London
Tailor Gowns
English
tailors are again making a praiseworthy protest against long
skirts - "scavenger skirts", they call them - for
street dresses to be worn in spring. The skirt they commend
escapes the ground, but is made as long as is possible without
touching. It is also fuller than the present scant skirt, the
seams in the back and of the front gore being less sloped toward
the top.
The
Seamless Skirt
A
novelty which promises to rival seamless waists is the seamless
skirt, which retains the popular bias back and straight front. It
is used, however, with London tailor gowns that have coat waists
fitted by darts and side-forms. The material for this skirt must
be forty-five inches wide, as the width makes the length of the
skirt, the selvages being at top and bottom. The bias back
(without a seam) is given by turning one upper corner down to the
foot on the left side, making a triangular half-handkerchief
shape; the other straight end is carried around the right side to
form the front, and coming back on the left side meets the
selvage edge of the triangular back and is lapped upon it, and
buttoned down its entire length. The top is curved out and fitted
to the figure by darts or gathers in front and on the sides, and
the point at the top of the back is also cut off to give greater
fulness. The lower edge is shaped to suit the wearer after the
skirt is fitted at the top. The flaring folds of the back are
very effective and the buttons far back on the left side may be
made very decorative. Plain fabrics and stripes are both used for
these skirts. They are lined throughout with silk or alpaca, and
there is no foundation skirt. A spring gown from London
made with seamless skirt is of rough-surface gray wool flecked
with white and black. The waist is bluntly pointed in front and
double breasted with coat-tail back. The front, fitted by two
darts each side has a lap to the left sewed on in the middle seam
from the high standing collar to the pointed end. This lap is
narrow below, and is buttoned by small crocheted silk buttons up
the first dart, then widens rapidly up to the left shoulder, the
widened parts being cut either in two or three sharp points, each
having a button-hole to meet a large crocheted button on the
waist. The collar band is high, close and bias. On the sides the
waist curves slightly to descend in the back in two narrow coat
tails lined with silk, and lapped toward the left. One or two
rows of stitching finish all the edges. The sleeves are of large
coat shape, trimmed at the wrists with two points holding buttons
of the largest size on the waist. The seamless skirt is lined
throughout with gray silk taffeta and has a pinked balayeuse of
taffeta. It is lapped far toward the back of the left side on a
"fly" band added to the back part of the skirt. The lap
is stitched near the edge and again three inches from the edge;
in the space between are large button-holes to meet buttons set
on the "fly". The foot is bordered with a bias fold of
material eight inches wide, attached by two rows of stitching at
the top.
With Jacket and Blouse
Other
spring suits imported from England have a jacket and skirt of
homespun wool, with a blouse or seamless waist of surah or other
silk. Thus a skirt of brown and white homespun is worn in the
house with a waist of dark brown satin surah made over a
whaleboned lining. The surah is lapped in pleats in the back,
showing no seams; the fronts are drawn down without darts to
leave a V-shaped space for a plastron of very wide hercules braid
embroidered with brown silk and jet beads. A short frill like a
vertugadin puff of the surah is below the waist, giving breadth
to the hips. A belt of the embroidered braid four inches wide is
shaped to curve around the waist above the frill or puff. A
collar band and the wristbands of the full sleeves are also of
braid. For the street a jacket is added of the wool of the skirt
lined with surah like that of the blouse. This is of a new shape,
with round waist, the skirt sewed on along the belt line and the
back having a box pleat down the middle, as flat as a Norfolk
pleat instead of in a flowing Watteau fold. The fronts do not
meet to fasten and are turned back at the top in a revers collar.
The coat skirt is of even length all around and about fourteen
inches deep. The edges are simply stitched. This model will serve
for street suits and for travelling dresses throughout the spring
and summer, and is commended to correspondents who have asked
details of such suits.
The
Russian Skirt
A
new device of the dressmakers gives the effect of a long Russian
blouse and is what was formerly called a double skirt. It is
simply a bell skirt lining covered with the dress material up
above the knees (from hem up) and bordered at the foot with a
ruche. Overlapping this from the belt down is a shorter skirt of
the material, shaped precisely like the lining and bordered with
a ruche like that of the foot. This upper skirt represents the
lower part of the long Russian blouse, and is worn with a round
waist with edges extending over the top of the skirt and
concealing the join. It is extremely pretty when made of black
India silk, with a ruche of box-pleated Brussels net or of velvet
ribbon bordering the skirts.
Trimmed
Skirts
Those who are tired of
plain skirts may like the jabot skirt, which is made on a
bell-shaped lining. The outer material is not sloped away at the
top of the back seam, but is arranged to fall in a jabot down the
bias seam of the lining. There are also Watteau skirts made with
a broad triple pleat in the back, flaring widely at the foot and
extending longer than the skirt at the top; this upper part
gradually narrows to a point and is carried half-way up the back
of the corsage, and attached there under a bow of ribbon or a
passementerie ornament. Wider trimmings are being used on bell
skirts, and new models have greater fulness at the top.....
Silk
Serge Tailor Gowns etc.
Black
silk serge too firmly woven to fray in the seams is being made up
in tailor gowns for spring. It is liked in severely plain styles,
entirely without trimming, with all edges finished with
stitching. Another feature is the use of India silks that are now
sold at low prices - from 50 cents to 75 cents - for simple
dresses to be worn in the morning in the summer instead of
zephyrs, ginghams and other cottons of fine quality. It is
claimed that cottons lose their freshness sooner than silks and
seldom look well after having been washed. This does not,
however, apply to the dainty lawns, dimity and organdies that
commend themselves by their thinness as silks can never do.....
For
information received thanks are due to Madame Barnes; and Messrs.
Redfern; Arnold, Constable & Co.; B. Altman & Co.; and
Wright Brothers & Co.
Entire
website © Copyright Ladies Treasury
2002
unless
otherwise stated
