Cutting and draping

by John W. Stephenson

The cutting table should have a level, smooth top, and should be so situated that the operator can walk all around it. If covered with white table oil-cloth the measuring lines placed upon it from time to time can be washed off, and the top is always smooth and free from slivers.

The work table should have a good, clear, soft wood top, and should be permanently marked in feet, the first foot at one end being again divided and marked in inches. This is the table to which portières are tacked in making, as illustrated in the chapter on portières.

Fig 165

The pressing table should be of a convenient height for pressing, and should be padded to about the thickness that two layers of an ordinary blanket would give it, and then covered with clean white unsized cotton.

The drapery blackboard should be about 5—0 by 15—0, or larger, if convenient, so placed that the top of it can be easily reached. The use of this board has been referred to in the preceding chapters, and the illustration, Figure [163], gives further explanation of its purpose.

The test pole, which is also shown in Figure [164], is used to test the hang of portières before and after cording.

The opening can be set at any desired height, and the portières can be thoroughly examined before leaving the workroom.

The steamer shown in Figure [165] is used for steaming the nap of pile goods which have become crushed, the cross partitions A—A are tightly stretched pieces of heavy cotton which absorb the moisture, and the open top of the box is covered with several thicknesses of the same fabric. The steam enters the intake at X, and follows the direction of the arrows until it finally emerges through the top. The goods are drawn across the top of the box beneath the roller nap side up, and the brush roller is made to revolve so as to lay the nap in the proper direction while it is softened by the steam. The motion of both roller and goods should be steady and continuous from beginning to end, and should be slow or quick according to the amount of steam passing through the fabric.

The quantity of steam should be regulated so that it will just soften the fabric without making it wet. The hair of the brush should be short, even, and fairly stiff. The brushes used in carpet sweepers when joined end to end make good steamer brushes, or the roller can be covered with mohair plush, so that the nap forms a brush.