3933. A French dressmaker uses little or no bone—that is, the splints are so thin as to bend and give to the outline, and to every motion of the figure. The fit should not be made to depend on a stiff fencing of whalebone, the thickness of an old-fashioned busk. If it does not fit nicely without any bone, it never will fit with. This is true of low-bodied evening dresses in particular, the only dresses which at present have long points to the bodice.
3934. The basque, properly speaking, is the short skirt or flap, of the body. They require a paper pattern, which can be furnished to any distance by those establishments who make patterns a business. There are several such in New York and Philadelphia.
3935. It is a good plan to fit the jacket lining to the figure first, before you cut into the material. They should always be left loose to the figure; the whole effect being destroyed if any seams are drawn tight.
3936. Flounces.—It will take the same quantity of material if cut either on the straight or the cross. It is a common error to suppose they take more on the cross.
3937. For the fullness of a flounce allow one width on the cross to one width on the straight of your skirt; so that if you have six widths in your skirts, you will have six widths in your flounces on the cross.