garments with fly fronts .

VIII . CR oss WR I N K L E s I N T HE B A OK S T ARTIN G A T T HE

,

ARM HOLE
fl
It is a fact that small tr i es cause much aggravation but by ,

studying them carefully it is very easy to change them .

Figures 3 6 and 37 showing cross wrinkles whi ch begin at

, ,

the armh ole up to the highest point on the shoulder or also run
ning to the center of the back .

As a rule they only show on coats and overcoats rarely or not

—
,

at all on skirt coats mostly on square shouldered or persons -

With a round back .

38
 '

A little explanation will be necessary to s h ow th e cause of

t hi s fault.

S quare shoulders and a round back are h ei gh ten i n gs on a

human body T O give those bo dies a good fitting garment the
.
,

workmanship must help along the edge s must be worked in

,

more or less either by cutting ou t the surplus goods or by using

, ,

( )
v ,
or if this i s n ot possible the
,
parts must be worked in .

The r ounding of the back now coming in ques t ion there will ,

b e a necessary shortening mostly extending to the a rmhole O n .

ski rt garments this will be accomplished by cutting as the bent ,

fo rm of the side seams of the back p a r t and the side pa r t and the
.

position Of b oth to each other already p r oduces the effect Of a

V a t the armhole and besides the concerni ng part touche s the
mos t protruding pa r t on the b ack shoulder s o that the fo rming,

p r oduced in the garmen t co rr e s ponds with tha t on the body .

Thing s are diff erent with coat and overcoat In these the .

back p art is cut con s iderably wide r and consequently the side
,

seam is farthe r r emoved from the high

est part The side s eams a r e als o
.

straighter as on ski r t coat s A sho r ten

,
.

ing extending to the a rmhole can pro b

ably be accomplished although b y doin g,

this the p r o duced fo rming wil l n ot be in

the right place % that means n ot whe r e ,

it should be .

T O conform the twio the shaping of ,

the back p a rt i s nece s sary which wil l ,

have to b e enlarged the wide r the same

is cu t and i t will b e necessary in a
,

highe r degree by very protruding s houl

de r blades or a ve r y round back .

In shaping the back pa rt ( Figu r e

,

3 8 marke d p oints ) must b e wo r ked in

,

as much as necessary in each case The .

”

develop ed width can be put in the ri ght place b y p r essing it

the r e .

N ow the back part mostly at t he uppe r s ide s eam will b e

, ,
held in well but on e must hold in same a little more in the arm
,

hole and in the lower part in the shoulder seam a s on the skirt
coat Consequently the ready made garment shows these illus
.
-

tr a te d f a ults N ow I will show the described faults

. If the .

wrinkl e i s short only extending to the highest part Of the shoul

,

der blade then the fault will not cause much trouble Rip o u t
,
.

the armhole seam a little under the blade until a little over the
shoulder seam and same from below about 1 X inches from the
, ,
2

neck .

Then the back part in the lower half shoulder se a m must be

held in one half to two thirds of the width Of the wrinkle %the
- -

balance in the armhole and the resulting width must be pressed

in where the rounding on the back shows .

But in case such is very protruding and consequently the

wrinkle very large s o that the same cannot be removed en ti r elv
,

by working in the two previously mentioned places and no close

fi tti n g ar mh ole can be reached there i s nothi ng else to be done
,

than padding it a little more It is recommended in this case

.
,

because the rounding will look smaller .

If the back p art has outlet in the

armhole it must be let ou t from the
shoulder seam running downwa r d ,

( Fig 3 9.
) the marked line ( )
e f s o that -
,

the shoulder will not become too nar

r ow .I f there is no outlet or the front ,

pa r t Of the shoulder is very wi de the ,

extending part can be taken away Cer .

ta i n ly the padding and the lining must

be sewed in accordingly .

If a wrinkle ends in the middle of

the back ( Fig the change must be
.

made in another way H ere the cause .

is a very round back .

H ere the highest part is in the center

Of the back and therefore the back part
in the center seam must be rounded .

The f o rm of t he upp er back part must be chan ged entirely .

40
 If in s uch a case ( when the garme nt is put on and before
lining and pad di ng are loosened ) the back part ( Fig 39 ) from .

( )
c to ( f ) and ( )
g to ( )
h is ripped and is held on t o the body in
such a way that the wrinkle at the armhole disappears so it will ,

by itself move up from the shoulder and will stand O ff in the

neck hole and in the middle of the b ack a fold will develop , ,

be gi nning at the neck hole and extending to the highest part of

the r ounding .

T hi s wrinkle has to be pinned down Then lay the back pa r t

.

at the shoulder seam under the front part in the neck hole under ,

the collar and also pin it down on these places N ow mark

,
.

whe r e and how much has to be taken O ff in the back part %also
the part Of the fold whi ch h as to be taken O ff in the center Of the
back It i s r ecommended to make cross marks on the shoulder
.
,

on the places and in what deg r ee the back pa r t has to be held in .

The a rmhole s eam will be regulated as illustrated before W hen

,
.

the back pa r t is marked and tw o seams are added if the upper ,

laying parts a r e marked r a w e d ge d then it will be formed like

,

Figure 40 br oken lines

,
.

In case the w rinkle at the armhole is

n ot very large or t he back part is too

t ight s o the fault can b e r emedied b y let

,

ting Out a little mo r e in the center s eam ,

the back extending up and down f r om

the hi ghe r point s ee t he dotted line on
,

Figure 41 By doing this the ga rment

.

will fi t close r at the a rmhole and will be

more comfortab le If the back part is .

ou t withou t cente r s c a m the wrinkle in

the neck hole cannot be done away with

by sewing Figu r e 42 with broken lines
.
, ,

will sho w how t he change has to be made .

The back part has to be c ut away

about one half to two thir d s of the
- -

‘
wrinkl e ( at the a rmh o le ) at ( f ) ev en tu
all y it must be let out a little in the outlet
.

armhole through this formed roundin g mu s t b e

41
 drawn in closely The remaining is to be wo rked in at the
.

armhole and the width caused on both place s mu s t be

diverted to the center Of the back .

If it i s n O t
p o ssible in case,

the back is very

r O u n d e d to ,

work in b O t 11
p l a c e s s uffi
c i en tly to have

a close fitting at
t h e armh ole ,

padding w i l l
remedy this .

B efore alter
ing in this way ,

it is advisable
to e x a m i 11 e
th or ou gh ly as to
w h e t h e r the
faul t i n question has n ot anothe r cause becau s e ve ry Often the s e
,

wrinkles are caused by lining not prope rly sewed in .

Therefore it is always advisable to loosen lining and padding ,

and after this t o try on the ga rment Then it can be j u d ged

.

surely h ow to alter this and in many cases on e will find that only
.
,

the linin g caused this fault As previously said both faults very
.
,

seldom s how on ski rt ga rments but if they ever should show

, ,

the change ha s t o be made as illus trated .

IX . OVE R OOAT S H O WI N G T OO FL A T AN D T OO N ARROW AR M H OL E

A N D C OLLAR N OT CL OSE F I TT IN G .

The p r eceding faults will Show on coats and overcoats b ut ,

the following faults will only Show on ove r coats on account of ,

their p ec u li a r i tv as top coats .

Many colleagues will have had the expe rience that an ove r
coat when the customer tries it on will not move up %that i s it
, , ,

wi ll n ot fit close to the neck and will Show a wrinkle acros s the

back under the arms towards the front armhole ( Fig
, This
will give the impression that the overcoat i s too tight across the
.
,

back If d r awn up by force which will only be possible by pull

.
,

1n g down the lower garment it will be high enough fit at the

, ,

neck and fit good in general But if the customer move s around

.

f or awhile the collar of the lower garment will Show above .

T hi s fault is Often misj udged and

n ot correctly alte r ed if on e attributes
,

the fault to the overcoat .

D espite the too deep laying colla r ,

the back part is not too short as ,

proven by the c r oss wrinkle in the

back That it i s 1210 11 130 0 na rr ow is
.

proven by the fact that the overcoat

has the righ t position in the waist
and s ea t T his fault will Show more
.

when anothe r garment is wo r n under

the ove r coat than while tryin g on .

If after this the O vercoat wi ll fit

well in all parts then this is a sure
,

Sign that the fault i s not on the same ,

but on the coat underneath because ,

on the latter the armholes are too

deep a n d cut out too much When .

the ove r coa t is pulled up s o far t hat i t

lays high enough in the neck the arm ,

hol e will come higher than that of the

ga rment wo r n b elow If the cus t omer when walking will throw
.
, ,

h i s arms back and forward the re s ult wil l be that inasmuch as ,

the overcoat has the right deepness in the a rmhole the coat will ,

be pu s hed up above the collar o f the overcoat until the armholes

are evened up .

The right way would be to al t e r the ga rment unde r the ove r

coat b u t as this would cau s e much more trouble there will be
, ,

nothing else left but to alte r the overcoat by deepening the a rm

holes accordingly ( see Fig s 44 and 45 i e )
.
-
,
.

Thi s can be done by exami ning the wrinkle unde r the a rm .

43
Across the back the same is often larger but if one would deepen
,

it accordingly the result would be that the a r mh ole would be cut

out deeper than actually necessary T hi s would h ave no bad
.

consequences in regard to the fit of the overcoat .

This will r emedy the fault The ove r coat is easily pu t on and
.

will at once go up high enough in the neck and the collar wil l lay
,

smoothly The wrinkle will disappear

. .

The s leeve must be changed too by cutting out the under

, ,

sleeve co rresponding to the a rmh ole If by this alteration the

.

sleeve should become too short th e outlet at the bottom must be

,

let out as much a s necessa ry.

N ow I will call your attention to a fault which is often in the

overcoat itself It is not necessary to u s e much padding on an
.

overcoat because the coat over which the overcoat is wo r n as a

, ,

rule is already padded enough

,
.

If the overcoat is very much padded it will be too tight on

,

44
 This can only be exp ected if the skirt is drafted direct from
the front and side p art according to the Waist line and by c on
s i d e r i n g the width of the seat T O construct same by itself
.

( that is wit h out di r ectly using those p arts ) is not only w r ong ,

b ut very unce rtain becau s e it s wai s t line would very s eldom

,

conform with the f r ont pa r t Faults will r esult which if not

.
, ,

s een when tryin g on and altered will alway s b e difficult to

,

change when the garment is r eady I will n ot de s c ribe h ow to

.

d r aft t he s ki rt I will only Sho w how f r equent fault s can b e

. ,

alte r ed .

T o demon s t r ate this I will u s e t he double b r easted P r ince

-

Alb ert because the sa m e w hen b u tt oned w ill Sho w th e faults

, , ,

on the Ski rts most evidently The changes are ma rked with
.

b roken line s on the figu r es .

The faults mos t easily to co rr ect are the lapping ove r and the
separating Of the skirt in the back p a rt or on the f r ont edge ,

granted that otherwise the s ame fit faultlessly In the fi r st case .

the su rplu s on the s kirt pleat ha s to be taken away in the pleat

or from the front edge . In case the skirt s epa r ate s in front or
in the back the mi ss ing goods must be r eplaced by letting out
,

the ski r t pleat s %that is the fron t edge

,
.

46
 Ve r y often on e s ees s ki rt coats Showing both fault s T hey
.

s eparate in the back but in the fr ont they lap ove r D espite this
, .

the right width i s there as no tightness or ugly wr inkles appear

, .

If the r e i s plenty ou t let in the ski r t pleat SO that the s ame can
,

b e l et ou t as much a s necessary the fault can be easily co rr ected

, ,

on l y the su rplus in the front ha s to be taken away If there is

.

47
not enough outlet in the skirt pleats nothi ng else can be done
,

but to r ip the skirt and to bring it up in the back as much as

necessary Consequently the skirt will be too shor t in the back
.

and too long in f r ont s o that it must be shortened f r om here

, ,

extending to the pleat .

This alte r ation shows on Figure 46 .

S hould the Skirts lap over in the back but separate in fr ont
, ,

and in case there i s not sufficient outlet available in front they ,

must be moved up in front accordingly .

To equalize the length the lowe r edge from the pleat to the
f r ont must be Shortened as much as necessary Figure 47 makes .

this a lter a tl on clear The Shortening has to be done also at th e

.

back skirt .

In both cases it is necessary that the waist seam of the skirt

will have the exact form as before The V has to be cut deeper
.

accordingly Very Often on e wi ll notice that well fitting skirts

.

Show a cross wrinkle above the hi ps The cause of this fault is

.

too much rounding in the waist seam Of the skirt compared with
the front part .

This pronounced roun di ng has to be taken away more or ,

les s according to the Size O f the cross wrinkle S ee Fig ure 48

,
. .

48
 In fl
ca s e th e sk irts are t oo muc h on t h e s i d e s a n d se para t e i n
the pleat although they fall correctly in front the Skirt has to be
, ,

li f te d u p at the back from the pleat where the flare starts

, . By

doin g this the flare on the side disappea r s and will b e dive r ted
to the back there b y replacing the missing part previously men
,

ti on e d.S hou l d the plea t on the fla r e Show too much width it ,

 certainly must be taken away In case the Skirts are cor r ect in
.

the back although they separate in front and flares on the sides
, ,

are also there an Opposite alteration is necessary The Skirt

,
.

be gi nning at the flare has to be moved up to the front as much

as necessa ry S ee Figure 5 0 -
. I f by doing thi s the Skirt laps too
.

much over in front the front edges ,

have to be co rr ected .

Regarding shortening and regul a

tion Of the lower edge I refer to Fig
ures 46 and 47 .

It ma y happen that these two de

scribed faults show at the same time .

In this case the flares on the side are

larger and the Skirts separate in the
back and in front Then the alter .

ation has to b e done as Shown in Fig

ure 5 1 The skirt has to be moved up
.

in front and in the back a s much as

necessary Through this alteration.

the coat will lose s ome of its ori gi nal

length .

The very evident faults shown on

Figure 5 2 are also caused by an ill
fi tti n g skirt .

The same is too tight above the

hips and the s eat which will be very ,

evident thr ough cross wrinkles beginning at the waist butto n s

-
,
.

Also in many cases Simila r cros s wrinkles Wi ll Show in front

- .

Inasmuch a s the skirt on account of being too narrow can

, ,

n ot come down ove r the hips the front p art above same will
,

pre s s together r esulting in s mall cross w rinkles but the Skirt in

,
-
,

the back and ve r y often in front will separate L arge hips and .

a large seat produce this fault very Often which is caused by i n ,

s uffic i en t V s being provided fo r in the waist seam Of the skirt

%
.

Many tailors do not think these necessary and believe they

can accomplish the necessary rounding f or hi ps and seat by
holding in on the places in question or by first shaping the skirt
,

5 0
with irons above the hip and in the pleat T hi s is only possible
.

if the hips are n ot very p r otruding and the seat i s small It is .

n ot advisable if same are l a rger because the large r rounding

,

that results must be taken care of more extensively which ,

only be accomplished wii th much work and if the goods a r e v er v

s oft
.

But even with these the fullness will come back if the gar
ment is worn fo r some time and small wrinkles will appea r in
,

the skirt wh ich do not beautify the garment .

N ow the alteration on Figure 5 2 will be described .

The skirt must have the right width over the hip and seat ,

which has to b e facilitated b y letting ou t the pleat even risking

,

p i ecin g the skirt If this cannot be risked b ecause the piecing

.

Sho w s to o much nothing else is left but to cut an entirely new

,

Skirt if the customer wi ll not stand for a shortening of the

,

whole coat from 1 to 2 inches By shortening this way which

.
,

must be done in the wa ist line the fault in many cases will be
,

averted without making a new skirt Through letting ou t the

.

ple at the waist line in the skirt will become longer than that Of
,

the part above but the excess must n ot be held in It has to be

.

r emoved b y V s in orde r to bring the necessary width f or hips

and seat in the right place.

5 1
 For larger alte rations I might recommend making a pape r
pattern first to m a ke the changes on same and to cut the faulty
, ,

skirt accordingly.

XI . F A UL T S A T T H E AR M H O LE
AN D S LEEVE .

To the good points Of a ga r

ment there has to be al s o a c om
f or ta ble and good fitting sleeve as
much a s on e can make it possible .

To make this i s one Of the harde s t

tasks of the tailor as in many ,

cases the customer make s de

mands which cannot be fulfilled .

There are mainly tw o fault s

fo r which the tailo r always wi ll
be blamed First w rinkles show
.
,

ing in the back Of the under

sleeve when the arm is held down
( Fig 5 4 )
. S econd when st r etch
,

ing ou t the sleeve shows wrinkles

and becomes a little shorter .

( Figs 5 5 and
.

To make a sleeve without the first mentioned wrinkle is not

very difficult It only has to be formed to the back as the lines
.
,

5 2
 By this the coat will be too tight across the breast and will
pull away from the body by moving the arms If the sleeve i s
.

not out very wi de and full in front the coat will keep its b ad
,

appearance .

Very important is the fo rmi ng of

the Sleeve in connection with the
width and height of top sleeve and the
cut ou t of the unde r sleeve It is not .

the pu rpose Of this book to demon

strate cutting systems therefo r e the
,

following demonstration will be r e

s e r ved f or points which mu s t b e Ob
se r ved when cutting T he circumfe r
.

ence Of the a rmh ole is ne c e s sary f or

the width Of t he sleeve the length , ,

diameter Of the r eady a rmhole for

the heigh t of t he top s leeve and the
cut out Of the unde r s leeve S hould .

the armhole be changed later in its

circumference or i ts fo rm it i s evi ,

dent t hat the sleeve al s o must be

changed accordingly .

The top Sleeve will b e influenced

through the width Of the front part
shoulder At p r esent a small width
.

of the shoulde r is mode r n and the

Sleeve po s itions are made accordingly .

In this case a higher top Sleeve is r e

quired If the shoulder is wider the same must be more a t
.
,
fl
tened Also in case the shoulder is artificially heightened the
.
,

head of the top sleeve must be made higher Next to the correct
.

and Oblong form of the Sleeve it is very imp ortant how the
,

sleeve is s et in a s the appearance and the comfortable fitting of

,

the entire garment depends very much on the correct position

of the sleeves in the armhole .

Therefore the definition of the points of the armhole where

, ,

5 4
the fron t and back middle Of the sleeve have to be place d is ve ry
,

important .

Fi r s t define the top Sleeve notch O ne will find the s ame b y

.

placing the sleeve on the front part as in Figure 5 8 s o that th e

, ,

hollow pa rt of the unde r sleeve confo rms to that of t he a rmho e

l .

The front center of the sleeve ( b ) should meet t h e front a rmhole

and the entire Sleeve s hould hang a little to the f r ont When the
.

f r ont middle of the a rmhole ( c ) i s marked then divide the s e

,

5 5
into half and receive the notch on the back part through point
d
( )
. Through this simple manipulation one will find the cor
rect notches f or the Sleeve which only can be depended on if
,

a rmh ole and sleeve conform in width and height .

This onl y refer s to a normal figure but if the figure is s toop

,

ing it will be nece s sary to place the sleeve in front about to

inc h hi gher and in the back deeper acco r dingly In the oppo
,
.

site case if the figure is erect the sleeve must be put deepe r in
,

front and higher in the back O ne will s ee when the arm hangs
.
,

down whether the Sleeve is correct and without fa ul t

,
.

If the sleeve i s too deep in front and set in too high in the
back cross wrinkles will Show at the armhole and at the elbow
,
-

j oint and it will lay too tight at the wrist j oint Figure 5 9
,
. .

I f th e l eve is too high

S e in fron t a n d too d ee p i n t he b ack ,

5 6
diagonal wr inkles will Show in the front and in the back as on ,

Figu r e 6 0 and it will lay too tight on the back of th e wrist j oint
, .

Anybody can s e e at a glance how to make these alterations .

If the sleeve fits correctly in

front and back despite thi s, ,

faults might Show which can only

b e tr aced to an inco rrect cutting Of the s leeve Figu r e 6 1 will

.

show co mm on faults Of thi s kind . The unsightly diagonal

w r inkl es which show on the upp er arm and the b ending in of
, ,

the s houlder a r e the cause Of a too flat sleeve head If this is to

,
.

be r emedied the entire sleeve has to be taken ou t and changed

,

according to the marked lines in Figure 6 2 by taking Off from

,

the Sleeve head at points ( e ) and ( b ) to ( f ) and deepenin g the

,

u n d ersl eeve as much a s i s lost in height a t ( b ) a n d ( e ) .

5 7
 The fr ont and the b ack notch Of the Sleeve will be in the s ame
place and below at the wrist s ame must be lengthened as much
as was taken away at ( e ) and ( b ) .

Figu r e 6 3 al s o shows a ve ry
c O m m O n fault The under
.

Sleeve is no t sufficiently cut ou t

in f r ont consequently it will be too long in f r ont and this su r

, ,

plu s length will form ugly and uncomfo r table c r o ss wrinkles ,

whi ch will extend in a diagonal di r ection at the top s leeve Fig .

ure 6 4 b roken line s wi ll Show how to change thi s

, ,
.

The undersleeve at ( a ) h a s to be deepened as much as n e c es

sary gradually extending to both sides
, .

The opposite case is less frequent and the undersleeve is cut

ou t too much at
( )
a .Then the top sleeve will be too long and
cro s s wrinkles will Show the whole length ( s ee Fig 65 ) .

5 8
 T hi s has t o be changed acco r ding to Figure 6 6 After rip
.

ping out the entire sleeve more or less has to be taken away at
,

the top Sleeve from ( e ) over ( f ) to ( b ) according to the size of

the wrinkles and the undersleeve must be changed accordingly ,

but s o that nothing is lost at ( a ) For the setting in of the

.

sleeve the o r iginal p oints in the armhole have to be taken as a

standa r d consequently a lengthening of the Sleeve is n ec es
,

sa r y a t t he w r i st j oint A too high head on a top Sleeve shows

.

wrinkle s a s on Figu r e 6 7 This can be r emedied by flattening

.

the head on the top sleeve at ( f ) to ( e ) and ( b ) ( S ee Fig

. .

In closing this chapte r I call your attention to look very ca r e

fully i f the tailor put in the s leeve p r operly For instance a
.
,

5 9
displacing of the sleeve parts when sewing together will cause
‘

the Sleeve to become twisted and Show ugly wr inkles although ,

,

s e t in correctly Also a too narrow or too short cut l in ing or a

.
,

lining displaced by incorrect felling might cause a bad fitting ,

Sleeve .

XII . F A UL TS C A US E D T H RO UGH T H E COLL AR B E I N G CU T I N OOR

R E OT L Y OR HA N DLE D IN A W RON G WAY .

The collar although in s ize and looks the most unimpo rt ant
,

part of the co a t nevertheless plays an impo r tant role It is in

,
.
,

many cases the main cause if a garment does not fit

,
.

The collar i s the soul Of the coat Thi s seemingly bold asser .

tion i s fully j ustified O nly with a well fitti n g colla r can one
- .

accomplish a good t g coat O n the other hand th r ough a

-fi ti n
.
,

faulty on e even if the coat fits well otherwise the right position
, ,

O f all parts to each othe r will not be correct resulting always in ,

considerab le faults .

‘
P erhaps on a c coun t Of i ts i n s i gn i fi c an ce the cutter will n ot
, ,

p ay enough attention to it and wi ll leave the wo r k to the t ailo r, ,

who very seldom understands the right way of cutting a colla r .

To inst ruct a tailor how a collar is cut in each case or to add a ,

correct collar model to each coat i s Often neglected as b eing ,

unimpo r tant T his will not take up a s much tim e as usually is

.

supposed but would save the cutter and the tailor much time
,

and trouble and simplify the task O ften if thing s do n ot come

,
.
,

ou t right alterations must b e made which consume hou r s o f

, ,

wo rk Therefo r e the addition of a co r r ectly cut collar model is

.

recomm ended the more because when cutting n ot only the length ,

of the lapels and the form Of the neck hole but also the carriage ,

and the shoulder form Of the respective custome r might be taken

into consideration .

“
But how are things r eally % The r e are many Shops which
boast only of one or two collar models and these are used fo r ,

cutting the collar for each coat Therefore when handling .

,

things in thi s way a co rrec t cut colla r can be accompli s hed ve ry

,

s eld om .

60
will always happen again despite all precautions The same are
,
.

mostly the result Of the carelessness and inexperience of the

tailor who will spoil the garment entirely without any bad i n ten
,

tion E verybody will easily u n .

d er s ta n d that these i n c on v en i
en c e s in most cases are the , ,

result Of a superficial try on .

When trying on , on e will not

look after the collar carefully ,

and very Often any collar ,

which is j ust at h and will be basted on whether it fits in the ,

neck hole of the coat or not Therefore I will give some hi nts
'

referring to the fitting but which only concern the collar

,
.

If like many colleagues are accustomed to a perfect r eady

, ,

u n d er c olla r will be basted on when fitting this can only be of ,

advantage if same i s handled with the right care If however .

, ,

ou t of habit the collar i s basted on without thought and the

,

tailor does not care whether it fits well or n ot he will be easily ,

deceived .

An under collar only cut out of canvas and only superficially

,

Shaped wi ll not accomplish its purpose but it will always be

, ,
“

good to put it on only temporarily but to rip it O ff after the ,

ga rment i s put on S uch a collar only prevents the seams from

.

opening when the coat is tried on But in this case the shoulder .

seams shall only be basted to the neck hole the eventual outlet ,

in the neck hole must remain open Also the canvas must be cut .

in on several places as far as the outlet goes in order to avoid

, ,

any tightness around the neck H ow a garment fits on the neck

.

can be j udged better without a collar a s a faulty collar is O f ,

great disadvantage to the coat .

If then such a try on is pinned in all remaining parts and

, ,

the neck hole correctly marked ( the best way would be to

stretch the collar on the customer ) fasten the completely fin ,

i s h e d and shaped u n d er c olla r at the neck hole as it should be

—
done on the ready made coat S mall irregularities at the collar
.

can be remedied at the same time If the trying on is done in .

62
this way on e is a bl e to j u d ge the cau s es of the various fau l ts
,

more safely and can avoid many alterations entirely .

N ow befo r e approaching the right theme I will remark that

I t ake it for granted the coat fits well without the faulty collar .

Fir s t I wi ll illus tr ate the s mall faults which Show direct on the
,

colla r and which a r e caused by incor r ect cutting Figure 6 9 .

full lines shows a colla r cut cor r ectly acco r ding to the n eck hole
, .

O n this the cent er seam must run accurately in a right angle to ,

the colla r s tand If the la t te r will be s tretched from b elow c to

.

the cente r seam on each side SO much that it can be laid r ound
the same way as sho wn in Figure 7 0 a this will be entirely s uffi
,
-
,

c i ent T his will amount to about

. to 2 inches according to the ,

fo rmation Of the Shoulde r which ha s to be considered when mak

,

ing the colla r The collar must b e s t r etched only on the out s ide
.

edge %more f or square shoulde rs %f or mping less than f or n or

mal ones %but this s tre t ching must only b e exten d e d t o the point
i

where the colla r stand b egins which is illustrated clearly in

,

Figure 7 0 a T he b r eak li n e must n ot be p r essed in ( when the

-
.

figu r e is normal ) as the neck does n ot b ecome narro w upwards

, ,

but is formed cylindrically SO that a shortening of the b r ea k li n e

,

is not only unnecessary but entirely contra ry to any rule For

,
.

persons who s toop t he collar can b e p r es s ed in a little more in

‘

the b ack Notwithstandin g this many tailors will press all col
.
,

lars too much in the b r e ak li n e on account Of which the outer

,

edge also must be stretched a good deal s o that a form like Fig ,

u r e 7 0 b r e s ults
- .

Th r ough s uch an excessive and faulty handled colla r the

63
entire coat will b e deformed and faul ts wi ll r e s u l t a s illustrate d
on Figures 80 8 1 and 8 2 I will refer to th is later on A similar
,
. .

bad habit of many tailors is the hollowing out Of the back seam
at ( k ) regardless if same is done a s on Figu r e 7 1 or as on Fig
,

ure 72 Through this the br e a k li n e becomes shortened but the

.
,

result will be entirely different than expected In both cases .

the br ea k li n e will Show a deepening in the c en ter wh i c h cannot

,
~

be removed either by setting or by pressing it higher O nly if

, .

the center seam of the collar is cut in a right angle to the collar
stand ( s ee the full line m k l ) this fault will be remedied O n
, , ,
.

Figure 6 9 on e will s e e marked a little lengthening of th e c olla r /

from ( k ) to ( m ) but this very small a ddition must only be put

,
'

on at the outer edge and only in case O f heavy goods which do

, ,

not g1v e and which have to be used for the u n d er c olla r The .

intention to make the collar close fitting at the back Of the neck
is a good on e but the result will be that same is very Often cut in
,

the center seam I n such a way that the c olla r s ta n d extending ,

from ( 1) to (k ) will be shortened but the b r ea k li n e beginning

,

at ( k ) wi ll be widened to ( m ) ( s ee alteration on Figure

S uch a collar will only have the right height on the sides ,

but will lay too low in the back This fault cannot be remedied
.
,

either by pressing or by setting the collar higher but only by ,

bringing the center seam in a right angle to the br e a kli n e like ,

the full lines on Figure 7 3 Show The opposite % the colla r will
.

Show an elevation in the center seam and will be up too high in

the neck w ill appear if the center seam is cut in the opposite
,

way like the

,
marked lines in Figure 7 3 Now what .
,

is the cause O f these signs % As already mentioned on another

64
p g
a e the nec k is f orme d l ik e a cy l in der a n d exten ds wit h the
, , ,

exception of a slight enlargement at the connection with the

Shoulder straight upwards all around As on a well fitti n g
, .
-

collar the br ea k li n e must s u r

,

round the neck i n the back pa rt

and on the sides in even height .

The same must extend in a right

angle to the center seam of the
neck also to the center seam of
,

the collar If the center seam Of the collar runs to the b r e ak li n e

.

o b tuse or acute angled s o the b r ea kli n e which always must

, ,

have its place in a right angle to the center Of the collar will ,

find its place by itself and will lay

higher o r deeper according to the di ,

rection of the center seam Figure 7 3 .

shows t he changed break lines as a r e

sult o f a faulty cutting of the collar ,
,

above and below of th e right break

line c to k .

Figure 7 4 shows a very common

fault .

H ere the b r e ak li n e
of the collar
do es not extend in the same direction
with the b r e a k li n e of the lapel The .

collar has not the right run as the ,

tailor says The cause O f this fault is

.

a collar which does not fit in the nec k

hole It has as commonly expressed
.
, ,

not enough collar stand The lower .

edge Of the colla r stand has b een ou t

too straight at the place in question ,

compared with the rounding of the

neck hole If s uch a too flat fo rmed collar is put in the more
.

hollo w neck hole the br ea k li n e will be too long in front

,
.

U sually the tailor knows only on e way to alter this % by iron

65
i ng i n th e br eak li n e excessive l y to ge t r id of the s urplus length .

Just then the hollow part will result H ow can this fault be .

remedied % S imply by replacing the missing goods above the

br e ak li n e in another way To form the neck hole better at the
.

faulty place will hardly be possible because this place very sel
,

dom has an outlet %therefore nothing else is left but to place the
colla r correctly If the Old one is .

wide enough in front it can be

used agai n if on e does not prefer ,

to make an entirely new on e ,

whi ch natu r ally takes mo r e time

and work .

As al r eady mentioned b efore th ehollow pa rt which the

, ,

b r eakli n e of the colla r Shows in f r ont r esults in n ot enough col

,

lar s tand T hat mean s no t wide enough at the place in question

.
,
.

The colla r Fi g u r e 7 5 marked wi th la rg e ful l line s 1s the

, , , ,

incorrect cut and to this had to b e added at the lower edge what
,

was too hollow in the br eakli n e a s i s illustrated on the figu r e

,

b y a thin line N obody would think of piecing the colla r on this

.

pla c e the r efo r e we must look f or anothe r way to replace the

,

mi s sing goods in order to have a well fitting collar without mak ,

ing an entirely new on e To understand wi thout di ffic ul ty how

.

to arrange thi s we will have to cut a model Of the altered colla r

,

and lay same on the o riginal ( n onfitti n g) collar as the broken ,

line s on Fi gure 75 Show If the collar i s changed exactly like

m
.

thi s odel it has to be cut away in front at ( g ) extending a

, ,

little ab ove the line b elow ( c ) also at the lapel at (m ) extending ,

to the front as far as the little c r ossed point .

In f r ont at the lapel the missing goods has to b e pieced in

case the collar on this place should n ot remain wi de enough %also
in the center Of the back f r om ( m ) to ( l ) and f r om ( 1) to the
front But to do all this would be j ust as troublesome as the
.

construction of a new collar Therefore we must try to s i mp li f v

.

the alteration and I wi ll give the directions as follows

, ,

The cutting of the lower edge at ( g ) i s absolutely necessary %

the p I ec i n g in front at the lapel only conditionally The collar .

66
in the b ac k might remain entire l y unchanged the way the fu l l
l i nes indicate The eventual necessary piecing at the center
.
.

seam and below at ( 1) is of such a trifling nature that it might

as well remain undone By stretching the outer edge and shap
.

ing the back part the colla r in this place can be easily brought in
,

right shape again By doing this the alteration wi l l be more

.

s i mp le and there is al s o a possib ility of using the old colla r

again T O decide the de .

gree necessary for the cut

ting off of the front part
wi thout cutting an extra
collar model f or each case ,

the following r ule will

have to be accepted as s ta
ti on a r y

If the br ea kli n e of the

collar shows a rounding in
front the colla r has to be
,

cut away at ( d ) amount,

ing to the size Of the hollow

at ( g ) double this amount ,

extending a h n os t to below and the b ack part has to be

st re t ched
.

V ery Often the la tt er manipulation i s unnecessary After I .

have shown those fault s and thei r alterations which are caused ,

by incor r ect cutting Of the colla r I will explain those which are
,

cau s ed b y a faulty setting on Of the collar A collar put on to o

.

long will only s tand O ff around the neck othe rwise it will not
,

influence the cor r ect fit of the coat in any w a y The most simple .

way to remedy thi s w ll be to rip O ff the collar and s et it up cor

i

r e s p on d i n gly shorter. As a rule however the tailor will make

, ,

this alteration as a final resort but will first try to remove the
,

length by p r e s sing in the br ea k li n e This will help f or the time

.

b eing But after some time the same fault will Show again If
. .

n ot which would b e against any rule the b r e a k li n e would be

, ,

d r awn in by an edge s tay .

67
 In b oth cases the br eak li n e will become short and will fit
close to the neck but the outer edge will Show too much length
, ,

which will not beautify th e coat Therefore on e Should try the

.

radical cure in the first place and not cause unnecessary work
and waste time thr ough small insufficient alterations
,
.

I wi ll mention here at the same time another very comm on

fault % the standing O ff Of the collar on on e side only A collar .

set on too long on one side will very seldom be the cause of thi s ,

as it i s di fficult to ima gine that a tailor should be s o careless in

his work a s to s et on one half of the collar longer than the other .

Nevertheless it might happen once in a while and befo r e set

, ,

ting On the collar shorter on on e Side on e should ascertain if in

,

fact it is shorter there than on the othe r on e .

If on e by measuring both parts is c on vm c e d that the collar

has an even length on both sides it will be evident that the fault
must l a y somewhere else .

In many cases the same originates on the Shoulder whi ch is ,

misform ed This causes the coat to b e too tight at the Shoulder

.

points but around the neck it will appear too wide Although
,
.

it does not belong here nevertheles s I will explain shortl y h ow

— —
,

to alter this fault sho wn on Figure 7 6 with dotted lines but

,

I wi ll emphasize that this is n ot the fault Of the colla r .

The front shoulder has to be brought close r to the neck

—
,

amounting to about one third as much as the b r eak li n e at the

side in question appears to be too long But at ( k ) must be
.

shortened about half the amount that the Shoul de r was straight
ened At the armhole at ( l ) to be len gt hened the entire amount
.

O f the excessive length Of the b r e a k li n e and made smaller corre

Sp on d i n gly
. The Shortened neck hole must then be stretched as
much as necessary SO that it regains its previous shape and
length and permits the collar to fit in without any change .

Through this stretching Of the neck hole the front shoulder will
be turned around and will direct the width necessary for the
prot r uding shoulder to the right place Necessarily the padding
.

must be changed to o and it must be r esorted to a wedge as same

, ,

cannot be shaped as the goods .

68
the back part i n the neck hole shall remain the same as cut .

F r om the Shoulder seams to about 1 y inches to the front it has

z

to be sewed on SO full at the front part that the neck hole if it ,

has not already been done before can be expanded s o much in

,

thi s place as the form of the shoulder r equires to produce a

smooth fi tti n g collar T o the front it also has to be s et on

-
.

more smoothly For a stooped figure it must be held rather

.

tight For an erect figure rather full

. .

Figures 7 7 78 7 9 Sho w a well fitting coat in front side and

, , ,

back view The collar is sewed on correctly and surrounds the

.

neck in the back part to the shoulder in even height From these
.

it runs in a correct line to the b r eak li n e .

The front and back part are without wrinkles and the front
skirt edge Shows a perpendicular direction The garm ent has
.
,

s o to s a y the right aplomb

, .

70
 Figu r es 80 8 1 and 8 2 il l ust r ate the r esu l t Of a colla r se t on
,

too sho r t or too Sho r t in the b r ea kli n e As shown on Figure 8 0

.

one would n ot think that the collar wa s to blame for the i r r egu
la r i ti e s which the ga rment shows It fits well around the n eck
.

and br eak li n e and lapel appear sufficiently long enough But .

we Obse r ve on the garment itself b ia s wrinkle s extending f r om

the s hou l de r point to below the arm The front part s are moved
.

up at the brea st and cro ss wrinkles appea r Al s o the ga rment

.

is too na r row across the b reast and causes tightness and fu rt he r

,

p r esses in the armhole in front and below The sleeve al thou gh

.
,

having t he right length becomes too short and looks as if i t ha s

,

be en s et in too high in front and too deep in the back .

In the waist the garment stands O ff in front and the skirt

expands too much Fig 81 It does not look much better in the
. . .

b ack part The back appears to be too lo ng and th r o ws w rinkles

.

right across the Shoulders as if the front Shoulder i s too

Sho r t In the b ack at the armhole the garment does not fit cl o s e
.

71
and appears too wide j ust as if it had to be taken in consider
,

ably B elow i n the waist it lays on too tight and bias wrinkles
.

Show extending from these to the front of the armhole The

,
.

skirt also loses its right position and laps over in a way as pre ,

v i ou s ly mentioned and illustrated on Figure 8 2 All these indi .

c a te d faults originate from a collar s et on too sho rt although ,

correctly cut and Shaped But if same has bee n shaped too
.

roun d as Figure 7 0 ( b ) shows it will cau s e two more faults

, , ,

besides the previously desc ribed If one turns up such a collar

.
,

the collar at the shoulder seam of the front part neck hole
buckles It looks as if the neck hole in this place has been
%

stretched too much ( S ee Fig . .

In the center Of the back part the collar lays deeper than on
the sides ( s ee Fig 82 ) which resulted because th r ough excessive
.

stretching the outer edge b ecame to o long consequently the back ,

cente r Of the collar came out Of its right position and fo rmed as
Figure 7 3 Shows with ,
line s .

E ven if such a collar is sewed on correctly so that in fact it ,

is long enough in the n eck h ole a s a correctly shaped collar has

,

to be yet a s a result Of the excessive expanding to the f r ont it

,

will become too long and move out of its place As the surplus .

length cannot b e wo rked in this will cause the colla r to become

,

too sho rt in general .

The tailo r o r cutter who does n ot possess suffi cient exp er i

,

ence and the r efore wi ll not be able to j udge that all these faults
originate from a too s hort collar or a too s ho rt b r eak li n e will ,

be s h ocked when he s ees what became Of the garment .

As he does not know wh at to do he will alte r all ove r Then ,

.

if he sees that thi s does not help in any way there I S nothing ,

else left but to try another alteration The fin al r esult always .

will be a totally Spoiled ga rment .

If a garment shows the above described faults first of all the ,

co llar on both sides has to be r ipped so far that it stay s sewed

on from 2 3 inches only at the back part
-
.

Then pull the garment in shape at all parts Of the body and
you will be astonished to notice that all wri nk les and d i s c om
forts have disappeared Then put the collar to the neck hole
. .

72
as it s hould be or pin it down a n d y ou wi ll s ee how much same
'

, ,

Should be lengthened or where a change must be made .

In closing this chapter pe r mit me to remark that it is ab s o

,

lu tely w r ong if a tailor is under the impression that when a gar

,

ment does not go high enough to the neck or does not fit close at
,

the neck a short s et on collar will accomplish this Th1 s 1 s en

,
.

ti r ely erroneous . If the garment does not Sho w the right fit

.

around the neck without a colla r a s hor t set on collar will not
,

accomplish this either .

This and also one too much shaped will only disarrange the
fit of a coa t.

73
 After h av m g discussed quite a number of faulty s k i r tc oa ts
coats and ove r coats I will now di scuss fau lts ve ry common on
,

vest s .

E very tailo r considers the vest a garment whi ch s eem s very

easily fitted This is right H oweve r the r e is a large difference
. .
,

between an ordinary or a r eally well fit

ting ves t %a d i fi er en c e whi ch very Often
is not considered at all or n ot under
stood I t is very essential that a cor
.

rect fittin g vest be comfortable despite ,

tha t the f r ont par ts mu s t fit close every

whe re and n ot Show any Wrinkles AS .

with a coat when tailoring a vest cu t , ,

ting and workmanship must go hand in

hand If t his is n ot the case faults will
.
,

result which can b e avoided when on e is

only a little ca r eful Mos t ly those are
fl
.

only of a tri ing nature which have

b een ove rlooked when t rying on b ut are ,

liable t o s poil the ga rment or cause dis

comfort T he vests hereafte r discussed
.

will have the collars marked in the

f r ont pa r t n ot in the back part ,
.

I . VE ST NOT CL OSE EN O UGH AT T HE B OTTO M .

T he first case will Show a fault very comm on low cut ,

on

vests the alteration Of which will cause many tailors much

,

aggravation This i s a vest which does n ot fit close at the bot

.

tom othe r wi se correct everywhere ( Fig

,
This is very dis .

agreeable because on account Of the buttonholes a cor r ection of

,
-

the front edge is not possible .

The right way to remedy this would b e wi th the help Of a V ,

Figure 84x whereby the surplus width would be taken away

,
.

H oweve r the V must be made in a ri ght angle otherwise on e

, ,

74
Side Of the edge would become l onger makin g necessary a r egu
,

la t ion Of the lo we r edge which certainly must be avoided This

, .

altera t ion i s Simple and sure and doe s not require much time .

If i t i s not po ss ib le to alte r with a V f or instance on fancy vests

,

the r e i s only on e po ss ibilit y to alter it in another way by turning

the f r ont pa r t Fo r this purpose open the vest when it is put
.
,

on SO that only the upper buttonhole remains buttoned Put the

, .

front parts together SO that the vest fits close at the bottom and
, ,

mark on the right part h ow much mu st be taken away Then .

rip back and front apart take the on e front part and place it on
,

the othe r as in Figure 8 4 so that both meet each othe r at ( a )

, ,

and the top on e below at ( b ) extends half as much as the part

which ha s to be taken away .

N ow mark the entire vest according to the top part and you
wi l l s ee Where t o al t er an d t he kind Of al t eration which i s n e c e s
75
sary Then the front p a r t wi ll have the form indicated by the full
.

line ( b a ) and the broken lines ( a c ) ( e d ) ( d e ) ( e f ) ( f b )

- --
,
- - -
, , ,
.

The alteration at the neck hole is not d i fficult H oweve r it wi ll .

,

be necessary to piece at the armh ole at ( d ) in the side at ( e )

—
,

and at the lower edge from ( f b ) This i s p os s i ble at the two

.
'

previously mentioned places and i s done rathe r Often but no t at

—
,

the lowe r edge ( f b ) th e same has to remain as it is T o avoid

, .

the piece at the Shoulder becoming too large it is advi s able to ,

make same a little smaller s e e the

,
lines ( g h ) Thi s
-
,
.

is no fault and does n ot influence the fit Of the vest O n the c on .

tr a r y a vest with a smalle r Shoulder fits better many customers

, ,

preferring to wear s uch a on e The extending part a t the back

.

Shoulder must be taken away at the a rmhole Figu r e 84 the , ,

lines ( i k ) Then the vest ha s to be put together in

- .

such a way that the points ( c ) ( g ) and ( e ) Of the front pa rt

,

meet point 2 ( i ) and ( l ) Of the back part but wh at is too long ,

on this has to be t aken away acro ss t he bottom This alteration .

,

although t r oub lesome and con s uming ,

much time will r egulate the ve st a t ( b )

, ,

bu t a t rifle wi ll b e lost at the side len gth

whi ch cannot b e helped .

II . VE ST T OO T I GH T A T T HE B RE A ST .

Figu r e 8 5 Shows a fault also ve ry ,

comm on The ves t i s t oo t ight ac r o ss

.

the b reast and on each side a w rinkle

appea rs beco mi n g la r ge r t owa r ds the
,

a rmh ole .

If on e Opens the vest at the top fa r

enough SO that same fit s smooth at the
,

brea s t and at the a rmhole the front ,

part will go b ack and wi ll stand apart at

the breast extending to the bottom and ,

surplus width will Show under the arms .

Two causes might produce this fault

either the front Shoulder h as been put
76
 Any expe rt wi ll easi l y see t he effect of thi s arran gement Of the
Shoulder The entire front part moves more to the front with
.
,

the result that the surplus width below the arms replaces the
missing goods at the breast and that the tightness and wrinkles
at the armhole which were Observed at thi s place disappear
, ,
.

III VE S T T oo L O N G AT T HE F RO N T S H O ULDE R
. .

Figure 8 7 shows another fa ul t very common on vests .

The b r e ak li n e become s too long in

front and farther below the vest will Show
cross wrinkles AS a result it will appear
.

too Short at the bottom % otherwise the fit

is correct .

Certainly on e has t o i ma gm e the coat

worn over it otherwise the collar would
,

stand away in the back resulting in su r ,

plus length T he cau s e Of thi s is that the

.
,

front part is too long compared with the

back part In ou r ca s e it will be s ufi c i en t
.

to rip open the Side seams and to moVe the

front p a r t deepe r acco r dingly Fi gure 88 , ,

s o that point ( e ) Of the front part meets

p oint ( I n ) of the back part By doing this.

the length in the c r o s s w r inkles wi ll be

directed to the bot t om and the vest will be
longer accordingly about 1 inch The ex
,
.

tension up in the back part Figure 8 8

—
,

( m l ),
must be cut away extending to ( )
k .

B elow the front part is p ermitted to protrude In case the back .

part Shall extend to the lower e dge Of the front part a new b ack ,

ha s to be cut to correspond with the length Of the front part .

The buckle if there is one in many cases has to be set accord

, ,

i n gly deeper SO that it fits again accurately in the w aist line

, ,

which Shows plainly on Figure 88 wi th broken lines

,
.

I might rec ommend to put a small vent on each Side about 2

inche s long .

ts
 V ery often same wi ll not b e considered serious l y a n d yet it is
of great advantage and should b e on each vest .

Also of much advantage is wedging in the back part Figure ,

88z which like the little Side vents only has the purpose to
, , ,

facilitate when sitting down the yielding of the vest above the
,

hip .

IV . G A P IN G
O F T HE C O LL A R ON L OW CU T VE ST S W HE N
SI TT IN G D O W N .

Very Often customers will complain that the collar on low

cut vests when Sitting down will be too long and gape Figu r e
, , ,

8 9 W hen standing and walking the vest fits correctly

. .

Many Of my collea gue s a r e not able to explain the cau s e of

79
this fault therefore I thin k it is my duty to give a n exp l icit
,

explanation When Sitting down almost everybody will neglect

.

hi s carriage the body bends a little forwa r d and collapses to a

,

certain degree the Shoulders w ill stick up and be brought

,

forward .

T hi s will not only change the Shoulder p o s ition but also the
,

proportion of the front and back form %the first will be shorte r %
the latte r however a little longer
, ,
.

N OW the vest wi ll always be tried on in a s tanding po s i tion

and in order to ob tain a good fit all unnece s sary width a t the
Shoulde r and below the arm will be r emoved But if the cus
.

tomer sits down and gets in the position j ust described then it is
—
,

self explained that as a result Of the changed carriage also of,

the insufficient length O f the back shoulder the vest must b ecome
,

too long in the front Shoulde r .

This len gt h would be noticed through the standing Off of the

80
collar which does n ot fit clo s e to the neck ( on the side and in the
back ) b ut which the top garment cor r ectly fitting at thi s place
, , ,

does n ot permit Therefore same shows fa rthe r below caus

.

ing the gaping Of the collar .

T o p r event thi s fir s t Of all it wi ll be neces s a ry to lengthen

, ,

the front s houlder a trifle at the

armh ole and to s t r etch it out s uffi
c i en tly in f r on t .

B e s ide s the inc r eased height of

the Shoulde r the vest ha s to b e ,

made wi de r on each side below the

a rm a tr ifle mo r e than t he measu r e
,

r equi r e s In o r de r to r eplace at
.
,

least to a ce rt ain extent the too ,

Sho rt back s houlde r when sitting ,

down there Should be more width

,

unde r the arm .

Consequently the vest will not

fit clo s e at the Shoulde r and in the
back %also below at the a rmho l e bu t ,

i t i s j u s t the effect to have the s ame

s moo t h fitting the r e which will p r o
duce the he r e illustrated fault .

The alteration can b e a c c om

p li s h e d without being noticed by setting
,
in a new back part and
making the neces s ary additions r equired a t the forme r Figu r e
, ,

9 0 3 (p 2 ) and ( l m n )
- - - -
.

V L EN GT H EN IN G O F A T OO S H ORT VEST
. .

In an s wering the question a s to whether a ve s t is too Short ,

the opinion of the t ailor will n ot always be conside r ed au th or i ta

tive Very Often the cu s tomer has a different Opinion which
.
,

must be recognized out of nece ss ity .

Therefo r e it might be superfluous to illust r a t e thi s fault

figuratively E ven the most ca r eful cutter will have had the
.

exp e rience that a vest might become too sho rt Thi s will be .

unpleasant in every case H oweve r it will only b e a fault which

.
,

81
can easily be corrected E very vest can be lengthened in a
.

Simple way but the customer must give his consent that the
, ,

opening of the vest and the armhole will lay a little deeper than
before.

S uppose the ve s t is about on e inch too Short N aturally the

.

mi ss ing goods cannot be pieced on below Consequently the r e is

.

only one way Open which will be the len gthening of the front
,

and b ack Shoulder ( the b ack pa r t also at the neck hole ) , amount
ing to about 1 inch The r e b y the enti r e vest move s down and
.

O bt ain s t he r equired length .

H owever this will require a new back part because only in

, ,

a n exceptional case on e would da r e to piece the mis s ing at the

82
f ron t an d b ack . Th e new b ack par t i n
neck ho l e must b e
th e
about on e inch higher than the Old one ( Fig 9 1 l ) . but -
,

the distance ( )
O must be the
, sa m e as from ( )
1 to Also
in the armhole at about on e inch more length is required ,

and aft e r this the new shoulder Shaping from ( p ) to ( O ) has

, ,

to be finished .

In order not to piece the f r ont shoulder about one inch

—
, ,

which had to b e added at this place the marked and again

crossed lines ( d ) ( r ) ( q ) must b e added in addition to it at
, , , ,

the back pa r t .

But on e must b e ca r eful that the neck hole rounding ( o ) ,

r
( ) ,
and t he a r m h ole ( ) ( )
p S will
,
be brought
, ,
forward cor
r ec tly which can ea s ily be accomplished b y applying the front
,

s houlde r .

N ow the front pa r t wi ll r emain a s it is H oweve r the collar

. .

on each Side extending to the back will be a b out on e inch longe r

( Fig . the d ot t e d lines .

83
 Pa n t s
Now we come to the last part of thi s book illustrating f a ultv ,

pants It wi ll be neces s a ry before Showing how to avoid these

.
,

to give s ome explanation s

—
.

T o make a really well fitti n g p a I r of pants is no easy task .

E very tai l or will be convinced of that

B esides a co rrect and co m
.

f ortable fit the various Shapes , ,

which largely are influenced by frequently changing s tyles %also

the Size and the position of the lowe r extremitie s will have to b e ,

taken into consideration .

There are very many different styles of pants %close fittin g ,

very wide etc Also the deviations from the no rmal Size of the
,
.

'

legs are often very considerable Furthermore the formation .

,

of the legs and position of the feet T his has to b e considered .

not only when cutting but also the tailoring in each Single case
,

mu st be a di fferent on e conforming with the deviation f r om the

,

regula r way .

H oweve r many tailo r s will not pay the necessary attention

,

to this matter and the r efore i t i s easily explained why pants

, , ,

Show more faults than other garments .

N aturally I canno t illust r ate all fault s which mi ght Show on

pants The r efore I will restrict myself to ill ustrate those o nl y
.

which appear ve ry Often on a narrow and a wide pai r Of pants .

I . P A N TS , W H IC H D O N OT C O NF OR M WIT H T HE GR E ASE .

Right at the start I illustrate a pai r of pants which cannot

be changed any mo r e The purpose of this illust r ation is to call
.

attention to a fault Wh ich Shows very Often on pant s with a

,

Striped patt ern but which many tailors do n ot con s ide r a fault .

—
,

—
Figure 9 2 the full lines sh ow that the b ack par t of the
4

pant s i s cut f r om the goods in a bia s direction Conseque ntly .

,

when the pants are r eady the stripes run irregular ending , ,

pointed at the top and bottom making the figure when seen , ,

from the back View bowlegged ( Fig ,

This has a very . .

ugly effect and does not Show good taste .

84
 But these apparent advantages are without importance and
do not correct the looks Of the garment .

As a consequence Of the bias direction Of the back part the

pants will cause discomfort because the Side seam from the
,
‘

knee upwards and the seat seam will

come ou t nearly th r e ad s tr a i gh t whereby ,

the part above the seat will n ot have s uffi

c i en t e la s ti c i ty Then nothing will make
.

the pants look bette r and produce a more

comfortable fit as when those two seams
are cut more bias The inseam ho we ve r .
, ,

h a s been cut mo r e th r e a d s tr a i gh t .

T h e b ias position of the inseam is of

disadvantage and will very Often cause t oo
much str etching out when working on it ,

resulting in an ill fitti n g pai r of pants

-
.

H ow to cut ou t the back part of the .

pants in a correct wa y i s previously men

ti on e d and illustrated on Figure 92 with ,

b roken lines .

The aplomb line which must run along ,

the middle of the leg lies in this wa y , ,

parallel with the stripe s Of t he goods .

S ame is the case with the front part Of the

pants When the pants a r e ready the di
.
,

rection of the stripes in front and in t he

back will be a perpendicular and enti r ely
correct on e .

II . U NC O MF ORT A B L ENESS O F TH E P A NTS WHE N BE N D I N G D OW N

A N D SI TT IN G D ESP I TE S URP LU S WID T H IN T HE S E AT
,
.

Figure 9 4 shows a pair of pants which throws wrinkles

straight down at the seat extending to the Stride Therefore it .

i s too W ide at these places .

D e spite this the customer cannot bend or sit down without

inconvenience Also each movement Of the leg to th ef r ont wil l
.

86
p r oduce an uncomfortable tightness from the seat to the knees ,

consequently the front part will be pulled up .

AS already men t ioned before , a w ell-fi tti n g garment Should

also b e comfo rta b le Pants especially r equi r e this and I think
.
,

i t necessary to illustrate how to a ecom

p li s h it Many tailo r s will not b e able t o
.

accomplish comfortablenes s and I am ,

glad to help a lOn g with suggest ion s .

For instance many tailo rs also many

, ,

cus t ome rs are unde r t he impres s ion that

,

in o r der to have a pai r Of pants comfort

able the same have to be loose fittin g i n
,

the s tride % further must have a la r ge ,

diame t er in the s ea t ( la r ge st r ide p iece ) ,

and finally must have a r at he r la r ge addi

tion to t he width Of t he seat But thi s is .

no t t he case T o the cont r a ry the cu s

.
,

tome r when trying on such a garment

, ,

will notice with con s ternation that he can

no t b end or Sit down in a comfo rt ab le way ,

al thou g h su rplu s width exi sts in t he seat

and a t the thigh .

It is an accomplished fact and it Should alway s b e taken a s

,

a r ule that the comfo rt and good fit O f a pair Of pants when

, ,

movi ng around can only be effec t ed if the pants fit as na rr ow

,

and c l ose as p o s sible in t he stride and the position in the b ack

pa r t of the pants i s a bia s on e ( di r ec t ed to the Side ) But t he .

la t ter i s connected with certain conditions which I will illus ,

tra t e n ow .

Regarding the close fit in the s t ride I will rema rk tha t even

,

if the pant s when trying on the first t ime appear to b e too long
, ,

in t he inseam this length will g r adually diminish afte r b ein g

, ,

worn a couple of times .

E very experienced tailo r will have o b served that pant s ,

which were cor r ect when delivered b ecame too S hort aft er wo rn
,

three or four times The r efo r e e very tailo r Should consider i t

.
,

hi s du t y when m ea s u r in g no t to mea s u r e the in s eam too Sh ort ,

, ,

87
which cannot happen if the customer is requested to pull up the
pants close in the stride The tailor must insist on this even if
.
,

the customer Should claim that the pants feel uncomfortable as ,

he will forget and not b elieve

that a pai r of pants which ,

s eemed to be long enough when

delivered became too S h 0 r t
when Wo rn a few times .

A rather large piece in the

stride will also have several
disadvantage s % The seat seam
will be too h o l l o w and the
surplus width will Show at the
thigh a s w rinkles If then in .
, ,

orde r not to become a too l a rge

stride piece the b ack pa rt is ,

cut too s traight the ga rment ,

will b e c O m e uncomfortable ,

even if as i s done in most ,

cases the missing w i d t h is

,

added at the seat s c am i n a

larger deg r ee than would b e
nece ss ary .

When walking bending and ,

sitting the seat will not gain i n

width but will only extend in
,

length If the r efore a pai r of

.
, ,

pants ha s to b e comfo r table at

this place a larger length b ut , ,

neve r a la r ger width will b e ,

necessary and this is the case ,

with the pant s which conce rns ,

u S here .

Fig 95 full lines Shows the

.
, ,

faulty cut back part and the

alteration in lines which Will accomplish the n e c es
,

s ary lengthening of the seat. If a model i s at hand cut on this ,

88
f r om ( p ) to ( q ) ( i ) to ( q )
, of the rise ( a, p ) about 1 inch ,
-

mo r e but in s uch a way that the parts at ( q ) still will be to

,

ge t he r move the back pa rt in the seat seam 1 to 2 inches apart

,

and fill the vacant space by pasting unde r

a piece of pap er If a model is n ot at .

hand u s e p oint ( q ) a s turning point and

, ,

draw from ( i ) to the left and from ( a )

upward s little a r cs Then at the arc .

from ( a ) t o ( a a 3 ) on e ha s to go higher -

about 1 7 to 2 inches Then measure the 2 .

width of the back pa rt ( a to 1) from

( ) in the arc left from ( i ) ( point ii )
a a

and cor r ect ( p ) wi th ( a a ) ( a a ) with ,

( )
ii and ii
( ) with q
( ) as the Sketch ,

show s plainly .

Through this manipulation the s eat

seam will receive more length which will ,

dimini s h towa r ds the side The corner .

at the s ide seam at ( q ) must not be filled

ou t as same i s alway s the cause of c r o s s
,

w rinkles as s hown on Figu r e 9 6

, .

T hese w rinkle s howeve r which are covered b y the coat and

,

con s e q
,

uen t ly a r e n ot apparent can only r emain in their place

,

and no t fall down lo we r if no unnece ss ary width exists ac r o s s

the s eat and at the thigh T hi s s urplus width may be removed
.

a t the p lace s in que st ion S ee t he. line s on Figu r e 95 .

III . H OR SE S H O E WRIN KLE S A T T HE B ACK P ART .

Figu r e 97 show s a ve ry disa gr eeable fault e nk les forming ,

in a r ound way do w nwa r ds which we might call hor s eshoe

,

w rink l e s acco r ding to t heir form appearing b elo w the seat and
, ,

e xt endin g to the knee .

only Show on wide pants i f the b ack pa r t has been cut

T he s e ,

out too much on the side from the knee upwards %that I S h as
, ,

been out too bia s It is a fact and many Of my collea gues by

.
,

89
long experience wi ll have found this ou t that the position Of the
,

back part ( at the side seam from the knee at the seat seam up
,

to the Waist line ) depends on the width of the pants at the knee
,
.

When the pants are narrow they must

be as b ias as possible and become ,

st r aighte r when wide in the knee .

By this b ia s position the seat seam

will become longer which is necessa ry
,

for pants which are close fittin g at the

k nees as was illustrated befo r e
,
The .

seat will gain in length when walking ,

bending and sitting and therefore in , ,

order to permit these movements the ,

garment has to be sufficiently long at

the places in question .

The surplu s length w ll when the i

,

customer is not moving go togethe r in ,

w rinkles below the seat but will be held ,

back th r ough the close fit of the gar

ment at the thigh and the seat It will .

fall deeper on wider pants which a s a , ,

rule have also a larger width at the thigh if the position Of the
, ,

back pa r t is a s bia s as on narrow pants which a r e close fitting at

,

knee and thigh .

The surplus width at the knee existing on wide r pant s will

make more r oom f or movement s Therefore less length at the
.

seat seam is necessary and the position of the upper back pa r t

will b ecome s t r aight Many cut ting systems do not consider
.

this at all and according to a standa r d rule will fi r st define on

all sizes the direction of the seat seam and according to this , ,

the setting out at the side seam with the result that the back
,

part on wider pants will have a too bias position in the uppe r
pa r t and beside s will b e too wi de at the thigh .

90
 Thi s will a ls o be t he case on these pants Figure 9 8 full .
,

lines shows the faulty back part

,
.

The lines Show how the

alteration ha s to b e made .

D raw u s ing the knee point as

,

a cente r from ( i ) to ( a ) to the

,

ri ght ra ther short arcs and meas

ure on b oth acco r ding to the size
‘
Of the wr inkles about 1 to 2 ,

inches Then connect by these

.

p oints ( ii ) and ( a a ) and finish

the new side and s eat in the same
way a s the s ke t ch illu s t r a t e s .

The position a s a r e s ult will

b ecome more str aight % the back
part ab ove wil l b e shortened %the
pants will b e mo r e na rr ow a t the
thigh and the wrinkle s will di s
appear But the comfo rt in s i t
fl
.

t ing and b ending will b e i n u

en c e d b ecause the s u r plus width
,

at the knee does n ot r eplace en

ti r ely the leng t h lost at the s eat
s eam which however canno t be
, , ,

avoided if a pai r of wide pants

,

s hall fit with o ut w rinkle s when

s t anding and walking .

If the cust ome r desires r eal

comfort when bending and s i t
ting this can only be a c c om
,

p li s h e d by making another alte r

ation in the upper part and in a
way as shown and illustrated on Figure 9 5 H ow an alteration .

of these and the previously described pants is p ossib le cannot

b e s aid wit h c e rt ainty b ut must b e left in ea ch case to t he j ud g

,

91
ment of my colleagues In case the outlets a r e sufficient and if
—
.
,

one piece more at the back part does not matte r every tailor
must kno w himself if his customer will stand for anything like
—
that or not i n many case s the pant s might be saved or at least ,

the fault be made le s s visible .

B efore using the s e desc ribed alteration s here it will be Of

advantage to study Chapte r VII .

N OT S UFFICIE N T AB D OM E N .

Figure 99 shows faults very Often ,

noticed on pe r sons with a large abdo

men .

In the neighborhood Of the flanks

w r ink les wi ll show beginning at the ,

top Of the abdomen and diminishing

to the knees % beside s r ay formed -

wrinkle s whi ch Show at the b ack

,

part extending from the s tride whi ch

, ,

looks as i f t he width Of the s tride has

b een cut too na rr ow .

The customer will further notice

a di sagreeable p r e ss u r e at the abdo
ment If in o r de r to r emove this
.
,

pres s ure the fly will be opened in

,

front the parts diminishing down

, ,

Wards like a wedge will drag apart ,

.

Thereby the wrink les at the front

part will disappear but the back part ,

at the s eat seam wi ll be too wide as ,

much a s the parts in front are apart .

All these faults r es ul t becau s e the

front part lacks sufficient abdomen ,

and because the missing goods in

front was added to the side or back
seam in order to get the corre ct
widths of abdomen measure consequently same runs in a more
,

st raight di r ection
.

92
p l ace d at the waist b an d a n d at the i nseam a t t h e b ot t om ,

the front part has to be cut accordingly .

T hi s w ll c r eate the abdomen at the expense of the width of

i

the front part as can b e seen on the

,
line s Whatever
.

94
the front part b y doing this l oses at the Side seam ( see the d ot
,

ted and again crossed line ) must be r eplaced b y letting ou t the

,

outlet at the side seam or in the center seam of the b ack part .

This alteration will make the pants too

wide in the waistband and seat but the ,

excess must only be taken away at the

seat seam whereby s ame will r eceive a
,

more b ias di r ection .

If the side seam Of the b ack pa r t does

not have an outlet it will be sufficient to
add a wedge at the s ide seam to corre
s p on d with the waist measu r e ( s ee Fig .

10 2 ) lines .

O therwise the alte rati on in this case

must be done a s b efo r e .

The pants at thigh and knee will be

come a little tighte r but thi s wil l not i n
fl
,

u en c e the co rr ect fit in any way .

V . CU RVED L EG S N OT TA KE N I N TO
,

C O N SI DE RA T I O N .

At the be gi nning I rema rked that the

legs differ very much in construction and
form The mo s t evident for ms knock
.
,

knee and b owlegged will b e taken int o

,

consideration b ut there a r e s ome which

,

will b e ove rlooked o r not j udged rightly .

Figure 103 Ofi e r s a p r oof Of thi s The s e pants have the follow

.

ing faults
From the back of the leg ugly wrinkles st r etch to th e front .

In front of the leg the pants are too tight and consequently stand
O ff at the foot Also Often despite a right measu r e the inseam
.
, ,

will be too Sho r t All these faults resulted because the cutter
.
,

when measuring did n ot notice that the customer had very

,

r ounded le g s in f r ont which had to be considered when cutting

,

and tailoring .

95
 TO alter this when the garment i s ready is a little troub le
,

some In order to correct this fault the inseams must be ripped

.

Open entirely and the s ide seams as far as the pockets but
, ,

must not be Omitted before starting to mark front and b ack

, ,

part a little above the knee in order to know how the pants were
,

sewed together ( R and r Fig

,
.

96
 105 .

This means the back pa r t in thi s pleat has become too short
which sho rtness must be made good b y letting out the outlet at
the seat seam or if none is there by piecing Figure 1 06 the
, , ,
.
,

full line s Show the faulty cut the

,
lines Show how
,

the change ha s t o b e made .

VII WRI N KLES AT T H E B AC K P ART F RO M T HE S TRIDE

.

T o T HE H EEL .

Very wrong Opinions al s o exist regarding the shaping of the

front part .

Acco r ding to style the front part at the bottom shall Show
,

more or less r ounding which can be accompli s hed by cutting

,

s ame mo r e or le ss hollow at this place stretching at both sides ,

and pressing in the cente r If the fo rm is rounded regularly

.
,

the stretching shall amount to only a trifle and shall extend to

only about 5 to 8 inches from below ( includi ng the turnup ) .

F or more tight fitting pants the stretching has to be done

more extensively .

This illustration shows that f or the shaping O f the front part

at the bottom the cut a lways has to be authoritative which h ow , ,

ever not always wi ll be considered inasmuch as in each case if

, , ,

98
necessary or n ot a too extensive shaping has been done at the
,

place in question .

But this is not the worst fault % it only gives many pants ,

especially wide a n d straight falling

ones an ugly appearance at the
,

foot .

The damage will be worse if the

front part will be Stretched not only
as far as the point marked but up ,

to the knee or even farther and , ,

co r respondingly pressed in s o that

the f r ont part put together will
Sho w a fo rm as illustrated in Fig ,

ure 10 7 with full lines instead O f

, ,

having a form like shown in the

Figu r e with lines This .

will happen Oftener than one would

think on account of the w r ong s up
,

position tha t through this the pants

i n f r ont and at the bottom will fit
without wrinkles If the back part .

is held in too much which also is ,

a very b a d habit with many tailors ,

and which scarcely can be er a d i

c a te d the leg after pressed will
, , ,

appea r as shown on Figure 10 7 ,

with full lines When the pants are .

delivered the customer will over

look this but if he tries the gar,

ment on the pants will not fit cor

r e c tly as Figure 1 0 8 Shows very
,

plainly .

M a n v a colleague will look help

les s ly at such a pair of pants which he cut with the utmost care
,

and whi c h n ow do n ot fit .

If on e , however looks at Figure

,
1 09 the explanation W l ll be
99
easy There we s ee the normal fo rm Of the human leg and in
. ,

full lines the faulty form of the pants

,
.

T hi s if it Should correspond with the form of the first on e

,
,

should be formed like Shown with li nes At the body

.

the faulty pants wi ll be pull ed back with force to the heel and
w rinkles will be the result like Shown on Figure 1 08
,
.

B esides it will not be close to the instep loose when walk

,

ing and I n addition will cause tightness from the seat to the
,

thi gh and knee whi ch wi ll be more noticed when bending and

,

Sitting Also the fr ont part through all these movements will
.

be pulled upwards .

1 00
then place the front part at the back part in the same way as
when cutting and s o that the seams run right N ow place the
.

inseam O f the back part smoothly on the inseam O f the fr om

part and you will s e e that in the first mentioned case that if the
inseam comes too far to the front the back part moves corre
s p on d i n gly high in the Opposite way % if the inseam comes too

far to the front the back part will move correspondingly lower .

N Ow mark thi s position exactly on both parts and sew the

inseams together accordingly This will necessitate a regulation
.

of the seat seam and of the lower edge which alteration need
,

not be explained .

1 02
 IX . WH EN F EET WH I C H S TAN D O U T W ARD O R I N W ARD
E X CE SS I VEL Y HAVE N OT B EEN CO N S IDERE D
.

Also the seams will not run in a right way if when cutting
, ,

it was not taken into consideration that the position Of the feet
was excessively outward a position which on e notices every day
,

on scores Of people If the feet are excessively outward the side

.

seam will come too far to the front and the inseam too far back
,
.

The opp osite is the case if the position is excessively inward .

The inseam will come too far to the front and the side seam too
far to the back T o remedy these faults a mutual displacing Of
.

the parts at the inseam will not be sufficient It is necessary to

.

make this alteration in the cut .

An excessive outward foot position w i ll r e qu i r e the letting

o u t of the outlet at the inseam extending to the knee and the
,

taking O ff of the same amount at the side seam as illustrated

,

on Figure 112 with lines At the front part the

.

stretched part at the bottom must be pressed in at the Side seam

and the rounding has to be accomplished from the inseam .

The opposite alteration is necessary when the feet are set

exce s sively inward Figure 1 13 the
, ,
lines %also the shap
ing of the front part must be the opposite one
1 03
 C lo si n g Wo r d
In concluding this book may I not be permitted to s a y a few
,

Words % The tailor and cutter of today lives with the time and
Spirit O f his day %he is responsive to new ideas %he has the ambi
tion to satisfy h i s customer and he always feels it his duty to
,

g o to the bottom O f all th i ngs relating to his profession Y ou .

never will make a success in life if you are superficial and it is ,

not saying too much that nowadays the art of tailoring is highly
developed and a tailor who is not progressive painstaking and
, ,

conscientious will notice that in time his neighbor gets his t r ade ,

and will realize his mistake too late .

This book Shows you how to avoid mistakes and h ow to cor ,

rect them Read it carefully act accordingly % do not be de

.
,

c ei v e d by thinking that your customer will n ot notice small

faults faults which you n otice as a tailor but which as you

, , ,

thi nk your customer will not notice H e will or if n ot some

,
.
, ,

body else will call his attention to it The result will be your
.

busine s s d ecreasing and the business O f your competitor

,

inc r easing .

Always be wide awake and success in life will be assured to

y o u .

104
 PANT S
Pants Which D O Not Conform With the Crease . 84-86
.

U ncomfortableness of the Pants When Bending

D own and S itting D espite S urplus Width in the
,

S eat
H orseshoe Wrinkles at the Back Part .

Not S ufficient Abdome n .

Curved L egs Not Taken Into Consideration .

L ittle Cross Wrinkles in the S tride at the Front

Part 97 98 -

Wrinkle at the Back Part from the S tride to the

H eel 98 101 -

T wisting O f the Pant s. 1 0 1 10 2-

When Feet Which S tand O utward or Inwa rd E x

cessively H ave Not Been Considered .

Closing Word