May be it is nonsense to write about a seamless coat, but I have seen so many absurd ideas advanced about cutting garments, that this may not be the worst. But a cutter who knows the true difference between coats with different seams, certainly knows more than if he is compelled to swallow anything the Fashion Reports please to dish out for us, in the shape of diagrams for new “Styles.”
Narrow and Broad Backs.
In the position of Dia. [I] or [IV], it makes little difference if a back is cut narrower or wider at the bottom of the armhole, because all parts lie near to their natural position, which they must assume when the garment is on the body. A narrower and a broader frock coat back, cut with the same gore and with the same height as in Dia. [II] is apt to change the fit and may spoil it entirely. Dia. [I], [II], [III] and [IV] show a different height of the back. In Dia. [I] the height of front is 9 and that of the back is 14⅜. In Dia. [IV] the height of back is 14 on line 9 in front. In Dia. [II] the height of back is 15, but at the junction of the back and the sidepiece the line is dislocated and turned up, 15 deg. along the back. In Dia. [III] the frock coat back is 14¼ above line 9, and the sack coat back is only 13½ above line 9, though both sack and frock coat backs are even, and the same, from top. The difference of distance, to the point, where both strike line 9 on the front is caused by the smaller frock coat back and the wider sack coat back at their junction, and that position must be well understood by a cutter, because most all diagrams sent out by Reporters of Fashions are laid out in position as Dia. [II], or nearly so, not because it is a true position, but, because all parts can be cut without piecing.
Now, it must be admitted, that the position of the front, the back and the sidepiece of Dia. [I] are nearer in position to the body, at, and around the waist, than Dia. [II] or [III], and though Dia. [I] is not in perfect harmony with the body, we must admit, that Dia. [II] and [III] are far more out of the way. It will be seen, that if the frock coat back of Dia. [I] were cut 1 in. wider at the junction with line 9 over the front, it would become ¼ shorter on top as soon as it was thrown in position of Dia. [II], and the variation would be still greater, if it were done on a broad sack coat back. Observe that the frock coat back in Dia. [III] is higher on and above line 9, but when both are thrown down and in at the waist and parallel with the front base, both will assume the same height. As long as all the parts are cut in the same proportion, it matters little or nothing in what position we place them on the cutting board, but it matters a great deal whether they are in the right position when on the body.
The angle of 135 deg. is always the same, and from it the shoulder slope is 22½ deg., but, if we take the square of 17½ and make calculations from that base, the shoulder slope is 30 deg., but the parts are all the same. As long as the diagrams are laid out in a square of 20, as Dia. [I] and [IV], the back may be made a trifle narrower or wider, and it will not endanger the fit of the garment, although it is always bad policy to change a diagram, and particularly a curved seam. A seam always represents something taken out, or something placed there, and a seam calculated for a certain point, and 1 in. one way or the other may make a decided change in the appearance, or in the fit.
The simplest garment is the vest as far as Merchant Tailoring goes; but simple as it is, there are seldom two cutters who produce it in the same way, and with the same result; and the same is true of coat and pants. This goes far to show that no true system of garment-cutting is in existence, or if it be, it is in the hands of cutters who do not know it as such, even by those who may use it—certain it is, that no such system is in print.