Garment cutting in the twentieth century

by Günther F. Hertzer

The Waist Seam and Bottom.

It cannot be supposed that all seams of a coat will run according to the slope of the body when a pattern is laid on the flat table. The run of the seams, when covering the crooked form of a man, must always assume a different position when laid out on a flat surface, which is fully demonstrated in the back slope of pants. But a cutter should know how much they are out of gear from a certain line or base. If a cutter is able to cut a frock coat with a waist seam running horizontally around the body when the coat is on, then it will be easy for him to produce a square bottom, which is always in good style, and a coat that is too long or too short at one place is always a misfit. On the contrary, a horizontal waist seam is not in good taste. A stylish waist seam is on a gentle curve upward at the side when the coat is upon the body.

Taking the side as a guide, the back may be ½ in. lower, and the front may be 1 in. lower. But the position of the human form is so different in different individuals that we can seldom find two men recording the same position of the waist seam when having the same coat on. This being the case, a cutter should come as near to it as possible. The true position of the bottom of a coat, or of the run of the waist seam, can best be found by measuring with a straight-edge from the level floor upward. The position of that seam, as shown in Dia. [II], may be considered as a fashionable run, but there is no law to prevent us from curving it more or less.

As shown in Dia. [III], it will be noticed that ¾ length of the back is absorbed by the lap of the top of the skirt, and bottom of side piece, and consequently the front must also be shortened that amount, at the bottom from the side forward, in order to make it square. On the sack coat the back and side piece are in the same position, and consequently the bottom is square. The shaving off of the front of the skirt for cutaways has nothing to do with the foregoing calculation.

So far I have paid attention mostly to straight fronts, because they must be cut just right, for a straight front coat will be spoiled if the bottom of the skirt laps over too much or hangs apart. In cutaway coats no such trouble exists, but it is necessary to observe the following difference between a cutaway and a straight front. A straight front is usually a longer coat than a cutaway. A longer coat is required to have a fuller skirt toward the bottom, so that, in walking, the legs can have play enough and yet not strike the coat with every step; and the longer the coat the more space is required. A cutaway coat is always a short coat, but a short coat may also have a straight front.

Now, a short coat should have its skirt so arranged that it will close in well to the body and not flare in all directions; and for this purpose I refer to Dia. [III], which front is the proper shape for a regular cutaway, as well as for a dress coat. Below the gore, in the center of the forepart, the upper seam just laps over the skirt enough to straighten the seam when the gore is sewed up. The gore itself would naturally run straight downward, but it is turned at the waist seam and run forward into the skirt seam, which will take away all surplus flare at the side of the skirt. The connection of the top of the skirt and side piece is the same for all coats. All must hang the same (straight down at the back), and all changes between the full skirt and cutaway are made from the under arm cut, forward.

A very good way to change the full skirt of Dia. [II] to that of a cutaway is as follows: Cut the skirt pattern like Dia. [II], then from the under arm cut downward, fold up the pattern, say 1¼ in. at line 30. The side piece and skirt remain stationary. The fold is brought from the top of the front, and the top of the front of the skirt is changed to the shape of Dia. [III]. All frock coats should fall straight downward from the seat, whether long or short, and for this purpose I have made the backs the same on both cutaways and straight fronts, both leaving perfect connection between the bottom of the side piece and the top of the back skirt, except Dia. [III], which is produced for a different purpose.

All changes in the spring toward the bottom of a coat must be made by reducing the lap between the forepart and the skirt from the side seam forward. Dia. [II] may be considered to have enough spring for a full flowing skirt of the present style, while the cutaway may be made even at the front, but so that the top of the skirt and the bottom of the forepart run on a gentle curve, after the gore in the forepart is sewed up. That part of the waist seam of a cutaway should be cut like Dia. [III], that is, a lap of about ⅜ at the gore upward, and even again in front. Dia. [III] is made with a gore in the front of the waist seam, but that gore is calculated for a dress coat skirt, which requires the skirt to close in pretty well when the coat is on, and is good for all extreme cutaways. In the production of a dress coat it will again be found handy to have the coat and vest on the same base, because it looks horrid to see such a coat front shorter than the vest.

The back, and the fold between the back and the front skirt, and all over and below the side piece, must be the same on all coats, that is, all must hang straight down. But after all, the back skirt of a cutaway may be cut closer than the skirt in Dia. [II], for the reason that a short cutaway cut scant at the bottom of the back skirt will not go apart as easily as it would do if cut, say 10 in. longer.

Dia. [II] gives a good representation of the run of the bottom, and the lap at the waist seam shows 1 number extra length for the curve of the chest. The skirt of any double-breasted frock coat should be cut so that when done and the front laps over, both the waist seam and the bottom meet.

Now, providing the lengths are all well calculated, it becomes simple to make these points meet, and it is done as follows: In front of the plumb base line make the skirt even length and shape in all respects like Dia. [II]. From the under arm cut forward, sink the forepart waist seam 1½ at the plumb base line and the same at the front edge. At the bottom drop the front of the skirt about ⅜ to ½. The bottom of the back is ¼ longer at the side than it is behind, or at right angles with the center line of the center of the back. At line 30 the center of the back is thrown out 1 number and that much is again reduced at the side of the back, as a gore. Throwing outside 1 in. and cutting 1 in. away at the side produces the oval shape over the seat. If the center of the back was placed at the base and the sides made even from line 25 down, then the whole back part would appear flat.

The under arm cuts in Dias. [II] and [IV], are based upon the difference of the diameter of the body from side to side, close under the arm and at the hollow of the waist. The diameter of the normal male form may be considered to measure one inch less at the waist than at the chest, both backward and forward and sidewise, and the circumference of such a body may be computed as being one-ninth less waist than the breast on the whole measure, as 36 breast and 32 waist.

Now, it should be observed that Dia. [II] and Dia. [IV] are laid out in different squares, and that if Dia. [IV] were laid out in the same square as is Dia. [II], the gore under the arm would be 3¼ at the waist, as it is on Dia. [XII]. When I say above, that all coats and vests have the under arm cut calculated according to the difference of the diameter of the waist from side to side, I mean a coat laid out as shown in Dias. [II] and [XII], and a vest as laid out as shown in Dias. [IV] and [XI]. Each requires about one inch reduction at the waist and at the under arm cut. The coat is simply that much larger over the hips, as the swing of the side piece from a square of 20 to a square of 17½ amounts to.

The square of 18, for either a three-seamed sack, or a frock coat, may be reduced at the waist as shown in Dia. [II], and if the diameter of the waist indicates that more space is required at the side, it should be allowed according to that indication. Some men are quite well filled out in the sides of the body and flat in front, while others require more waist proportion in front. The waist proportion on a frock coat cannot be made according to the close measure taken over the vest, but must be made according to the measure over a well-fitting coat when buttoned up, and to be taken as large and as loose, yet as snug, as the coat really requires it to be. Some may call this an actual measure, and some may contend that this measure cannot be taken correctly, but, be that as it may, nevertheless it is a measure, which gives an indication of what is wanted, and also a truer indication than a measure taken tightly over the waist. By the waist measure, I mean the measure at the hollow of the waist and not the waist seam of a frock coat. The hollow of the waist is a permanent point on every human body, but the waist seam changes according to style or notion; and the width of that seam should come pretty near to the actual measure taken over the coat when buttoned up.

In order to observe the difference of the location of waist proportion, let us consider Dia. [I], which is laid out in the same position as a vest, although the square is ½ larger. Here we find a reduction of ¾ at the hollow of the back, or between the sidepiece and back; and on line 20 we find a spring of ¾ at the waist seam between the front and sidepiece.

The normal form requires a reduction of 1 in. at the under arm cut, on a vest, and about ½ in front, which ½ is again thrown out behind as a spring over the seat; and which is not waist reduction or waist addition, but must be considered as something to conform with the turn of the body from the pit of the stomach downward and from the hollow of the waist in the back downward. This cut under the arm on a square of 20 is a natural gore for a vest, while for a coat the same spot requires a spring, which is also a natural one for a coat, and both are in their place because the nature of the garment requires it, not the body itself. There are men with quite small and tapering waists, and for such the underarm cut must be made larger, while others with very full waists spread sidewise and require the under arm cut smaller—or no cut at all but a spring.

Now, in making our calculation for the waist proportion according to diameter of the body, the following must be observed: If the full diameter of the waist, from side to side, is 1 in. less than that of the chest from side to side and under the arm, it will throw ½ inch taper on each side; but the diameter covers the double body, and the double garment, or one front and one back on each side, consequently each half back and each half front requires a taper, or a reduction of ½ inch, and for this reason the vest, as a garment cut close to the body, has a reduction of 1 in. under the arm, and which 1 in. is to be taken away on the forepart as being the best shape.

On a vest, I find that all waist allowances may be divided between the side and front with very satisfactory results, but extremes should have a trifle more in front than at the side. On a coat, the most of waist allowances should be at the side, because surplus cloth at the front of a coat will produce too much skirt below, while on a vest it will not show, because the vest is cut off or ends a few inches below the waist.

The cut between the sidepiece and back of a frock coat should never be changed for waist proportion. This cut is not made or calculated according to waist proportion, but is made for convenient cutting. However, this must be observed: Short men require the waist higher up than the scale produces, and in consequence the hollow, or the turn of the sidepiece, should be where the hollow of the waist actually is, and not at line 17½, as shown in Dia. [II]. Therefore just the contrary must be observed on tall and slender persons. I find that the difference of the length of the waist between short and tall persons is about this: If the style allows the waist seam to be located at line 20 for the normal form, then a short person may have that seam at 19 and a tall one at 21, while the hollow of the waist is 2½ higher, all of which can be measured on each customer.