Fashion and Things Feminine.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 20, 12 March 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

Fashion and Things Feminine.

By IDA M&LLER

- - Copyright.

A SIMPLE HOUSE-DRESS. Dressmaking for those who incline towards the simpler of fashion's models was never easier than it is to-day. What with two-piece skirts and one-piece ficcks, dresses are quickly run up on fashionable lines. The chief difficulty that young dressmakers seem tc experience is in draping a skirt in ;; way' that leaves a smart effect and allows easy walking at the same time. But even the skilled dressmaker sometimes fails in this regard, the fashionable skirt often being a very uncomfortable one, a point, however, that the ultra-smart woman does not seem in the least to object to.

A simple style, that is typical of the house-dress that almost every woman will find to her liking, is illustrated. Tho skirt is draped in a way that leaves the hips plain, the folds proceeding from

the front and back of waist, but leaving the immediate centre of each plain, like the hips. The placket of the skirt is at the left-front.

This is a dross that might be made up in the one-piece style, or with skirt and bodice quite separate. The latter is of the magyar tvpe, and fastens in front, where it is trimmed with a row of bis, round buttons. Those might he purely ornamental, the bodice actually fastening invisibly with press-studs, or they might be for use as well as ornament. At the waist is a sash of folded satin-ribbon, and the neck and wrists are frilled with muslin. For the development of the dress, elephant-grey, sase or rose-coloured cloth would be a good choice.

THE SKTRT FOP EYERY WOMAN

A plain skirt of the tailored kind is what every woman's wardrobe must possess, a skirt to he worn with shirtblouses and sports coats and made probablv of serge, cloth, tweed, or freize. The styles that suggest themselves for the useful, everyday skirt are the twopiece and throe-piece models, the latter including a panel-back, while with the former the seams may lie at the sides of the skirt or in the immediate centre, hack and front. The two-pioec skirt with seams over the hips, and arranged with buttons and buttonholes on the lower part, so that the seams can be left open at the front (a verv convenient method when a narrow skirt is chosen") is one of the simplest and best naterns among tailored

modes, and is so easy to deal with that the amateur dressmaker should experience no difficulty in coping with it. A skirt of this sort is illustrated, and may be specially recommended as a simple, 'smart style "for house and street wear. , . . .

The paper pattern of the skirt is in two parts, representing half tho hack and half the front. As will he seen from the sketch, the skirt closes on the lower part with buttons and buttonholes. This same effect occurs at right

and left of skirt, tho small back view sketched showing the right seam buttoned to the foot, while in the larger sketch of front of skirt the left seam is seen partially unbuttoned. To make tho skirt for an average figure, two-and-a-half yards of 44-48 inch stuff are needed.

The diagram shows the two pieces of the paper pattern. These should he laid on the material folded in half, lengthwise, the straight edges of front and back being laid to the fold, so that the whole front and whole back of skirt

are each cut out in a single piece. The waist is of the corselet type, and may be worn with or without a belt. The front of the skirt fits tho figure plainlv, but a little easing is admitted to the'waist at the back, and here a small waisietrap might be added if desired.

In making up the skirt, a placket must l>e arranged in thr. left seam, from the waist to the usual depth; then the waist to the usual depth ; then the seam must lie stitched to within a few inches of the foot. The right seam requires no placket. The front is joined to the back of skirt with lap-seams, at least half an inch of turn-under being allowed for the lap. The edges of back of skirt must lie made neat with facings, in order that the unbuttoned foot of the skirt presents a nice appearance.