The department is divided into three sections: (1) The Elementary, which consists of two classes for the teaching of simple sewing and machine work. This section is rendered necessary by the poor preparation of the students at the entrance. It would be not only practical but desirable for elementary public and industrial schools so to train their students that they could omit this part of the Manhattan Trade School course. (2) The Vocational. This section also includes two classes. The work is tradelike in character, but much time has to be given to developing right habits of work as well as to learning specific kinds of handwork. The public secondary schools could offer this section to advantage, and through it train pupils for a better knowledge of the home or for future livelihood. (3) The Trade Section. This is a business shop, which reproduces trade conditions as nearly as possible and is subdivided into the same progressive divisions. Although the object is to work as trade does, the educational aim is also prominent, and the course of training has been planned with both ends in view. Order work plays an important part in this section, for it makes possible the quantity and variety of material necessary to supply the many repetitions of important phases of dressmaking, the new views of old principles, and the elaborate costume manufacturing which are needed in the training. It would be impossible for a school to adequately deal with the many varieties of garments in this trade without some equivalent for the order work. The use of models or of practice material is not satisfactory on account of the great difference between theoretical and practical knowledge in handling valuable materials. A girl may learn to run fine tucks on cheesecloth, but this will not enable her to do satisfactory hand-tucking on chiffon. Neither is it a correct educational or economic principle to cut up quantities of good material, which the students will look upon as "rags," and then, after working on them, to throw them into a receptacle for waste or sell them simply to get rid of them. To secure the best results in any line of instruction there must be interest and enthusiasm. The aim, therefore, must be definite and the results vital. The work is planned to foster these higher qualities. The students produce articles for a definite use; they are given a required time in which the work should be completed; trade itself sets the standard of judgment, and a definite relation exists between the work of all the classes, so that old principles may be recognized when presented in new forms.
Courses of Work
I. Elementary Section. (1) Beginners' Class. First, a test is given each girl when she enters which enables her instructor to judge of her ability in sewing. It has been found necessary, in the majority of cases, to teach all or the greater part of the following principles: the use of sewing utensils, the making of the stitches, their application in articles, and the running of the sewing machine. Hence the second step has been a course of work covering the use of these needed principles, each girl beginning at the point where she needs training. Third, the final test. On the satisfactory completion of this very elementary training a test is given to show a girl's ability to work, to think, and to utilize ideas. If she is not yet fully prepared, further time is spent in emphasizing the points she still requires.
The work in the Beginners' Class is done upon articles which have a trade value and which are sold to customers or to the students for about the cost of the materials. The school furnishes the materials for all elementary work, but the students must provide their own tools and keep them in good condition. These include a thimble, needles, scissors, a tape measure, an emery, and a white apron.
Class instruction followed by individual criticism is the method of teaching in the Elementary Section. Emphasis is placed upon the proper use of the utensils, the position of the body, and the handling of the work. Individual records are kept of the grade of work and of the time taken to finish a problem. The course takes from two to three months to complete, and the students are at work four and one-half hours per day.
Outline of Work in Beginners' Class
1. Stitches and special forms of sewing: Basting, running, overhanding, overcasting, hemming, blind stitching, sewing on buttons (two hole, four hole), buttonholes, featherstitching.
2. Seams: Plain; selvage and raw edges; French; felled; straight and bias edges; overhanded.
3. Machine stitching: Straight seams and rows; hems; facings—points; use of tucker.
4. Principles: Measuring, seams, hems, tucks, cutting by a thread; matching stripes; turning and basting hems; making casing for drawstrings; putting on band—by hand, by machine—one and two pieces; setting strings into bands; finishing ends of hems; putting on pockets—straight and shaped; plain placket; cutting bias strips; piecing bias strips; facing curved and straight edges (armholes, neck, waist, points); joining waist and skirt with bias facing; making straight tucked ruffle; inserting ruffle under tuck on skirt; ripping.