Garment cutting in the twentieth century

by Günther F. Hertzer

PREFACE.

Nothing is claimed in this book pertaining to Styles of Fashions. It is true the fashionable parts of all the diagrams are taken from the latest Fashion Reports; but these will not last, and consequently the fashionable part is of little value. What I claim of my own work is the BASES, which must be considered permanent, and from which all changes must be made for different styles, or for abnormal forms. The principle laid down in this work, is: To fit the form of men, making the change of fashions to conform to the fit. The Bases I have adopted are new, in the science of Garment-Cutting, and all calculations are based upon horizontal, perpendicular and parallel measures and lines. The slope of each shoulder, as 22½ deg., is taken as a Base for a garment worn around the neck and shoulders, and the garments built downward from that Base.

All Bases are clearly defined by illustrations and description; and all gores cut out, or wedges put in, either natural or artificial, are minutely described according to the spreads or hollows of the body. The illustrations or diagrams are given both from a corner of a square, and from the center of a circle, with the same result.

I know that, after the publication of this work, some men will hew off some rough corners, and give it more polish; but this is the case with all inventions and new things, and I do not expect to be exempt from that rule. In fact, I know that this work is incomplete; but I can leave it to future time, either through myself or others, to take up the thread where I leave it at present, to unravel any mysteries that may yet be hidden. But the Bases and their application will remain, and will be so used in the twentieth century and thereafter, as long as clothing is worn and men retain their present general form. Some will no doubt say that certain of my methods cost extra study, all of which I admit; but cutting and making garments have been, are now, and always will be, a study; and so far, no man’s life has been long enough, and likely no man’s life hereafter will be long enough, to complete it. This work indicates the right direction for study, and does not allow the cutter’s nor the tailor’s brain to become dormant. My experience is this: Better study one extra hour over a garment than spend a whole day in altering it. The Merchant Tailor’s success depends upon one thing only, viz.: How he succeeds in pleasing his customers. Some cutters will ask for something definite in the shape of a new system; something that requires no study nor constant watching. To such let me say this: Whenever an infallible system of garment-cutting is to be invented, it must be something like a machine, which always does the same thing with the same result. Such an invention cannot be acceptable so long as the fashions and the styles are constantly changing. If, however, such a machine could become acceptable, the occupation of Custom Cutters would be “forever lost.” Nothing of this kind is claimed in this work, but this I do claim: that it is better and more practical, and far more comprehensive, than anything heretofore known. Neither do I claim that it will work equally well in the hands of every cutter, because no machine will work well unless directed and supervised by a skillful operator—one who knows every detail of its construction, and attends to it carefully.

I call this work a scientific calculation within both the square and compass. But I do not claim any knowledge of science, nor even of geometry, except perhaps what may be called “home-made.” What little I know about geometry, I learned after I became forty-five years of age, and had begun to jot down my experience. Neither do I claim to be a Fancy Cutter; I do not even claim to be a Fancy Tailor; nor do I believe that I ever was cut out to be a tailor. But somehow I started to learn the trade, and when I was once at it, I made up my mind to learn it as well as anybody, even if it took me a few years longer perhaps than some others. Yet all of this is no reason why I should not be able to make a better survey of the human form than any other man has done so far; and in fact anyone, not a tailor, could have done so if his interest had been directed that way. It is a fact that the sewing machine was not invented, nor perfected, by tailors. It was accomplished by others, who knew nothing of tailoring, but they learned to make one good stitch in a quick way, and that was all.

I have been on the bench and cutting-board forty-four years, and I do claim that I have observed and learned something in that time which is worth while to preserve, and I have written it in language so plain that all tailors may understand. In 1878 I began to jot down my experience, illustrating everything by diagrams, and have up to this time written and illustrated each year two books like this, all of which I have in my possession and intend to preserve. I presume I could write ten years longer without exhausting the subject; but I feel the weight of fifty-nine years upon my shoulders and have come to the conclusion that I must clear away all old rubbish and publish what I know is reliable. This volume is the result. For the last ten years I have been carrying on a Merchant Tailoring business for the purpose of testing every garment which I cut. Any new idea that came to my mind I carried out by making a garment accordingly; and if I was wrong, and made a misfit, I made the necessary alteration. I could do this because I had no “boss” to curse me—I was my own “boss” and I paid for the music.

The above remarks are made to show that this work is not a mushroom idea, but based upon the experience of nearly half a century. For the reason that this century is nearly ended, and that, at best, this work will not be generally known, until the next century, I have named it Garment Cutting in the Twentieth Century. If any one doubts that I have been working for years to prepare this work, let him look up the “American Tailor” of December, 1883, and November, 1886, or the records of the Patent Office in Washington for 1878.

I will here say that this book has been written between working hours, or at odd hours, or days when I had the time to spare, and that from time to time the manuscript had to be changed as well as the diagrams, and then revised again. This has been the case from 1878 down to the present time. I do not wish to convey the idea to any one, that the Bases, as laid down in this work, were caught on to in one great lump and that this work is the result of the grasping of one great idea. When about eighteen years of age, I came to the conclusion that no system of garment-cutting, then existing, had an intelligible Base to work from, and that all so-called Bases were nothing but imaginary lines, to suit this or that cutter’s fancy, and this is the case to-day. That being my conclusion, I tried to find something on which I might have a better hold.

Like Columbus, I had an idea that there was something beyond, but had no conception of its form. Of geometry I knew nothing, except, that “a square is an angle of ninety degrees, or the fourth part of a circle,” but I found that I was helpless without geometry, and, at so late a day for me, I had to roll up my sleeves, as it were, and learn at least enough of geometry as this work requires. (Who will throw the first stone at my ignorance?) After I was able to divide the circle, the Bases, as laid down in this work, were gradually adopted, one by one, and so arranged that they harmonize with the slopes of the body. I have a hold now, and I can always tell whence I came, and whither I am going. I have a starting point at the center of a circle, I can tell that I sink my shoulders twenty-two and a half degrees; that the center of back and the center of front rest on one angle of one hundred and thirty-five degrees; that the front of armhole is forty-five degrees from the front, etc.; all of which may be understood by the whole civilized world. And if some cutters and tailors do not understand it, they can learn it in a few hours, and can learn it as quickly as they can any other rule.

It may be asked, can such angles always be drawn correctly? to which I will answer: No, not always; but it serves the purpose. Our grocer never sells us an actual pound of coffee, nor does our dry goods dealer sell us an actual yard of calico, but what they sell us is as near as they can come—it serves the purpose, and everybody is satisfied. The variations of the lines from the center of a circle are not greater than are the right angles from a square or from a straight line.

I have been advised to write this book as though it were written by a person residing in a large city, but I do not deceive any one, and admit that at the present time “Tiffin” has only about twelve thousand inhabitants, but that it is located in the big State of Ohio, and that Tiffin has more natural “gas” than New York and Chicago together. I do anticipate the question, “How much knowledge may come from a small city like Tiffin?” but I console myself with the fact that a like question, “What good can come out of Nazareth?” was asked two thousand years ago, and it has been answered in favor of that little village, and to-day these questioners are regarded as a set of conceited asses.

Advanced ideas do not necessarily come from large cities, or come to a focus there. Moses, the great law giver, caught his inspiration while among his flocks; and so did the poet, King David. St. John, the Baptist, and Christ himself took to solitude in the wilderness before entering upon their mission. St. John, the evangelist, wrote his Revelations on the lonely island of Patmos. Dr. Luther formed his reformatory ideas within the walls of a cloister. The great emancipator, Abraham Lincoln, no doubt caught some of his ideas while working on a flat boat, or while splitting rails. In the face of such facts, I do not see why a common tailor, living and working in a small city, cannot have some advanced ideas about Garment Cutting, even if they are written down without a perfect knowledge of English grammar.

I was born in the village of Niederwillingen, in the Principality of Schwartzburg, Sondershausen, Germany, on the 10th day of April, A. D. 1833. I received a good common school education. In the spring of 1848, when the revolutionary cannons were shaking Germany for freedom, I was sold as a slave (apprenticed) for three years to learn the tailor’s trade, and came to America on the 17th day of September, 1852, then but nineteen and one half years old, and have never had any schooling in the English language,—but what I know I have picked up here and there, in the tailor’s shops, stores, lodges and churches. For this reason, this book may contain words which might have been different, but it is written plainly, and in such terms that tailors and cutters will comprehend.

During the year 1891 I have worked mostly on this book, comparing diagrams and writings, and changing anything that I thought would improve it. But I find that if I keep on comparing and trying, I shall never be done, for I always find something else to write. A little over a year ago, I thought I would go to work and cut it shorter, the manuscript then having about fifty thousand words, and now it contains about one hundred and twenty thousand words. This is the way I have cut it shorter. But I do not see what I could strike out again, even if I should make the attempt.

G. F. HERTZER.

Tiffin, Ohio, March 2d, 1892.