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above the top of back seam to find the top of sidebody. A reference to diagram will make this plain; then sweeping from 3 to 4 at waist, making the top sideseam the pivot, so that the waist seam of sidebody appears dropped at 4. Many will ask why all this extra length is required in the sidebody? We will explain. Whenever a seam is taken from a hollow, such as the sideseam of back, the seam is at once lengthened; whereas, whenever a seam is taken from a round, such as the sideseam of sidebody, the seam is shortened; and if some plan is followed to avoid getting the sidebody too short; the back will either have to be fulled on, or the waist of sidebody will be nearly an inch above the waist of back, and so completely destroy the fit in that particular.
In order that each reader may impress the importance of these sweeps on his mind, we think it would be good practice to take a back pattern, mark a seam off the edge 4¼ 3, and measure with the tape to see how it increases in length, then take the sidebody, mark a seam from the edge, and note how it at once becomes shorter. It will then be apparent how very important these sweeps are; but now we come to that important question of
Waist Suppression.
We have previously pointed out, when dealing with the principles of cutting, that suppression at one part causes fulness at another; here, then, we have the key to the matter, for in accordance with the amount of the suppression will be the provision for the prominence, and consequently we need to gauge the amount of the prominence to be provided for. In our own practice, we have found it best to have a fixed quantity for the normal figure, and vary from it for prominent or flat blades; and consequently we take out 1 inch between back and sidebody between 3 and 4, making it less for flat blades and more for prominent blades; hence it will be seen the waist suppression between back and sidebody is to be governed by the prominence of the blades, and so on with all the prominences round the body. From 4 to 7¼ is ½ an inch less than 4¼, 8; 1 inch is taken out from 7¼ to 8¼, and the width of sidepiece is also fixed at ½ an inch less than at top; another inch is taken out between 11¼ and 12¼; thus it will be gathered we take out 1 inch at all three seams for an ordinarily developed figure. In the case of a very small waist, such as would indicate compression by means of the corsets, all of these may be increased to 1¼, or in extreme cases to 1½ inches. The various seams may now be drawn from the points thus found on the depth of scye line and the waist line, and we then proceed to arrange
The Front Darts.
As a good deal of style may be introduced by their aid, it will be as well to give them a careful consideration. Measure up the various parts, as from 1 to 3, 4 to 7¼, 8¼ to 11¼, and 12¼. to 22. Now take half the waist measure; add about 2 inches for making up, and whatever is over and above that quantity indicates the amount to be taken out in the darts. Thus the various parts measure up 18; the half waist measures 13, plus 2 inches for making up makes 15, leaving 3 inches to be taken out in darts. This is taken out as follows: Measure back from the breast line at T 1½ inches, and find 20½; now halve the amount to be taken out, or if it will not divide easily, take rather less than half for the front dart, and mark from 20½ to 19; let the strap between 19 and 17½, be always 1½ inches, and take out the remainder from 17½ to 16. Now mark the centre of the spaces allotted for the darts, and draw a line parallel to the breast line as a guide for the direction of the darts, which should always run rather forward at the bottom and back at the top, so as to give as much appearance of width to the chest and as much length to the waist as possible. Now get the top of the darts at C by measuring down from F to C, the length to prominence as taken on the customer, allowing 1 inch, as the darts always come higher when sewn than when cut. Having got the top of the darts, sweep from 20½ and 17½, in order to get the correct relative length of the sides of the darts, and then draw lines from top to these centres, as 16, 17½, 10, 20½. To terminate the darts at the bottom, a certain amount of judgment is necessary. If the stomach is fairly flat, terminate the dart 10 inches below the waist; if slightly prominent, terminate it 8 inches below the waist line, and so on. Soften down any angle that may be in the outline at the waist, and the darts are complete. We next proceed to provide for
The Spring over the Hips.
This requires very considerable adjustment in these days of small pads and large bustles. As noted in the measuring, the size of hips should be taken easily, about 7 inches below the waist, and it is on this measure we depend for guidance now. Line 22½, 23½ is 7 inches below the waist; we measure from 22½ to 23½, omitting the amount taken out in the darts at 17½ and 21. Add 3 inches to the half hip measure, and whatever the pattern measures too small, divide into 3 equal or nearly equal quantities, and let the various parts overlap each other as illustrated at ¾, ¾ and 1 on this hip line, always giving to the forepart any little extra that is not easily divided. It will be noticed a dotted line
