Sleeves cut high, mounted, and fulled on to the shoulders according to the recent fashion, give great freedom to the joint, and are very comfortable; it is therefore a great pity that Fashion is apparently regretful of having been sensible for once, and that the sleeves are gradually returning to their former flat condition, for a distinct retrogression may be observed in this respect.
We may do well to follow the method of cutting sleeves in vogue in 1883-4; but sleeves should never tighten on the arm, for, besides the discomfort of this, and the restriction of movement, the circulation is interfered with, and the hands become cold, or swell, and get red.
The ideal of a "good fit" which most dressmakers hold is to reduce the arms and figure to the resemblance of a tightly stuffed pin-cushion; but this is an ideal by no means consistent with health or the definition of beauty I have been concerned to maintain.
The fitting of a dress is a thing not to be hurried, and mothers should carefully supervise it themselves, for dressmakers are shifty folk at the best; and, as it is generally easier to do anything badly than well, the children will suffer from neglect in this respect.
It wants both knowledge and firmness on the part of the mother to get a dress properly made; for the maker, as a rule, has a powerful store of arguments by which she defends her errors, and the genus dressmaker is too apt to keep the genus lady in a state of hopeless and miserable subjection.
