Garment cutting in the twentieth century

by Günther F. Hertzer

Angle of Fifteen Degrees for Coats and Vests.

(SEE DIA. [XIII].)

If we take a square piece of paper and encircle the body from under the arm to the waist it will fit perfectly, although, when on the body, the front will be 15 deg. higher than the back; and if we want to form a level waist, we must attach a piece to the bottom of the front, amounting to 15 deg., as shown in Dia. [I] and [IV]. If we extend that piece of paper, or cloth, down to the side of the thigh and seat, we must cut it open at the side of the hip and below the waist, and insert a piece to accommodate the spread of the body, as shown in Dia. [I]. But the spread of the garment all around the lower body could be made better if two cuts were made—one at the side and the other near the back—representing the front and the back seam of the frock coat sidepiece.

Dia. [I] represents the body of a coat, that is, from arm to hip, in a position which it has to assume, when upon the body, and it must be observed that a garment, spread on a flat table, can only be in harmony with the body at one point; all other points must differ, and can only be correctly located by their true relation when on the body. This, I claim, is nearly the natural position of the garment when upon the body, and would require no seam at all below the arms and above the waist. If this piece was not wide enough we could enlarge it to the size desired, and wherever necessary, and would make no difference in the fit so long as the seams are allowed for. When taken off the body it will fit the flat table just as well as it did the form of a man. In this position of a coat, as on Dia. [I], or a vest, as on Dia. [IV], it makes but little difference if the side seams are cut a trifle more forward or backward—the fit will be the same.

I therefore claim that all changes in the seams, as the vest, frock and sack coats, must be made while in position, as in Dia. [I] and [IV], or at least must be made on lines 9 and 14, etc., whenever the back is obliged to assume an unnatural position, as in Dia. [II]—all of which is further explained in the article on “[Narrow and Broad Backs].”

But we must go back to the angle of 15 deg. If we take a square piece of cloth, representing the ½ breast measure of a 35 coat, we will have 17½ inches each way. If we add an angle of 15 deg. to one of the sides it will give us an angle of 15 deg., although the top point is lost, but would form like the upper part of Dia. [XIII]. The angle of 15 deg. spreads ¼ of its length; consequently it spreads 5 in. in 20, as seen in all diagrams in this work, with the front angle of 15 deg. attached.

Line 20 is located at the top of the hips, where the body spreads considerably, and the hip measure may be considered as large as the breast measure, though in different positions, as the hips spread more sidewise. The front line of the attached angle of 15 deg. is, at the same time, the front line of the angle of 135 deg., as well as the front line of the square of 20.

Now observe, that in changing the lines on the square of 20 in. into a square of 17½, with the angle of 15 deg. attached in front, the front does not change a particle, but the back, at the waist, is detached and thrown backward and upward, becoming larger at the waist and smaller on top, and forming the angle of 15 deg.—all the spread being toward the hips and seat, representing a garment without lap and without gore at the hips and seat, and without any waist suppression. Below the front of the waist the body recedes, and the front of the angle of 15 deg. is cut off accordingly, and runs straight down with the plumb line, as shown in the diagrams.

But this is not all. The angle of 15 deg., as in Dia. [II], represents a straight but pointed or funnel-shaped piece of cloth, has its proper size at the bottom of the armhole, at the hips and seat, and front of the chest and waist, but is too large at the hollow of the waist above the hips and seat; and in this position gores must be taken out to imitate the hollows of the waist at the side and back. Not all is taken out, but only a portion, just to show the outline of the form; and if everything else is well proportioned, ½ inch more or less cloth at the waist will be of little consequence. It is of more importance to ascertain the depth of the seat and hollow of the waist, so we may know where to run out the gores, or where to make it the most hollow.

Line 17½ on the front plumb line may be considered the hollow of the waist for the normal form, and the seat may be located at 27 or 28, but on extremely short or slim persons these points should always be measured with care. In cutting according to the rules adopted in this work, the outside of the elbows can always be depended upon for the location of line 20, and the hollow of the waist is 2½ numbers higher, all to be measured from top of back. For the seat point, take the largest part or the upper point of the thigh bone, which corresponds to the wrist, the arm hanging down.

If the half breast can be fitted with ½ breast measure and 2½ in., all seams included except what the lapel takes up, the hip can be fitted with ½ hip measure and 2 in., all seams included except the lap of the buttons and button-boles, because the hip requires nothing in consequence of expansion, as the chest does. If the hip measure is the same as the breast, say 17½ in. for the half coat, then it follows that the hip, at the waist seam, may require 19½ in. and about ½ in. for lap of button-holes and buttons, making 20 in all. This must be the result, no matter if the draft is made like Dia. [I] or Dia. [II]. In Dia. [II] it will be seen that whatever the hips spread at line 20 is again reduced by the gore in the center of the forepart, as well as by a small reduction from the center in front. It should be observed, that, although the breast and hip may measure the same, the form is different at the hip than at the breast. The front is compressed and spreads sidewise at the hips, just like Dia. [I].

Observe that the square of 17½ and the front angle of 15 deg. measure 22½ in. for size 35, at line 20; and it follows that 2½ in. may be reduced on and along line 20. Dia. [II], and all others laid out in the square of 17½, are not only based on the above calculation, but are founded upon years of trial, and virtually the calculation is made from facts so obtained. This is also the way in which all the other diagrams have been produced. The angle of 15 deg. will fit the normal form at the arms, at the largest part of the seat, at the side of the thigh, and the front of the chest, but is too wide at the hollow of the waist behind, and stands off below the front of the waist, and must be reduced by gores as shown. On the back, it must be considered on a plumb line, spreading sidewise and forward.

The trifling spread below the side of the thigh is taken off by the gore in the center of a frock coat forepart, and is turned forward between the skirt and forepart; while on a sack coat it is partly cut off between the back and side seam, which is further forward than the frock coat skirt seam, and by which the gore in the center of a frock coat forepart is balanced. Now, in this position, it might be reasonable to make calculations for waist reduction by comparing breast, waist and seat measures, but as the waist is not to be fitted at all it would be useless unless we could take the measure just as wide as we wanted the coat at the waist, which cannot be done satisfactorily; therefore, we take the average, and cut out the waist in proportion to the breast measure. But it can be done only after the angle of 15 deg. is established, and recognized as a base, and understood, according to the principles adopted in this book.

But I must again call the attention of the reader to the plumb base on the back. The angle of 15 deg. is based upon a plumb line on the center of the back, both shoulders and the seat touching said line, and the front line of the angle of 15 deg. running forward and away from the body below the pit of the stomach, while the back runs straight down, as a coat must hang, as is shown in Fig. [II]. The back plumb line is not given in Fig. [II], because it would interfere with the diagram above.

I do not claim that all men walk in that position, but tell a customer to stand before you for measurement and he will usually assume that position. In walking, a man is inclined to lean the upper portion of the body forward more or less; but leaning forward or backward the line from the shoulders to the seat is carried along, and the base will remain the same from the shoulders to the seat, and in a large majority of cases no attention need be given to altering either back or front; but there are extremes, and these do require a change there. A form may be stooping, or erect, but still may carry the shoulders and seat on a plumb line. Such forms require no change at the waist, but at the neck only; and a cutter must always observe such positions, because no so-called balance-measure will indicate it. But there is the so-called “sway-back,” who carries his shoulders way back of the seat. Such a form requires his coat reduced at the waist, not between the back and sidepiece, but between the sidepiece and forepart, unless a large waist requires or takes up that space again. We often see large-waisted and always erect forms with their coats too tight over the back tack, because the waist is not large enough for the hips. How much the reduction at the side should be must always be determined by the judgment of the cutter; but an outlet at the side of the forepart is more important than anywhere else—it will never do any harm and may become very handy sometimes when it is least thought to be necessary.

When a coat swings off behind it can easily be brought to the body by stretching the whole back and back of side seam, from the shoulder-blade downward; but when it is too close there, more width must be obtained by the help of the outlet at the side of the waist, and by stretching the sidepiece downward on the forepart, in order to force the width backward. Coats which appear too close at the back tack are usually so because the hips have not cloth enough, when an outlet is very handy again; but this seam should always be sewed by hand, because a machine-sewed seam will show when let out.

All outlets around the neck do more harm than good; and if they are left on, for the purpose of trying on, they should be cut away before the collar is sewed on, especially on heavy goods. A coat that is too loose around the neck can always be brought to the body by taking up the shoulder seam, which will reduce the length of the forepart, and leaves the back correspondingly longer.

The normal form represents a slope of 15 deg. forward from neck to waist, but a large-waisted form may represent an angle of 20 deg., and consequently such a form requires an addition in front of waist and outside of the front base; and I find that a large-waisted form requires from 1 to 1½ in. extra allowances in front of waist on a vest. The angle of 15 deg. measures 5 numbers at line 20, hence every 3 deg. measure 1 number at the point. Every corpulent individual should be measured according to the front slope of the chest. I know it is an odd measure for a beginner, but a little practice will make it plain work, and it will pay well. I do not claim that the measure must be taken absolutely correct, but it should be nearly so, so that an idea can be formed of what a person may want.

The angle of 15 deg., with a width of ½ breast, or its equivalent, as 17½ numbers for a vest, or 18 numbers for a coat, at the starting point of a garment, which is the angle of 135 deg. within the angle of 15 deg., as seen in Dia. [XIII], contains the proper spread for, and around the hips and seat, as required for a coat. For waist suppression at the sides and the back, gores are cut out, according to notion or style, or according to the nature of the garment. It must be remembered that the position of the shoulders and the whole forepart is the same in all diagrams in this work, and that the change from the square of 20 to the square of 17½ is made by changing the back, or the sidepiece, or both.

Now it will be seen, that if either of the back or sidepiece is moved, but kept together on their connecting points, as on lines 9 and 14, etc., the gores must change, as well as the height of the back above the bottom of the armscye and on line 9 over the front. Thus the back or the sidepiece may be laid in any conceivable shape, and in any conceivable square, and the fit will be the same, though all points assume a different relation to the starting point. The angle of 15 deg. is here adopted because it conforms to the slope of the body and not as a pet idea, and it is also adopted for the reason that a garment can be laid out in it, without piecing the garment, or cutting out unreasonable amounts as gores.

Dia. [II] shows the whole coat on the angle of 15 deg., and the gores around the waist are for a normal form of a size 36, that is, the waist suppression is one-ninth part of the whole breast, or about 2 in. in both gores around the side and the back, on the half coat. This is the reduction within the angle of 15 deg., when on the flat table, but when sewed together, the garment will form like Dia. [I], or nearly so, and when in that position, the seams around the back of the waist may be changed some, without destroying the balance, but as a general thing the seam between the back and sidepiece should not be tampered with, unless there are good reasons, such as style, or for erect forms, where the folding up of the sidepiece will contract the gore between the back and the front skirts or close it up altogether, or in extreme cases produce a lap over the seat. Fuller waists are usually of erect forms, and for such the under-arm cut may be reduced for the larger waist, and the gore between side and back may be reduced at and below the tack. That cut, or gore, between the back and the sidepieces will always be a difficult thing to handle, for the reason that it is a curved gore.

If we would cut the back of Dia. [II] 1 in. wider over the blade on one coat, and cut another one 1 in. smaller at the same point, without changing the lengths of the back above the armhole, we would spoil both of them, unless we know how to make things right again by sewing the parts together. On the broad back, with a straighter seam, the sidepiece would have to be reasonably stretched over the blade, or the back held full, which is the same, while the more narrow and more curved back must be sewed on the sidepiece rather close, though it will never do to hold the sidepiece full, or stretch the back there.

Dia. [II] is so calculated that both sidepiece and back must be sewed on even over the curve, above line 9, and the best of tailors will sometimes be compelled to baste them together several times more than they like, before they get them right, or the way it is intended. Here we can find the reasons why certain parts can be worked the very contrary, and both ways will fit, and for this reason a newly-arrived jour. should be thoroughly instructed by the cutter, as to how things must be put together according to his cutting, and the cutter himself should be a good tailor, or at least he should know how it is to be made, even if he can not do the sewing. A cutter who is a thorough tailor himself will always be a better cutter than the one who only knows how to cut, all other things being equal.

The angle of 15 deg., as used in this work, is calculated for the normal form of a male. Males with extra large hips require more spread toward the side of the hips, and must be placed under the head of abnormal forms. The normal form of a female is very large over the hips, and the angle of 15 deg. would not produce spread enough for a female. It is true, this work has nothing to do with the cutting of female garments, but I think it important enough to point out the above difference between the male and female form, for it may become of use to some of my readers. Soon the time will come, and, in fact, it is now and has been for some time, when men will cut and superintend the making of fine female garments, just as females now make the common garments for men. There are millions in it.

The angle of 15 deg. is taken as a standard in this work, because it is easily found by spreading two lines one-fourth of their length. It is also a common division of the square—one-sixth. It is also the twenty-fourth part of a circle. It is not an unknown quantity, but something recognized and acknowledged by the whole world. Now, if anyone contends that a larger angle, or a smaller one, is better, I will not find fault, but I would like to see the proof.

The angles, as laid down in this work, are a standard—something rational to go by—the same as a pound or a yard. Our grocer never sells an actual pound of coffee, nor does our dry goods merchant sell us an actual yard of calico, and we all know it, but we are satisfied with it because we can do no better. It serves the purpose. I claim that two angles of 15 deg., formed in funnel-like shape, and connected at the widest part like Dia. [XIII], will at least come nearer to the shape of the human form than a square piece.