Garment cutting in the twentieth century

by Günther F. Hertzer

The Neckhole and Shoulder Seam.

If it is not desired to connect the sleeve pattern into the armhole and on both seams, the shoulder seam may be cut into any shape or form as long as the balance is retained; but whenever we intend to connect the sleeve with the armhole, as in Dia. [II] or [VII], we must cut the normal shoulder seam with a lap or spring of from three-eighths to one-half at the neck, and which lap must be run down fully to the middle of the shoulder seam and then reduced to nothing at the armhole, and in such a shape that the front part is on a curve. On a vest the angle of 135 degrees furnishes the correct slope, and with the neck band properly worked and turned up, gives enough spring around the side of the neck. But a vest collar and necktie give more bulk, and a coat is also cut closer to the center of the neck, and consequently a coat requires more width, or spring, in and on top of the shoulder seam, of which three-eighths is enough and five-eighths not too much, but it is always better to cut that part close, so that the collar may be sewed on easily; that is, the sides of the neck stretched say about one-quarter of an inch. Again, the coat collar gives more bulk than the vest collar and for this reason the overcoat requires three-fourths spring, as in Dia. [X], which is cut still closer to the neck.

Policy, no doubt, has caused the fashionable shoulder seam to be thrown backward of the center of the shoulder, for the reason that it passes nearer to the shoulder blade, and a curved shoulder seam helps to fit it. If the shoulder seam were located on top of the shoulders it could not be curved, but would necessarily be hollow in the center, though the back and front lap at the neck. The position of the shoulder seam as in Dia. [II] allows the sleeve to be connected with the coat on both the back and front seams, and the lap of sleeve and shoulder give the sleeve enough width for all fulling purposes, and the sleeve can never be too large or too small. I have tried my utmost to lay the shoulders in such a position that no lap would be found at the shoulder seam; but, after I considered that the back is never cut on the shoulders, I came to the conclusion that the said spring might just as well be there, inasmuch as by its use a more correct sleeve connection can be made.

On account of the lap between the back and front at the shoulder seam the top of that seam at the neck can not properly be connected, and for this reason should be notched at the center. The lap between the back and front of the shoulder seam and toward the neck may be accounted for in a different way, and as follows: The diameter of the body at the center of the back and center of front is almost double what it is at the arms, and if we turn the back forward and the front backward so that both meet at the shoulder seams, then the center of the body, or the side of the neck, requires a longer swing than the side of the body at the arms, hence the three to five-eighths more at the neck.

The five-eighths lap at about eight numbers from O, may also be accounted for as being required for the roundness of the shoulder blade, which is partially reached by the shoulder seam of a coat. Between the top of the shoulder seam and eight numbers from O, the lap, of whatever it is made, should not be even, but should be a trifle less a few inches below the neck, say one-eighth to three-sixteenth of an inch, as shown in the diagrams. This will give the finished shoulder a better appearance than if cut and made flat. The shoulders are hollow there, and the coat must conform to that, because a coat must fit there to the body and must be made to fit to the body there, it must hang and balance itself there, and if it don’t fit there it must make a break, and in fact this is the only place where a coat is required to actually fit the body.

The shoulder seam for a vest must also be considered in particular. Dia. [IV] gives the vest shoulder seam without lap or gore upon the angle of 135 degs., and the top of back is cut as wide, at point 5, as the angle of 45 degs., and it may be cut one-half inch wider in order to bring it fully to the side of the neck, where the spring is required, but it should not be over 3½ numbers. Dia. [IV] requires that in finishing the neck, the neckband must be cut long and sewed on full at the shoulder seam, say one-quarter inch, or plainer, the back should be stretched that much at and close to the shoulder seam. If a cutter prefers to sew the neck band even on the back, he must allow one-quarter to three-eighths spring at the top of the shoulder seam, and at the back, starting it about two inches downward.

Now it will be found that by reducing the spring at the neck of a coat to nothing, but leaving the five-eighths lap toward the blade, the great majority of stooping forms may be fitted, for it makes the front shoulder shorter, and that is all that a forward leaning neck requires. Stooping persons often throw their shoulders up, and such must be considered a combination of stooping and square shoulders. The lap of from three to five-eighths must always depend upon how the collar is sewed on. A three-eighths lap and one-quarter stretch of the neck-hole makes a better shoulder than a five-eighths lap with the collar sewed on close. A tight collar around the back and side will always spoil the shoulder. If a coat be too wide there, sew in the shoulder seam, but never draw in the side or the back of the neck with a short collar. A square shoulder may be produced by a lap of one-half between the back and front shoulder seam toward the shoulder blade, and no lap at the neck, and placing top of back at 3½. The armhole itself must be the same for both the square and for the low shoulder, or the long neck. The lap of the shoulder seam requires that seam to be nicked as shown in the diagram. It is better all around if the jour. has a sure point at the middle to connect said seam, when he can baste up and down. He is less apt to throw one side up and the other down than if he makes the connection at the neck or at the armhole. To connect the shoulder seam with a satisfactory result, square up from line 11¼ and in front of armhole, and nick each back and each front on said line, which is even, to moving the forepart down on the front plumb line until the shoulders meet. In sewing the shoulder seam together the back should always be a trifle the fullest, because the back passes over the round shoulder blade and the front passes over the hollow on top of the shoulders, and should be stretched a trifle. By a trifle I mean about one-eighth of an inch on each side of the nick.

Locating the connecting point at the center in the shoulder seam, the jour. must be instructed to baste up and down, and if any part is too wide at the neck or at the armhole, to trim it off or let it stand as an outlet, but in all cases insist that both neck and armhole must have a nice slope after the collar is sewed on, or the sleeve is sewed in. If the cutting is done according to this work, there will be no trouble in obtaining a nice round armhole.