Garment cutting in the twentieth century

by Günther F. Hertzer

Either the front or back line may be used as a base, as in Dia. [I], or the back line and plumb line, as in Dia. [II]. With the help of the diagrams, the bases ought to be plain to everyone. Yet the following in addition might be said: The angle of 135 deg. is ⅜ of a circle; cut on the double, it will give ¾ of a circle when spread apart. Three-fourths of a circle represents 3 squares, and a vest or coat, or any garment worn around the neck and shoulders, consists of a ¾ circle, or of 1 circle less 1 square. (See Dia. [XI] and [XII].)

When the square is cut away from the center of the circle, and a hole cut in the center large enough for the neck to pass through, and the front edges are again connected, then it will fit the whole outside of the human form, except the sides below the arm. The square cut out of the circle takes away all shoulder slope. Each of the two backs and fronts requires a reduction of 22½ deg., as shown in Fig. [I]; hence, 4 times 22½ deg. will take up the full amount for both shoulders. If each back and each front requires a reduction of 22½ deg., it will require 45 deg. or half a square to be cut out on each side of the body, as in Dia. [IV] and [V]. Thus the bases are:

1st. The full circle.

2d. Three-fourths of a circle.

3d. Three-eighths of a circle, or 135 deg., for the center of the back and front.

The angle of 135 deg. is again divided into 4 main parts, as 90, 45, 30 and 15 deg., and may be divided into as many minor divisions as fancy will admit, or points to be found in the variation of garments, as in Dia. [XII-A].

To measure the shoulder slope as shown in Fig. [I], is a thousand times better, and more reliable, than the so-called upper and lower shoulder measures, or whatever such measures may be called. But for all that, actual practice in taking this measure will show, that even here some guess work must be done, and while I have said elsewhere that the shoulder slope should be measured, and that it can be measured, as indicated in Fig. [I], yet it is equally true that that measure can be learned to be taken by sight, and such eye-sight measure may be acquired in one week, or after handling and measuring one dozen persons. After the eye of a cutter has caught the normal form of the shoulders, his eyesight will teach him most all variations, as good as a measure. That measure, taken by eyesight, or with any other instrument, must be taken over a coat with a good-fitting shoulder, or better, over a good-setting shoulder; for a shoulder may fit the body and still may not set well.

Again I must repeat this warning: Be slow in making changes, especially at the shoulder seam, for Dia. [II] will fit 49 out of every 50 persons, providing the sleeve does not drag the shoulder out of place.

The single garment, spread upon a flat surface, represents a circle, less one square, or less 90 deg., or a reduction of 45 deg. at each shoulder; but it must not be supposed that the form of Dia. [XI], after having the edges of the square connected again, will form a slope like the shoulders of a human form, that is a slope of 22½ deg. The shoulder slope is calculated at 22½ deg., but that is only on each side of the body, and the center of the front, and the center of the back run down more straight, and in order to bring the ¾ of a circle, like Dia. [XI], in harmony with the shoulders, the centers of back and front must be pushed nearly straight down, and then the sides will rise up, and form the slope for the shoulders.