CHOOSING AND WEARING CLOTHES
Have you ever thought that being properly and attractively dressed helps towards achieving success in life? Marjorie's Cousin Ann says she knows that the neat, tidy girls who come to the factory looking for work are more apt to be chosen than those who are careless about their dress. Cousin Ann, as you have learned, is very particular about her appearance. She learned long ago that cleanliness of clothing is the first essential in being well dressed, and that neatness is another requirement. Cousin Ann knows that it takes time to wash out her collars, her shields, and stockings every other night; but she also realizes that she must be particular about her appearance if she wishes to be retained at the factory. She takes time to mend the tears which sometimes come so unexpectedly, and the lace which is ripped on her waist, or to sew on the button which will soon be lost from her coat unless sewed. If she spills anything on her dress or coat, she tries as soon as possible to remove the spot. This takes thought, too, as well as time; but Ann knows that it pays. Have you, too, thought about these things? One must also know what is suitable and appropriate for various occasions, and how to choose becoming colors in materials or hats and gowns if one buys them ready-made. This is really a study in buying, too, and of knowing how materials are made and can be tested. All these things were discussed by Miss James and the Pleasant Valley girls. They were always very glad when Miss Travers came to help too.
Lesson 1
WHAT IT MEANS TO BE WELL DRESSED
The Pleasant Valley girls have decided that it is worth while learning about suitable and attractive dress. They are anxious to begin this study. Suppose we learn some of the things one must think about and study in order to be properly and attractively dressed.
One does not have to be expensively dressed in order to be attractively and well dressed. Much depends on appropriateness. It is not appropriate for a girl to wear jewelry, thin stockings, low fancy slippers, lace waists, feather hats, to work or to school. How much more attractive and appropriate is a plain, neat shirt waist and cloth skirt, a plain necktie and a simple hat, and plain boots or ties. One should not dress as if one were going to a party when one goes to work or to school. Do you understand what appropriateness means? It means wearing the suitable kind of clothing for every occasion. It is our duty to be as well dressed as possible, for our friends' sakes as well as for our own; but a well-dressed girl is never conspicuous. Clothes which would be appropriate in a large city for a reception might be very inappropriate in a small town. Our daily clothes should be adapted to our uses, whether in country or city. Would you wear your party dress for gardening or for tennis or skating?
Fig. 131.—Which of these girls looks ready to do her work?
Criticize your own garments. Try to have them neat and clean, for this makes one more self-respecting. Try to have your clothes convenient, neat, graceful, beautiful, allowing for free movements of the body. Choose something which is not overdecorated but which will emphasize your charm and personality. Young girls do not need jewelry or much decoration on clothes, for youth is always charming in itself.
Some girls try to copy every "latest style." Do you? One should not unless it is a style which will suit one. Cousin Ann heard a talk at the Young Women's Christian Association one night. It was on simplicity of dress. The speaker was from a large department store in Paterson where Ann lives, and she gave Ann some new ideas about dress. She said simplicity is not necessarily plainness, but it means being so intelligent that one knows what to leave off in the way of decoration. She said being well dressed is knowing what to omit. She also said that trimmings and ornaments without reason are foolish and spoil a gown. Because one bow looks well it does not follow that ten will improve one's appearance. So many girls are really caricatures. They wear every exaggerated thing and many things which are not refined, as the very low neck, or the very scant or transparent skirt. This is not beauty of dress, but very bad and vulgar taste. The speaker said that "beauty of costume is not necessarily the result of costliness, but of artistic appreciation." Cousin Ann said several of the members of her sewing club were at this lecture, and they decided to ask Miss Willing, who leads their club, to talk about "artistic appreciation." Cousin Ann said she did not quite understand what the speaker meant. This is what Miss Willing told the girls, and then they understood perfectly. Perhaps you would like to know, too.
A costume is a work of art. She said we must think of our costumes as being works of art. Every girl has a style of her own, and she should study it and dress so as to bring out all her good points and conceal those not so attractive. One's hair or eyes should be considered in choosing color. Stooped or narrow shoulders, if they cannot be corrected, can be made to look less narrow by the plan of the gown. Stout figures can be made to look less stout. So by choosing the right colors and correct decoration and right lines, one can often improve one's appearance. Miss Willing says to understand about this is to have what the speaker at the Young Women's Christian Association called "artistic appreciation." One should cultivate artistic appreciation for good furnishings as well as for appropriate dress. Miss Willing told the girls another evening about color and good lines, for they are all so anxious to learn. They never even imagined before that any one ever thought about such things. Marjorie Allen and the other girls at Pleasant Valley School are very glad Cousin Ann told them too.
The costume should be the background as it were. Miss Willing says to remember always that a really artistic costume is one which makes us say "what a lovely girl!" rather than "what a lovely gown she is wearing." A costume should not be so strong in color or design that one thinks only of that. Do you remember how in some rooms we feel the pattern of the wall paper or of the carpet. When one does, the design is poor; the wall is the background. Our clothes should make the wearers' good qualities stand out. They should be subordinate, Miss Willing says. Do you understand that word?
Miss Willing says the outline of our clothed figures should be pleasing. Have you ever walked to town and seen girls with large hats which were not balanced on their heads, and short skirts and perhaps large muffs? If you watch them as they come towards you down the street, you will see that the whole outline or silhouette against the sky or house is poor; they look top-heavy or, we say, unbalanced. Such a costume is not good. A smaller hat with the short skirt is what is needed in order to have a balanced figure. The outline of the natural human figure is most beautiful. Look at the lovely figure of the Grecian woman (Fig. 132); see how the lines follow her figure. Costumes which make ugly lumps, as bustles and large muffs, and other ugly shapes are not well balanced.
Fig. 132.—Notice the lovely folds of the Grecian costume.
An artistic dress shows good taste. Do you remember your talks in your art class about the spaces in a design, and the relation of one to the other. This is true in dresses too. Tucks, buttons, seams, bands of trimming all mark off spaces on our bodies (Fig. 133). In order to have a really artistic dress, there must be a plan about the arrangement of spaces. A short, stout girl with bands of trimming running around her skirt and with lines of trimming running up and down the waist will present a very strange appearance to one who has "artistic appreciation." Can you tell why this would not be good taste? A stout figure should wear vertical lines of trimming rather than horizontal; and the spaces between lines should be such as will make the girl look smaller rather than larger; so dresses must be really designed, and the spaces, colors, values, really thought about. Do you know what value means? Some costumes have contrast in values. Black and white are sharp contrasts. One sees the black or the white at once. These spots of black or white jump at one unless there is something to connect the two, as gray, which would be an intermediate value. Spotty costumes are not good or restful. Have you seen, perhaps, a white dress with black hat and gloves and shoes? Did you notice how the black things stand out and the eye jumps from one spot of black to another? A white dress with white shoes and gloves and a black hat trimmed with some white, thus carrying some of the white to the black, would be better.
Fig. 133.—Notice the good spacing and arrangement of lines.
Miss Willing said this is called studying values. We can study values of color as well as of black and white. Next lesson we shall learn what Miss Willing told the girls about color in selecting or making dresses.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Why do you think Miss Willing had "good taste" in dress?
2. What can you tell about Miss Willing's talk on artistic appreciation? What does it mean in relation to dress?
3. Criticize your own garments in relation to line, simplicity, decoration, appropriateness.
Lesson 2
THE CHOICE OF COLORS FOR CLOTHING
Color is important in choosing or making our clothes. We too must learn if we would choose as wisely as the Pleasant Valley girls.
Miss James thinks that the Pleasant Valley girls have learned so much about color in relation to general design in their art classes that they will be able to understand easily about color in dress too. Colors, they have learned, have value, with gradations from light to dark. In black and white the contrast is striking, but when values are closer together the harmony is closer and less conspicuous.
In choosing your new spring dress be sure to think of your own characteristics. Your appearance may be injured or improved according to the color chosen. Color even more than design may spoil the appearance, and is important to the wearer and to all who come in contact with her, for color is expression of one's refinement and culture. Every girl of Pleasant Valley will wish to know how to look her best. Color in which there has been mixed much gray, as dull blue or dull red rather than pure bright color, is apt to make the individual characteristics stand out. This grayness in color forms a background as it were, or a setting, for the face and shows the figure to best advantage.
Fig. 134.—Can you find the middle values of gray?
Artists have a way of expressing this brilliancy of color. Miss James says they call it intensity. Do you understand what is meant by color when it is strongest and loudest and most intense? Think of red of the most vivid brilliant kind; gradually think of it growing grayer and grayer until it is pure gray. By intensity of a color is meant this difference in grayness. Very few people can wear very bright red. Miss James says she must have the "grayed" colors, in dahlia tones of red if she wishes a dark dress of this color, or in old rose if she wishes a dress which will be less somber. This is true of all colors; only red is perhaps the most difficult to use. One learns to use color in its full intensity only for touches here and there on a gown or a hat, which is itself not intense in color.
Large people should not wear red. Blue or green are cooling, quieting colors and so are better adapted to large figures than red and also better for those whose features are not very pronounced. Blues which are not very strong, or so grayed that they have lost half or more than half of their strength, are more interesting and becoming for large figures for a whole dress.
Yellow is nearest light, and in combination with red gives the oranges from which we get browns of all kinds and degrees, rich and warm in effect. Try mixing these colors in your paint box. Green combines yellow and blue. It is a light, cheerful, and calm color, always restful and soothing. The yellow-greens are perhaps more cheerful; that is, when more yellow than blue is used. When more blue is introduced, the greens are more soothing and cool. Violet is red and blue mixed; a cool and exciting color, which can be very intense or very subdued.
Choosing color for a dress. Do you think the Pleasant Valley girls will think before choosing their new gowns whether it is for school, or for a best dress, for a party or for the house? Even apron material can be chosen which will make the wearer look unattractive. Why not look pretty and clean when one is at work too? Miss Willing says that quiet color in dress is an evidence of good taste. In combining colors in dress one must aim to obtain the right balance in color. Miss Willing says, in planning the color scheme for a costume, think about the dominant or most prominent color and endeavor to bring the others into harmony with it. Harmony is the result of colors being brought together. Touches of black help to bring colors together and so harmonize them. Miss Willing gave several other suggestions for harmony. Cousin Ann put them down in her notebook and sent them to Marjorie.
1. When one wishes to use contrasting colors, as yellow and violet, one can get pleasing harmony by using a large quantity of one color and a small amount of the other. This subordinate relationship of one color to the other gives harmony; the more grayed the tone of the large mass of color, the greater the intensity of color in contrast that can be used.
2. In combining colors of weak intensity for harmony, a harmony of costume of one mode, that is one color used in different values, is safe but is not always so interesting as the contrasting colors.
3. To emphasize a color, a touch of the same may be added to some part of the costume. Blue eyes seem even more blue with a blue necktie around the shirt waist collar.
4. Another way to make a good harmony is to use complementary colors. Red and blue; green, violet, and yellow; green and plum; blue and orange; purple and yellow-green. One should be used intense, and the other in a gray tone. For example, in combining color with hair, greens, particularly gray greens, are very pleasing with auburn hair. Barbara Oakes discovered that fact with her auburn hair. Violet tends to make yellow hair look more golden, so care must be taken to have a gray violet so the gold color in the hair will not be overpowered. "Red" hair is made to look brighter when a blue costume is worn. So you see one can avoid unfortunate combinations if one studies the strength of the color of the hair in relation to the colors to be used.
Learning to combine colors. Miss James had many samples of gauzy chiffons which the girls learned to handle and to combine so as to get artistic results, for combinations of complementary and contrasting colors as well as for combinations of "one hue." It is only through trying that one learns. This, too, is a matter of appreciation. Some people have finer appreciation for color than others. By thinking about this and learning all you can in school and from books, you too may come to have real color appreciation.
In choosing the best colors for your figure or for mother's or for auntie's, you must think about the value and intensity as well as the other characteristics of color.
Our costumes, as a rule, are worn for different occasions and are seen against different backgrounds. We say that the backgrounds, as in rooms, or against rocks or grass or hillside, are of about middle value—halfway between white and black; in other words, gray. Black and white costumes, then, will always stand out. White tends to make the figure appear large; black calls attention to the outlines of figure and looks best on people with good figures because of this emphasis of outline. Blue, blue green, and blue violet—if of middle value, very "gray"—or gray itself are best adapted to stout figures as they are retiring colors. They seem to melt into the background and do not give prominence to the figure. A little brighter color may be added and make the costume more becoming to the face. This should be used through the center of the gown, not at the edge to draw the eye to the boundaries of the stout figure. A rose or a flower of contrast at the center of the belt is an example.
Fig. 135.—Vertical lines through the center of the costume make the figure appear thinner.
Studying lines of a costume. Miss James says the best way to get an effect of height is to place the longest possible vertical lines through the center of the figure with no points of emphasis as trimming on the outer parts (Fig. 135). For a slim figure, when one wishes to appear stout, the outline of the figure should be emphasized at the outer sides of sleeves or shoulders or skirts, by such arrangement of trimming that the eye is carried across the figure (Fig. 136).
Miss Willing and the girls had a good laugh about the use of large plaids and broad stripes for stout people. Plaids or squares certainly tend to emphasize stoutness, as do bold designs or conspicuous color combinations.
Fig. 136.—Notice how the emphasis on the outside of the costume makes the figure appear larger.
So many things to remember—line, value, color; all-important, if one is to be attractively dressed. Miss James has decided to permit the girls to work out the color combinations at school for their new spring dresses. The subject of color in choosing hats is equally important. Let us study next lesson about it.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Study your own characteristics. Write them down. Decide what predominating color you would like for a spring dress. From the chiffon colors which your teacher has, combine the appropriate color combination which you would like.
2. Arrange with the chiffon samples, combinations of complementary colors, of contrasting colors.
3. Write a composition on the subject of "What makes a girl well dressed."
Lesson 3
SELECTING A HAT
What can you learn about the care and arrangement of your hair. Do you know how to choose a hat?
Jane Smith says that some day she expects to be a milliner. Perhaps she will be. Miss James says she can later go to a school and study millinery. This means that Jane will learn not only how to make hats, but about the right lines and colors to use. Jane has a natural deftness of touch and a good idea about copying and designing; so Miss James thinks she will make a good milliner. So often hats are unbecoming because the colors are inharmonious, or the lines out of relation to the face wearing them. Whether one is old or young, one should think about this.
Give some care and thought to your hair. One day when Miss Travers came from the State College to speak to the Mothers' Clubs, she stopped at the school and gave a talk to the girls of Pleasant Valley School about their hair and hats. She said that so many women and girls forget to take care of their hair. It should be washed once a month in hot water with castile soap and perhaps with the white of an egg, and then thoroughly rinsed. The comb and brush should be washed once a week. Marjorie Allen's mother has beautiful hair, and she says she does as Miss Travers told the girls; and also she brushes her hair carefully to remove dust, every night before going to bed, and braids her hair in two braids for the night. This is a very good way to care for one's hair.
Have you ever noticed how some girls nearly lose all their hair because they burn it or dry it up with the curling irons? One should be very careful always to test the irons on a paper. Burned hair is not beautiful. So often girls forget that the becomingness of a hat will depend on the way the hair is taken care of or dressed.
Fig. 137.—Which arrangement of hair and bow do you think most appropriate for school wear?
Large bows, out of proportion to the size of the head, are very poor taste. A bow as well as a hat should suit the face in line as well as color, and a bow which stands way out in conspicuous angles is not good in line, as it is not apt to conform to the lines of the face and of the head wearing it. Have you noticed this? Perhaps you can try to rearrange some of the bows the girls are wearing to school so they will be in better taste. Cleanliness of the head and hair, and a clean, clear complexion, which comes from proper food and good digestion as well as from cleanliness, are the best backgrounds for a hat. Any girl who has this charm of cleanliness can with thought choose a hat which will be becoming. Hats, also, emphasize the defects as well as the good points of the wearer; so neatness and a becoming way of arranging the hair will help very much. Perhaps some of the girls would like to learn to make hats, too. The hat is the most difficult article of the whole wardrobe to select. Most girls and women wear hats that are too small and that stand on the top of the head instead of fitting it. Good taste, Miss James says, in choosing hats means the very thing we have studied about: artistic appreciation, a knowledge of line and color and form as well as appropriateness.
Think about the shape and the lines of a hat. Hats should be chosen or planned, if one is making them, in relation to the whole figure. Do you stand up or sit down before the mirror in selecting a hat? Try standing up so you can see your whole figure and the relation of the hat to the whole. You can tell then if the hat is too large or too small, whether it overbalances the figure, or if the silhouette will be pleasing. Marjorie Allen says since she has learned about these things she is surprised to notice how few people have thought of this question of the silhouette. Sometimes, the milliners are to blame too, for they do not always know this secret. Marjorie says her new winter hat does not please her because of the silhouette.
Miss Travers told the girls to think especially about lines. The round-faced girl whose nose turns up a little will look best in a hat that is slightly tilted in front or with a rolling brim at the side or front. Barbara Oakes says she discovered that for herself. She had two hats which rolled in that way; and she liked them better and was more comfortable in them than in others. She also learned through experience that she did not look well in narrow hats that bend over the face. Miss Travers says it is true when one's face is full and the nose retroussÉ, that such a shape is not apt to be becoming.
Fig. 138.—One can select a hat which will make a good silhouette when one sees the whole figure before a mirror.
Miss James says she noticed that long, thin faces look longer and thinner in high pointed trimmings. What kind of trimming, then, would you recommend for a long, thin face? For long faces, a brim worn slightly forward will cast a shadow and so tend to shorten the length of the face; and brims that are rolling and wide, counteract the effect of the long, thin face. Do you see how very important it is to study the face and its lines?
The way of dressing one's hair may make it difficult to choose a hat. If the person with the long, thin face also draws back her hair sharply at the sides, her face will look longer and it will be more difficult to choose a hat for such a face. If the hair is worn very fluffy when one has a very round, full face, then the face is apt to look fuller. So you see hairdressing is very important to study too, if a girl is to look her best and choose the most becoming hats.
Color, too, should be kept in mind. Some skins are pale; others are rosy. Black makes the complexion look white and should not be worn next to a dark, swarthy skin. Browns are apt to look well with auburn hair like Jane Alden's. She has such a clear complexion. Barbara's mother, Mrs. Oakes, with gray eyes and hair, will look well in gray.
We have studied about contrasting colors. The contrasting colors for a person with light hair will be quite different from the colors for a person with auburn hair. Notice what is said in the lesson about color in selection of dress. This is true of hats too.
Select a hat that is becoming. In choosing hats aim always to get what is becoming to you and your style rather than the extremes of fashion. The latest styles can always be adapted to suit your style if a milliner knows her business.
Remember that very often hats are not becoming because they are not worn properly. Sometimes the wearer forgets and pushes the hat back or to one side; and then its lines do not conform to the outline of hair and head and face. Study how to wear your hats. Large hats are often difficult to wear because of correct balance.
Fig. 139.—Which way looks better?
If you would like to try to make a simple summer hat, perhaps you can buy a frame, and with your teacher's help learn to change and adapt it to your face. It is easy to learn to sew straw on a frame and to trim with a bow or flowers. Simple trimming for young girls is always the most pleasing; flowers, wings, quills, and simple bows are the most suitable.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. What things will you have in mind when you go to the milliner's to select a new hat, or to have your old hat remodeled? Write a list of the principal points to be kept in mind in choosing.
2. Bring to school pictures of hats adapted to faces; some that are not. You can find these in old fashion magazines; perhaps in old portraits. Pin them on your classroom Bulletin Board. Criticize. Your teacher will probably have some too. Why is this a good subject to study?
Lesson 4
MAKING THE MIDDY BLOUSE
The Pleasant Valley girls will make middy blouses and so complete their gymnasium suits. Will you not wish to complete your suits too?
The girls have found their bloomers and skirts very useful, and are glad to make the middy blouse too. They will use the same material as for the skirt.
By this time the Pleasant Valley girls are so expert that they make no mistakes in laying on their patterns or in cutting out garments. They are very particular to have the long line of single perforations indicating the length lying exactly on the warp threads of the cloth. Jane Smith says she can tell exactly which pieces must be cut double on a fold of the goods. Can you? The girls sent for patterns for 34 bust measure and for 38. Some of the girls are quite large for their age—Jane Andrews and Barbara both are large and will need the 38 size.
Miss James opened a pattern and held up all the pieces. She pinned them to the dress form so as to show the relationship of each piece to the figure. Can you do this, too, before you begin to cut, and so learn which pieces are to be cut on a fold? Then lay the pattern on your cloth most carefully and pin ready for cutting. Do not cut until your teacher says you may. Learn to use a tracing wheel and trace your seams, so all will match in putting the middy together. This garment will be made entirely by machine, except the hand processes of basting and gathering. Hems and facings should be carefully basted before being stitched. Good, perfect stitching improves all such tailored garments. Poor stitching spoils the effect.
How to make a middy blouse. After the pattern has been carefully laid on, and the material cut out, this is the way to make and finish a middy blouse:
1. Baste, with the seams on the outside, shoulder, and underarm seams. Try on. If necessary in order to fit more smoothly across the chest, let the front drop; if extra fullness across the chest is desired, let out under the arms. The shoulder seams will be finished, but not the underarm. Mark with tracing or pencil the new seam for underarm if you must change it.
Make a flat fell seam at the shoulder, ½ inch wide finished. You have all learned how.
2. The sleeves, which are in one piece, are put in next, before the sleeves or underarms are seamed. Match the notches, gather the sleeves if there is any fullness at armhole, and baste in the sleeves so that the seam is on the right side. Make flat fells, basting the turn which falls over the sleeves so that it will lie very flat.
3. Baste seams of sleeve and underarm all in one long seam on right side. Match at armhole. Make flat fell, turning the fell towards the front (see page 216).
4. Hem the bottom of the middy with one inch hem.
5. Finish the neck next. Prepare the collar with its facing according to the notches of the pattern and directions. Sew; turn to right side. If the collar is to be decorated with finishing braid, this decorating should be done before the collar and facing are sewed together. Attach collar to middy, right of center collar to right of the center back of middy. The seam will then fall on the inside towards the neck and will be concealed by the facing which should be turned in and sewed over the seam. Patterns for middies vary, and other methods of attaching collar may be suggested. A loose ribbon or scarf of silk can be tied under the collar to form a sailor's knot.
6. Then finish the sleeve. The sleeve may be finished with a half inch hem and rolled as many are worn, or a cuff can be attached which will be of the same width as the sleeve or just to fit the wrist. In the latter case, the fullness of the sleeve must be gathered to fit.
Fig. 140.—Eyelets were made by some girls, in the front of their middy waists.
The girls of Pleasant Valley School made sleeves of three quarter length, and attached a turned-up cuff of same width as sleeve. This cuff was made double: the two pieces sewed together, turned, and attached to the sleeve with the seam, on the outside of sleeve. The facing, then, concealed the seam and, when the cuff was turned up, was entirely concealed. This makes a very neat finish inside the sleeve.
Some of the girls, those who worked rapidly, made eyelets at the front of the middy and laced the middy. Eyelets are punched with a stiletto or sharp point, and are worked like a buttonhole, only perfectly round.
The girls of Pleasant Valley will give an entertainment of calisthenic exercises as soon as their middy suits are entirely completed. The boys will also give some exercises with the dumbbells and join in the folk dancing. "The Pleasant Valley News" has already announced this entertainment at the Town Hall. Every body in Pleasant Valley is going. The money will be used to pay for some of the furnishings of the Ellen H. Richards House.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Draw a sketch of your middy blouse. How will yours differ from the one in the picture?
2. Try to make another middy at home.
Lesson 5
SUGGESTIONS FOR BUYING GARMENTS OF WOOL AND SILK
Miss Travers from the State College talks to the girls of Pleasant Valley School about buying clothing, especially of wool or silk. You, too, will wish to know what Miss Travers said.
Have you ever considered whether it is wise or not to buy your clothing ready-made? Most of the mothers of the Pleasant Valley girls make the garments at home with some assistance from the visiting dressmaker. What a help the Pleasant Valley girls will be when the dressmaker comes to their homes. They are not old enough to take full responsibility, but they will surely be able to assist after the dressmaker has planned. This will help their mothers, too. Mrs. Allen, Mrs. Stark, and Mrs. Oakes have already discovered how many good suggestions their daughters have to give.
It is sometimes wise to buy things ready-made. In our grandmothers' day this was impossible. Grandmother Stark used to stitch all Grandfather Stark's shirts by hand and make his overalls. To-day one can buy good serviceable garments like overalls, rompers, shirts, etc., at moderate prices, ready-made. Just what should be made at home should be determined by the mother, and will depend on her time and duties at home. Some mothers can so organize their household work that they have time for some sewing too, and they enjoy the change of work. It pays to make certain garments because the workmanship is often better and one can choose one's own materials. This means that the life of the garment is apt to be longer. This is economy if one has the time and strength; but it never pays if one sacrifices other things like fresh air, exercise, some relaxation, for the sake of saving a little money.
What should you consider in buying ready-made garments? Miss Travers says it never pays to buy flimsy materials, cheap lace edging, or insertions which are poorly put together and will tear. One can instead purchase ready-made garments which are plain. It is not always possible to afford the time to make dainty, fine, handmade underwear, which soon wears out; but one can often spare the time to construct a few pairs of more durable drawers, and corset covers, by machine for everyday wear, when one realizes how much greater will be the life of the garment.
If one is buying ready-made garments, one should think about the following things:
1. Is the material suitable? will it wear well? is the color suitable or will it fade very soon?
2. Consider the workmanship. Are the seams well sewed? Is the stitching very coarse, or does the garment look well finished? Is the appearance neat, or will it pull apart very soon?
3. The construction should be examined. Is the garment well cut, or is it cheap because it is scant in fullness? This may not permit of freedom in movement, and the garment may have to be cast aside because uncomfortable. Then money is wasted.
4. It never pays to buy anything which one does not need. It is well to have foresight and to plan for what one will need for the year, but experience soon teaches one the quantity. It is foolish to buy unnecessary things because they are pretty. One should learn not to be tempted.
5. It sometimes pays to wait until certain seasons for purchasing garments. Between seasons one can get well-made articles of clothing at considerable reduction, if one can wait. Winter garments are reduced in January or February, and summer goods in July or August. It often pays to wait. In planning one's wardrobe, one can think about this. January is often a good time to buy household linens or other furnishings at a reduction.
6. The use of garments should guide one in making a selection. It is necessary to study one's whole wardrobe and to know what is needed. A girl engaged in business will need an entirely different wardrobe from one who spends most of her time at home helping mother. The first step, then, in economy is to know one's needs and to purchase accordingly. Is the garment needed and suitable for the occasion? Remember about appropriateness, and buy garments which will render the service needed. One does not wear silk dresses for housework.
7. Sometimes undergarments are made in sweatshops under very undesirable conditions for health. The garments are cheap because made by poorly paid workers under very unsanitary conditions. Do you wish to wear such garments? As long as women buy the cheap kind made at the sacrifice of human life, this sweatshop system will continue. One can buy inexpensive underwear made under sanitary conditions. It is labeled with a tag of the Consumers' League. This is an organization which is trying to better the conditions in workrooms and shops in which clothing is made and to improve wages and working hours. This League permits the use of its label on white underwear made under the conditions they approve of: no work outside of factories, no child labor under sixteen years of age, and obedience to the state labor laws. The labels are used by firms agreeing to fulfill the above requirements. If you are purchasing underwear, perhaps you can buy some with the Consumers' League label. It looks like this (Fig. 141). Miss James wears this kind, and Mrs. Oakes and Mrs. Allen, too, now that they know about it.
Fig. 141.—Consumers' League Label and Union Label.
8. It is sometimes more economical to decide on a particular color for a season. One can, as a rule, wear one's clothes to more economical advantage and look better dressed by choosing a particular color than if one has a red dress, a blue coat, and a green dress for best. The coat is probably worn with both dresses and may not look well.
9. Remember, if one has only a limited amount of money for clothes, one should not try to buy the very latest fashions. Exaggerated styles live but a short time, and some of us must wear our clothes for a long time, until they are worn out. If materials are good, one can often have one's clothes remade, by combination with a little new material of a contrasting kind. A knowledge of textile materials and values will always help in selecting either ready-made clothing or materials.
10. Remember you must know about the things you wish to purchase. Clerks as a rule know very little about the goods they sell. If you know, you can make the dollars earned buy more than if you were ignorant.
Fig. 142.—It takes much thought to learn to buy intelligently.
What should you think about in buying materials? Here are some of the hints for purchasing wool and silk materials or garments which Miss Travers gave the Pleasant Valley girls. Talk them over with your teacher. See if you agree.
1. Garments made of wool and cotton mixed do not keep their shape as well as all wool. If one can afford only wool and cotton, the salesman should tell one in purchasing about their composition. The mixture should be cheaper. It is often sold for all wool at a higher price. If one untwists the fibers of the material, it is possible to detect cotton. Try at school on some ravelings of garment seams or other materials. The burning test will help one to decide. We shall learn some tests in our next lesson.
2. Remember wool is an expensive fiber. Do not expect to get all wool for little money.
3. Remember the weave affects wearing quality. A close twill weave is often more durable than a basket weave.
Do you remember your lessons about silk; how it is grown and made by the little worm, and how it is manufactured or spun into thread or woven into silk cloth? In buying silk one must remember about its manufacture.
1. Silk is seldom pure. It is apt to be weighted. If the silk feels heavy in the hand, it does not always mean that it is a good piece of material and will wear; it may be weighted with tin; up to 30 per cent of tin is not harmful. A softer, pliable silk is not apt to be so weighted, and will wear better. Soft silks so woven as to pull at the seams are not economical. Close weaves are better than loosely woven ones for wearing.
2. Fray some of the threads of the cloth you wish to buy. Is it possible to break either the warp or woof easily? If so, the silk will split along either warp or filling and will not wear.
3. One should not expect to get bargains in silk. Cheap silk will not wear. It is better to wear some other material. Is the material made of reeled silk or of spun silk? You have learned the difference. Articles made of reeled silk are more expensive.
4. Silk is sometimes adulterated with cotton or artificial silk and sold for all silk. We shall learn some tests in our next lesson so we may discover too.
Miss James talked over all these points with the Pleasant Valley girls and showed them some good and bad materials. The girls decided to be on the lookout for these things. Will you?
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Bring to school garments or materials which have not worn well. Try to find out why. Your teacher will help.
2. Write a composition about things to think about in purchasing a new winter suit ready-made. If you must buy from a catalogue, can you judge about the wearing qualities?
Lesson 6
LEARNING TO USE SOME SIMPLE TEXTILE TESTS
Miss James and the girls of Pleasant Valley tried some simple tests for materials. Perhaps you would like to try them too?
The Pleasant Valley girls became so interested in Miss Travers' talk about textiles and how difficult it is to buy intelligently that they decided to learn to judge materials and to study about adulterations.
How are clothing materials adulterated? Miss James told the girls that there are a number of ways of adulterating materials, and that most women shoppers are so indifferent that manufacturers have been able to adulterate the materials of everyday use. This increases the cost of living, for materials do not wear so long. Miss James says that textiles should be labeled so we may know what we are buying. Some kind of adulterations are honest if the goods are so marked; but, when sold for something they are not, the buyers are fooled. The tests help one to know whether materials are adulterated or not. Let us learn first some of the methods generally used in adulterating, and then some of the simple tests.
Weighting is one method of adulterating. This means that something else has been used beside the material. In cotton and linen material, sizing or starch is pressed in with the rolling in finishing. After washing, this material will be found to be very open in mesh instead of smooth. Notice some of the smooth linen table cloths before they are laundered. Afterwards you will notice they look quite coarse and have lost their smoothness. Sometimes glue or clay or gums are used instead of starch.
Silk is often weighted in the finishing process with sugar and some with dyes and metals. This is because silk has a property which enables it to absorb a great deal of moisture without changing its quality. The manufacturer can buy salts and dyes for less than silk, and so he often uses a large per cent of dye or metal in place of the gum washed out of the silk in manufacture. One can seldom find to-day silks like our grandmothers used to use. This is because people wish cheap silks; the manufacturer cannot produce silks for little money, as the raw fiber is so high; and so he uses other things with silk to weight it.
Fig. 143.—One can sometimes test materials by burning.
Materials are also adulterated by combination with other materials. Did you ever buy a handkerchief marked "pure linen" and discover it was a mixture of cotton and linen? Cotton is also used to adulterate woolen materials, and sometimes silk materials; "pure silk" so called, is often artificial silk.
Adulteration is also practiced when made-over materials or waste is used to cheapen the cost. We learned about this in studying about wool. Wool materials should be labeled so that the purchaser will know. It is not fair to pay the price for an all-new wool material if shoddy and mungo and flocks, which are all old wool and waste, have been used. The per cent of new wool should be told and the price made accordingly.
Silk is sometimes sold as reeled silk when waste from cocoons which is called spun silk has been used for the woof or filling thread.
In finishing of materials, adulteration is sometimes practiced. In pressing cotton or linen, a luster is given to the surface. Cotton can be made to appear like silk or like linen, and is often sold for those fibers. Cotton can be napped in finishing and made to look woolly as in blankets or outing flannel, but it is still only cotton.
Fig. 144.—The microscope reveals many things.
How can clothing material be tested? These are the simple tests which the Pleasant Valley girls learned:
For sizing. This is easy to identify. Pick at the surface with your nail, and the starch or sizing will easily come off. Hang a wet piece in the air and see how the gloss looks then. This sizing often conceals defects in the cloth. These can be seen if the material is thin, by holding it against the light.
Fig. 145.—The test for fading.
Burning tests. The girls unraveled the fibers which Miss James gave them and tested wool, silk, cotton, and linen. They tried both warp and filling threads. They burned them with a taper. The animal threads (which are they?) burned slowly, charred, and smelled like burned feathers. Silk burns to an ash, except when weighted. Then it burns more slowly. When very heavily weighted, the flame does not burn readily and the form of the silk will remain. The vegetable fibers, cotton and linen, burn quickly and with a flame.
Fig. 146.—The test for shrinkage.
Tests with microscope. You have all seen the appearance of the fibers under the microscope. This reveals many things, and the unraveled fibers are easily identified. The microscope is the only sure test for telling cotton and linen fibers. One can sometimes discover shoddy mixed with the all-wool fiber because of the color. Shoddy is sometimes made of old colored woolen rags.
Tests for fading. Pin a piece of cloth on a board with thumb tacks. Cover half with cardboard or heavy paper. Expose to the rays of sun for several days. Remove paper and notice difference. A piece can also be exposed near bright light, but not in sun's rays, to see the effect under ordinary wear. Marjorie Allen tested a piece of cashmere she was considering for a dress and decided not to buy it, for it faded quickly near the bright light.
Fig. 147.—The test for strength.
Tests for strength. Try to break either warp or woof threads. Place the two thumbs together and press down on the cloth which should be held firmly in the hands. Try both sets of threads. Sometimes a weak warp or woof can be discovered.
Tests for shrinkage. Barbara Oakes had a white cotton dress last year which never seemed to stop shrinking. Sometimes we can test materials for shrinkage. Measure width and length of sample to be tested. Wash it in hot water and soap. Dry and measure again. Is it narrower and shorter? In planning for cotton or woolen garments allowance should be made for shrinkage.
Fig. 148.—The chemical tests show many things of use in judging materials.
Chemical tests. Chemicals are used for identifying fibers. Have you learned in your eighth grade studies about acids and alkalies? Have you studied at all about chemicals? It is possible to discover the composition of woven materials by testing them with chemicals. This is because acids and alkalies affect vegetable and animal fibers in different ways. Look up the difference between acids and alkalies. Study with your teacher and try to discover some of the common food and cleaning materials which we use every day in our homes which are acid or alkali. Some of these teach us we should know what the soaps and washing powders which we use will do to our clothes. Your teacher will provide some chemicals for testing. It is easier to test samples of cloth if they are fringed at the edges. Here are directions for some chemical tests:
1. Place a piece of white cotton cloth and a piece of woolen material in small dishes. Cover with 50 per cent solution of nitric acid. The wool fibers will turn yellow. The cotton remain white. If a piece of wool cloth was mixed with cotton, how would the test prove it?
2. Boil samples of cotton and wool together; then samples of cotton and silk together, for fifteen minutes in a 5 per cent solution of caustic potash. The animal fibers will dissolve, the cotton will remain. Of what use would this test be?
3. Moisten samples of cotton and of wool with Millon's reagent. Place in porcelain dishes and heat gently. The animal fibers will become red; the vegetable are unchanged.
4. Material made of cotton and linen and sold for all linen can be tested. Place fringed sample in a porcelain dish. Heat gently in 50 per cent solution of caustic potash for two minutes. Remove with glass rod and dry between blotting papers. The linen will be dark yellow in color and the cotton white or light yellow.
So we have learned a few tests of different kinds. There are many more. When you go to high school you can learn about others. The Pleasant Valley girls enjoyed making these tests with Miss James' help. Perhaps you may be able to try them with your teacher.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Try the above chemical tests with your teacher's help.
2. Try some of the other tests for adulterations.
3. Tell four ways in which materials are adulterated.
Lesson 7
HOW PATTERN IS MADE IN CLOTH
Barbara said she never could quite see how pattern is made in cloth. There seem to be so many different kinds of patterns. Miss James explained about this. She said there are several ways of making patterns. Some are printed; others woven; some embroidered. Have you discovered this?
Patterns are often woven. Do you remember, when you studied about linen, you learned that the Jacquard loom has a series of cards above it which are able to control the pattern? Wonderful silks and beautiful velvets and brocades as well as damask table linen are made in this way by weaving. Patterns of stripes and plaids are also made by the loom in weaving. Sometimes the warp or the filling threads are colored; and this color forms patterns in stripes or squares. See if you have any pieces in your surprise box in which pattern is made by colored threads of warp or woof.
Try to find some woven patterns made by the Jacquard loom in silk or linen. Think of all the beautiful ribbons, silks, tablecloth damasks, towels, and napkins; all such patterns are woven by the loom. Plain patterns like basket weave, twill, diagonal, satin weave, are also made by weaving. See if you can work out some of these patterns on your school loom.
Some patterns are printed. On the plain woven material, patterns are printed by means of rollers on which the pattern has been stamped. The colors are put on by this roller. The picture shows the machine. Did you ever have a calico apron or dress of percale or cambric on which the pattern showed on one side only? Many ribbons are printed with a pattern, but sometimes patterns are put on both sides of the cloth. Again, printing is sometimes done on the warp threads before the filling thread is woven in. This makes a dull effect in pattern. Miss James had a piece of ribbon which was so printed. When it was ravelled out a little, the printed warp could be seen.
Courtesy of Cheney Bros.
Fig. 149.—Printing cloth by machinery.
Did you ever see a foulard silk dress with white spots? Do you know how they are made? There are two. methods. One is called "resist," and the other "discharge." The first method, "resist," is easy to understand. The material is printed before it is dyed. The spots are printed with a chemical which resists the dye when it is put in the dye bath. So the cloth comes out of the dye with white spots where the chemical was stamped. The "discharge" method is just the opposite. The cloth is dyed blue or black or whatever the color is to be, and then it is passed between rollers something like your wringing machine and the color is taken out in spots by chemicals. Sometimes, when the chemicals are too strong or cheap, they eat the cloth. Jane Alden's cousin had a dress from which the white spots fell out, leaving holes.
Patterns are sometimes printed on cloth by means of wood blocks or stencils. Perhaps you can do some printing on plain cloth. You can make a stencil pattern. Cut out the design in it and paint through the holes, or cut a design from a piece of wood, dip it in color, and print the cloth. Lovely materials are made by hand in this way. Miss James has a beautiful English piece of Morris block printing which she values highly.
Many patterns are embroidered. Look in the piece box. Sometimes embroidered designs are worked on cloth by hand, but many are made by machine. Miss James has a scarf which came from India. It is embroidered in gold with little bits of glass sewed on the right side, and held by the embroidery. This is all hand work. Miss James has a waist with little spots of white embroidered in silk. This is done by machine on a loom. Find some piece of material embroidered by machine.
So Barbara Oakes now understands about the patterns. Miss James had some books to show the girls, too. They looked up in the encyclopedia about printing of materials and about the other things they wished to know about patterns. Barbara says to her the most wonderful thing is the way in which the warp threads of the loom can be controlled by the Jacquard pattern cards and other devices. The shed of the warp as it is raised for each filling thread is governed by the devices, and a different set of threads bobs up for each shuttle throw.
EXERCISES AND PROBLEMS
1. Mount on strips of cardboard, samples of material made:
a. By weaving, plain, stripes, diagonal, etc.
b. By printing, resist, discharge, machine, block, stencil;
c. By embroidery.
2. Look up in the encyclopedia or other books the subject of cotton printing.
3. Try to find pictures of modern looms and more primitive ones in which pattern is controlled by the harness which raises the warp threads and makes the so-called shed.
REVIEW PROBLEMS
I. Look over the fashion pages of your magazines at home and find:
1. A young woman suitably dressed for business.
2. A girl dressed for outdoor sports.
3. A girl in a party gown.
Tell why you think each is "well dressed." If not, why?
II. What textile tests would you suggest when buying a silk dress. Mrs. Stark expects to have one next summer. How will she be able to judge if it will wear?
III. Can you make another middy at home. Perhaps you are so expert you can take an order for one.
