In drawing any sleeve use the measure of the arm-hole, and bear in mind that this manner of drafting has the seams already included.
FIG. 11. SKIRTS.
Cutting and making a dress skirt, of any style and kind, is sometimes considered of very little importance. By many dressmakers the work is entrusted to inexperienced hands and blocked out by a pattern which will not fit the form. Many fine costumes lack style because the laws of cutting skirts for the different figures have not been observed.
The fashion for the present, and for some time past, requires the skirt to be fitted with as much care as any other part of the dress. All fullness must be so arranged as to fall into the back breadths of the train. The sloping of the bottom must be proportionate, so as to give a straight even effect across the front and sides and allow the train to suddenly spring out at the lower part of the back widths.
Fig. 11.
The careful sloping of the gores at the sides causes the train to fall into a fan-like sweep. The necessity of fine slopes, and a difference of those in different costumes, as well as for different figures, will be readily appreciated when we observe the use for which the dress is intended.
In a walking dress, as it should be to be in harmony with style and the present demands of fashion, the skirts should adhere closely all around the front and sides, leaving whatever fullness there may be at the back. In order to gain this, darts are required between the breadths, which reduce the size needed over the hips down to the size at waist. As the hips proportionately increase at a given ratio at the sides it must be evident that, in order that the skirt may fall down fairly over the hips, these darts at side must be larger there, while towards the front they must be smaller.