THEJ^EW RESSMAKER THE BUTTERICK PUBLISHING COMPANY LONDON ' TORONTO • PAfKIS NEW YORK The New Dressmaker WITH C:OMPLETE AND FULLY ILLUSTRATED INSTRUCTIONS ON EVERY POINT CONNECTED WITH Sewing, Dressmaking and Tailoring FROM THE ACTUAL STITCHES TO THE CUTTING- MAKING, ALTERING, MENDING AND CLEANING OF CLOTHES lOK LADIES, MISSES, (ilRLS, CHILDREN, INFANTS, MEN AND BOYS. "THE NEW DRESSMAKER" IS THE ACCEPTED AUTHORITY ON DRESSMAKINCJ AND TAILORING AND THE METHODS WHICH IT GIVES MAY BE USED WHENEVER THE CURRENT STYLES f;ALL FOR THEM. A New, Revised and Hnlarj^ed Edition THE ^UTTERICK PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK TORONTO PARIS LONDON ^p f\ THIRD E.DITION PUBLI5HLD BY THL BUTTLRICK PUBLISHING COMPANY BUTTLRICK BUILDING. NEW YORK PARIS LONDON NE.W YORK TORONTO CopvriShl. 1 92 1 , bv The Butterick Publishing Company m IB 1921 S)C!,A611.658 » . I — — CONTENTS PAGE PE^FACE — 5 Chapter i The Necessary Eqxjipment for Dressmaking 7 Chapter 2 Butterick Patterns 10 Chapter 3 Altering the Length of Patterns 19 Chapter 4 Altering W.aist Patterns for Figures That Vary From the Average 24 Chapter 5 Altering Skirt, Yoke and Drawer Patterns for Figures That Vary From the Average 28 Chapter 6 Materials, Sponging, Cutting, Etc 32 Chapter 7 Waists, Blouses and Shirtwaists. Part I ^Dress Waists. 37 Chapter S—Waists, Blouses and Shirtwaists. P.art II 42 Chapter g Skirts for Ladies and Misses 47 Chapter 10 Dresses for L.adies, Misses, Girls and Children — 51 Chapter ii S.ailor or N.aval Suits 153 Ch.apter 12 Coats and Capes for Ladies, Misses, Girls and Children . 58 Chapter 13 House Dresses, Negligees, Kimonos, Bathrobes, .\prons, Bathing-Suits and Rompers 65 Chapter 14 Making and Finishing Undergarments 68 Chapter 15 Maternity Clothes and the Layette 72 Ch.apter 16 Sewing Stitches 81 Chapter 17 Se.ams 86 Chapter 18 Hems 91 Chapter 19 F.acings 94 Chapter 20 Tucks and Plaits 97 Chapter 21 Plackets 100 22 Chapter Pockets 104 Chapter 23 Collars, Cuffs and Belts 109 Chapter 24 Buttonholes, Eyelets, Buttons, Patent Fasteners, Hooks AND Eyes AND Blind Loops 112 Chapter 25 Trimming Stitches 118 Chapter 26 Bias Trimmings 129 Chapter 27 Applied Trimmings, Ruffles, Embroidery and Lace. Part I 132 Chapter 28 Applied Trimmings. Part II 137 3 — PAGE Chapter 29 Sewing on Braid, Applique Embroidery, Marabou and Fur 143 Chapter 3o^Darning and Mending 146 Chapter 31 Remodeling 151 Chapter 32 Pressing 154 — Chapter ;!,;} The Care of the Clothes 156 Chapter 34 Cleaning 157 Chapter 35 Washing Clothes 160 Chapter 36 Boys' and Men's Clothes 161 INDEX 166 THE NLW DRL55MAKLR PREFACE THE best-dressed women in the world have their clothes made for them, on lines that are suited to their type, and in colors and materials that emphasize their good points and minimize their weak ones. Women of wealth and fashion go to Paris for their clothes. The woman of moderate means can not go to Paris nor can she have her clothes made for her. The only way that she can be really well dressed is to make her clothes herself. She too can e.xercise her taste and discrimination in choosing the correct fashion, the new material, the charming color, the line that will make her look young, slender and elegant. And like the woman who wears French dresses, she can have clothes that are cut to fit her figure, that are not too long in the shoulder, too big under the arms, too low in the waist, or too short at the elbow. VY/OMEN are so well trained in economics nowadays they will readily understand that in making their own clothes they pay for the bare materials and nothing else, and so effect a tremendous sa\-ing which is further increased by the fact that they can buy a better quality of fabric that will lengthen the-life of their clothes. With the present simple styles dressmaking was never as easy as it is now. Com- pared to the elaborate trimmings of the "awful Eighties" and even the whalebone and crinolines of later date, the extreme simplicity of the dresses of to-day has reducedthe work of di-essmaking to its lowest possible terms. Trimming is so often in the form of effecti\'e but bold, easily executed embroidery, braiding, etc., for which you get the newest French designs in Needle-Art, the special Butterick publication on this subject. The Delineator, Butterick Fashions and the Butterick Fashion Sheet illustrate the latest French way of using the new trimmings and the little finishing touches that give a dress a Parisian look. The object of this book is to enable a woman to make her clothes with the same per- fection of finish, the same attention to detail that she would receive in the atelier of a French dressmaker or in the workrooms of a Fifth Avenue establishment. The success of a dress depends on four things: style, material, construction and finish. yHE first is line or style. This you get from Butterick Patterns, which give you French fashions adapted to the needs of well-dressed American women. It does not give you conspicuous, ephemeral extremes. For example, when the French mannikins wore dresses which reached just below the knees at the same time that certain American manufacturers of ready-made clothes were making the very long lead-pencil skirt, Butterick Patterns kept to the smart conservative length of skirt used by the best-dressed Parisians and New York women. You can absolutely rely on the styles given you in Butterick Patterns. An interesting collection of the latest Paris and New York fashions appears each month in The Delineator and Butterick Fashion Sheet, and at the beginning of each season in Butterick Fashions. You get every phase of the new fashions including the Parisian conception of the French modes as sketched from the models of Worth, 5 6 THE NEW DRESSMAKER Paqiiin, Poiret, Doueet, etc., to the simple practical versions prepared for American women. CECOND, the materials and colors which change every season stamp a dress -n-ith its year mark. The new materials which are suitable for yoiu- dress, blouse, suit, etc., are given on the Butterick Pattern envelope. This information is also given every month in the Delineator and every season in Bctterick K'ashions, where you see the actual colors and color combinations on the color pages. IN THE third ijlace, your dress must be cut and put together and finished with profes- .-iional skill and precision. THE DELTOR, the very wonderful complement of the Butterick Pattern, shows you in pictures how to cut the garment and put it together and tells you how it should be finished. The Deltor shows you in its Illustrated Layouts exactly how to place each size of each version of the pattern on material of every suitable width. The Layouts show how the pieces of the pattern can be laid out so as to use the least possible amount of material to give the right style effect. If it is necessary to fold the material the Lay- outs show where to fold it so that it wUl cut without waste. With the Deltor it is possible to give what is known as "trick-lays"—that is, layouts planned by expert cutters, which save an eighth, a quarter or half a yard of material over the layout that a woman could plan for herself. With an inexpensive material these "triek-lays" save the price of a pattern, while with expensive material the saving amounts to two. four, six dollars or even more. With the saving made possible by the Deltor the pattern itseh costs nothing. The Layouts give the correct position for each piece of the pattern in relation to the selvedge so that it will be cut on the right grain of the fabric. If a garment is cut on the wTong grain it will have a bad style effect. The Illustrated Layouts save the woman the work of planning the cutting of her mate- rial. She sinijily copies in five minutes a layout that is the result of several hours' work on the part of an expert. It saves her time and gives her the benefit of an expert cutter's knowledge of grains and cutting fines. The Butterick Illustrated Instructions are a series of pictures which show you how to cut and put your dross together step by step. For example, in making a skirt the first pictiu-e will show you just how to put the pieces together, match the notches and just where to baste the seams. Another picture shows you how to make the inside belt down to the last hook. Still another puts the skirt on the belt for you. There is no possibility of misunderstanding. You don't have to read directions—you simply follow the pictures. T!ie Butterick Pattern is the only pattern in the world that has this remarkable picture guide. It isn't necessary to know anything about dressmaking when you have the Deltor. A beginner can ch-ape the most elaborate skirt or put together a tailored coat as expertly as a dressmaker or a tailor, for the simple reason that highly skilled pro- fessionals show her each step in the illustrations. They show you how to make clothes by pictures in the same easy, absorbing way that a movie teUs you the story of the play. IN THE fourth place, your dress must have the eon-eet finishing touches which are so characteristic of the French gown. All women dread the "home-made look." It is al- ways traceable to one of two things.