Garment cutting in the twentieth century

by Günther F. Hertzer

DIA. I.

Dia. [I] is intended for illustration only. It is on a square of 20½, and the ½ is intended for the extra seam which the frock coat requires. The center of the back and center of the front run in the same direction as they must run when on the body. It also illustrates the spring over the hips as the body actually requires it.

The gore between the side-piece and back illustrates what may be buckled up on a vest. The front represents a straight single-breasted coat, as worn by the military or clergy, and may be depended upon if placed as in Dia. [II]. The front of such a coat must have a large gore in the center, which gore must be made at least 1¼ to 1½ inches, seams included, and must start well up above line 15, and the edges cut oval, not hollow; and the canvas and all padding and lining must be cut and worked in the same way, in which case the front requires no drawing in. The stay is put on close merely to keep the edge from stretching.

Above line fifteen the button-holes are cut, and the buttons are set plumb on the front line, but below line 15 the button line turns backward as shown. To meet the collar in front, nick one seam back of the front line, for military, but for a clergyman’s coat place the nick ¾ back of said line. The top of the skirt laps 1 inch in front of the forepart, and drops ½ inch on the bottom of the front. The standing collar must be a straight piece, and its width depends upon regulation. For a clergyman’s coat the standing collar should not be less than ¾ inches nor more than 1 inch, made up. The front of such a collar may be run straight upward with a line parallel to the front line of 135 deg., but may be shaved backward on top according to regulation or taste.

The place for the shoulder straps on military or society coats is the spot between the lines represented by 60 deg. from the front and 60 deg. from the back, which space of 7½ deg. represents the top of the shoulder. For practical purposes, use the back part of Dia. [II] for such a coat, and shape the front like Dia. [I].

This Dia. [I] is made to show all the angles which start from the point of 135 deg., and which are required for a coat or vest. That angle which forms the shoulder seam, and which is also marked square of 20½, is 45 deg. from the center of back, but for some reason it was forgotten to be so marked. The lines of this diagram may be used to draw the angles for any coat or vest, by simply making them long enough for the size required, the same as in Dia. [XII-A]. Drawn long enough to cover both shoulders, as shown in Fig. [I], the outside lines of this angle of 135 deg. is to be used to measure the shoulders as well as to draw all the other lines, or angles for drafting.

A circle drawn from this point, with a half diameter of 8 inches, will be large enough, and it may be cut out of solid paste-board, but better, of tin or zinc on which the lines are correctly drawn. The location of the forepart and shoulders is the same as in Dia. [II], or any other diagram. The back and the sidepiece on the square of 20½ are in a different position only. The front is just as good as any diagram can be made for a military or for a clergyman’s coat, when placed as in Dia. [II]. The back and the sidepiece is for illustration only.

That back which rests on the angle of 135 deg. is in all respects correct, but the back which rests on the sidepiece has one incorrect line, and this is the line forming the shoulder seam. It is correct at the armhole, but should run up to the point of the square of 20½, so that all three lines meet, and it will be found that from that point, down to line 9 over the front, will be 14⅜, but line 9 itself gives the correct distance from the top and back corner of the square.

By close observation it is also seen that the height of back above line 9 is only ⅜ more in Dia. [I] than it is in Dia. [IV], or on the vest, and also that the side of the back of Dia. [I] is reduced again in length ½ inch by a gore from the armhole to the shoulder blade, all of which proves that both coat and vest are the same thing on the same square, and that the heights of back and front are the same, and in order that the vest is covered by the coat, the neckhole for the vest is cut ½ lower.

If everything is considered at the waist, the coat is only a trifle larger than the vest, and that, what the front of a coat has more than a vest, is used for the lapel. Though Dia. [I] has a square of 20½, and Dia. [IV] has only a square of 20, both have the same width when all the seams are sewed up. All of which shows that, as the coat must pass over the vest, the vest must be cut at least one size smaller than the coat, and I have found it correct. In other words: The difference between the breast measure over the vest, and that under the vest, is about 1 inch in the whole breast measure. Dia. [I] gives a good deal of information, though it may be useless for practical cutting.

Dia. I.