Garment cutting in the twentieth century

by Günther F. Hertzer

Now, suppose we permit the coat to be loose under the chin, and button one or two lower buttons. In this case we shall find that the coat will fit in the back of the waist, but at the neck it will be too loose and will gape all around the front. If we gather the wrinkles together in front we can make the breast fit the form, although the top of the back may be too short. So we can make our alteration on the spot again, always providing, however, that we are altering the pattern only, by starting at the front sleeve nick and laying a fold forward to the amount of whatever the fullness of the coat may indicate. This again will alter the pattern from that direction. It makes the front shorter in place of making the back longer. This last is the most reasonable way to alter a coat for the stooping form, for it must be remembered that in both erect and stooping forms the change proceeds from front to back, and at the waist.

The backbone is solid, although it bends, but it never becomes longer or shorter on the same form. If the body throws itself forward into a stooping position, the back bends and the front contracts at the pit of the stomach. If the body throws itself upward in a more erect position, the back bends the other way and the front expands at the pit of the stomach. The front only expands or contracts at the pit of the stomach. The backbone must be considered a hinge on which the whole body swings, just like a door on its hinges; and all alteration may be made from that point, either by stretching some parts or by folding up the pattern before the garment is cut.

If a stooping form throws his arms forward, then the armholes must be further forward of the front sleeve base. But in that case the front sleeve base must be just as much advanced. And again: Whatever the front of the armhole has been advanced must be added to the back of the armhole, for a stooping form has no larger arm than an erect form. The armhole must be moved forward, but made no larger.

This constant backward and forward movement of the neck, waist, and shoulders is one of the greatest studies any cutter will be obliged to go through, as it is, in fact, the only variation to be found in the normal form which cannot be measured, but must be taken by the trained eye of the cutter, and his practical knowledge of how to alter. Actual measurement, by whatever measure or name it may be called, is a delusion, for all so-called long or short measures around the shoulders, neck and arms must be taken close over a body which we do not intend to fit as snugly as the measure itself. As a rule, said measures are seldom applied, or transferred to a flat pattern on the same line as they have been taken over the form itself.

For illustration, we will examine the so-called upper shoulder measure, from the top of the center of the back to around under the arm and back again to the place of beginning. Said measure is always to be taken close, because any slack would again cause great variation in the hands of different cutters. By taking it close the tape will not strike the body of the coat under the arm at all, because the armhole is lower than the body itself, but the tape pulls the sleeve up and passes above the armhole. If cutters will go to the trouble and make a line on their patterns over which they transfer that measure, and then draw stitches in, they will find that when the coat is on the body they cannot even follow said stitches with the tape line, unless it is fastened every few inches. If that be the case, what good is the measure? If that measure is to do a cutter any good he must be able to follow a certain trail on the pattern, as he does on the coat when on the body, but that cannot be done. There is no one so blind as he who does not want to see.

If the pit of the stomach contracts or expands, that is no proof that the shoulder and arms also draw out of their normal position. If the breast measure be taken correctly, as directed in this work, passing over the point of the shoulder blades, then the round shoulders of a stooping form, and the flat ones of an erect form are included within the measure. Consequently nothing can be added to the blade for a round back nor taken away for a flat back—the change must be above or below, notwithstanding the appearance of Dia. [II B]. The round back requires his armhole more forward, and what is taken out in front of the armhole is again allowed on the back, making the back broader. If the back of the armhole is not supplied with what is taken out in front, the under and back sleeve will drag and pull backward. Because the stooping form may throw his arm forward, is no indication that his arms becomes larger, but it demonstrates that his armhole must be located more forward.

But again: Because a man is stooping is no indication that his back must be round. A man may throw his neck downward in front, but may also throw his arms backward, and stand very erect in the waist. Such a form requires his neck hole downward in front but does not require his armhole forward. The front and back of the armhole may be located as for the normal form, or even for the erect form.

Further: Because a man is classed among the erect forms is no proof that his back must be flat. We find plenty of so-called erect forms who throw their arms forward, and their backs become very straight in length.

The terms normal, stooping and erect are very indefinite, and I do not believe that any man is, or ever will be able to describe a stooping form alone in all its variations and combinations. All that can be done is to point out certain forms; and the cutter who starts out on his cutting tour through life must always be on his guard, and study his customers, and imprint their forms upon his own brain.

Now, as the breast measure contains the full size of a round as well as a flat shoulder blade, we must come to the following conclusion: That the stooping form requires simply more length in the back, or less length over the front, and years of experience teaches me that ½ to ¾ extra length over the blade is enough for the extreme stooping form, but such a form requires its length in the center of the back, or from the blade upward; and whatever the back is made longer on top must be shortened at the front, as is shown in Dia. [IX], which illustrates the long as well as the short neck, and also the stooping form.