If, as our correspondent suggests, there is a cutter living who cannot measure the scye twice without a variation of one or two inches, or if there is a cutter who cannot measure it fifty times with less than one-eighth inch difference, that cutter should devote his mind and muscle to hod carrying.
Our correspondent sends us, in his letter, small drafts of two trousers which look unlike each other, and asks us to tell him how they differ, and if each will fit the same man?
There seems to be no difference in the drafts, except in the location of the seams. But whether there is or not is of little consequence. Life is too short for us to draft the patterns to full size and devote an hour or so to the solution of a problem of no importance.
Mr. Hertzer concludes his letter as follows: “Since the foregoing was written, I have received the ‘American Tailor’ for this month and I see that others make the same request about frock and sack coats.
As far as I know the diagram on page 77 may be suitable to others, but I am not smart enough to derive any benefit from it, for it is not complete—frock coat skirt is not in full, nor are the fitting points given on the front shoulder, and minus sleeve.
Should I use my own pattern and fail to make a good sack, you would say that my patterns are not correct, or that I did not follow your instructions. It leaves too many holes for you to slip out of. Now if you would give all the fitting points, then we would have a fair chance to try it. This is plain talk, but you always solicit the opinion of your subscribers, and here is mine without coloring.”
This “plain talk” is about as silly as anything we ever read. The draft referred to is an illustration of how to cut a sack by a frock coat pattern, and does clearly illustrate it. It was not a coat system, and the skirt of a frock coat has no more to do with it, than a box of matches. “If a cutter drafts a sack as we explained by a poor frock coat pattern, he will produce a poor sack, but if he uses a good model, he will make a success of it.” We don’t “slip out” of anything, as our correspondent intimates, and certainly have wisdom enough to prevent our making ourselves ridiculous by endeavoring to get down to his intellectual level.
In an advertisement which was enclosed in the letter under discussion, Mr. Hertzer says: “I have spent more time, more money, and more brains on the science of gents’ and boys’ garment cutting than any other cutter. And I can prove it.”
Possibly if he had spent less brains, he would have on hand a more liberal supply, than he seems to have in stock at present.