Vincent The Cutter's Practical Guide, Part 6

Ladies' Garments
2. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-3-7693-8712-4
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 6, 152 Seiten

Reihe: Cutter's Practical Guide

It is now about three years since we added a new part to "The Cutter's Practical Guide Systems" in the form of a Work on ladies' tailor-made garments. Not only has a large Edition been disposed of, but a number of the styles which were then popular are now out of date. In preparing this new Edition, a number of what are now regarded as old styles are deleted, and the new and popular styles of the period take their place. The Work is based on the "Guide" System, and was originally prepared to meet a two-fold want or demand - an instructor and guide to the production of all the new and popular styles in tailor-made garments; and also the demand for such a work by the Practical Guide System. The Work itself will bear testimony to its scope, and the way in which every current, as well as new style of Ladies' Tailor-made Garment is treated and illustrated. Here we have the systems for producing the garments, each illustrated by beautifully engraved diagrams; and there is, further, the finished garments, illustrated upon artistically engraved figures. The Work thus presents a completeness which renders it an invaluable acquisition to the ladies' cutter. We doubt not but this new and latest Work will fully sustain the character we have already attained by the Works now being published at the TAILOR AND CUTTER Office.

W.D.F. Vincent began his career as an apprentice with Frederick Cooper in Yeovil. After completing his training, he briefly established his own businesses in Oxford and later in Maidenhead as a clothier and tailor, though neither venture was financially successful. While in Maidenhead, Vincent won an essay competition on tailoring, which was open to all members of the National Federation of Foremen Tailors, titled "The Great National Work on Trouser Cutting, or Defects in Trousers." He submitted his entry under the pseudonym "Oxonian" and won the first prize. This success led him to secure a position with The Tailor and Cutter magazine. In the early years, Vincent contributed numerous articles on tailoring methods and techniques to the magazine. However, due to the terms of his employment, these articles were published without attribution to him. By the 1890s, Vincent became a leading tailoring authority. His books, such as The Cutter's Practical Guide to the Cutting & Making of All Kinds of Trousers, became a standard reference work. By 1917, Vincent referred to himself as a journalist. The Tailor and Cutter magazine and academy were operated by John Williamson & Co Ltd. In the 1950s and 1960s, many tailors displayed their Tailor & Cutter Academy Diplomas, signed by W.D.F. Vincent, as the Chairman of Examiners, as a centerpiece in their shop windows. One such example can still be seen on display at the Museum of Welsh Life at St. Fagans in South Wales. Website: https://www.becomeatailor.com

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vincent, W. D. F.

Leseproben

THE

CUTTER'S PRACTICAL GUIDE

TO CUTTING

All Kinds Of Ladies' Garments

MADE BY TAILORS

The object we set before us in this work, is the preparation of a Complete Instructor and Guide in the production of all Ladies' Garments, which may be classed as "tailor-made", not only as regards the cut, the fit and the making, but embracing also all the new, the current and popular styles, in all their different classes and departments — an Instructor to the inexperienced and a Guide to the experienced cutter. While tailoring has been largely augmented during recent years by Ladies' Garments, this comparatively new branch is capable of very considerable further development, which can only be accomplished by cutters generally setting themselves to study and acquire the Art of Cutting and getting up Ladies' Garments — an art in most respects widely different from the production of gentlemen's garments, and which must receive special and attentive study before success can be possible. This work will supply the necessary materials in every detail for such study. Starting at the beginning, with anatomy of the female figure we proceed step by step till we embrace every point connected with the production of Ladies' tailor-made garments, in all their styles and varieties, so that by application and perseverance, any cutter of ordinary tact and intelligence, can find the foundation for his study, and which by practical application in daily experience, will enable him to master this art, and, as cutter, to take any position in a high-class trade; or, as master, to develop his trade by the making of ladies' garments, turned out with such fit, taste and style as will be well-nigh certain to ensure success.

Such, briefly, is the aim and object of this work. There must be a continuous study on the part of the cutter, for fashions change so rapidly, onestyle succeeds another so speedily, that unless he is on the alert, he will soon drop back into the second rate; for it is well known that ladies make a study of dress; they not only know what is the latest style, but they also understand every appli-cation of art, and very often some of the laws of science. They will often tell you where the seams of their garments should be placed, and they know the effect certain styles of ornamentation will have on the body; and woe to the reputation of the man who leads them in the wrong direction; and although we do not wish to impute that, with all ladies, dress is the one end and object of their life, yet they study it, they read about it, they write about it, they talk about it, they think about it, they attend public institu-tions to look at it, they work for it, aye, and often deny themselves the common neces-saries of life to procure it. Our object in mentioning these facts is to show the cutter who hopes to become first-class at this branch of tailoring, the necessity there is for application and study, to become acquainted with science in all its teachings, so as to apply it to his calling; to thoroughly under-stand the application of art in all its fine studies, so as to utilise its lessons to the adorning of the female form; to understand the phases of practical tailoring, which enables form to be introduced into what was before flat and lifeless. We might proceed almost indefinitely to show how know-ledge was power in this direction, but we will take the various phases in their order, and leave the student to follow up the study of many of the subjects which we may only be able to touch lightly in dealing with them. To understand our subject thoroughly, the first phase we must deal with is

Anatomy,

A subject deserving of more attention from tailors than it receives. It is a study which recalls to us the laws of our Divine Creator when he fashioned our bodies. It is not necessary that our readers should spend months or years acquiring the name of all the bones of the human figure; what we want them to understand is, that a bone of such a shape is in such a position, and that its movements are in certain directions; that is surrounded by certain muscles which develop in certain directions; and, having acquired this knowledge, the cutter will be able to distinguish between the possible and impossible in nature, and so lay the foundation for formulating sound systems. It will enable him to understand the outline of the form he has to clothe, independent of such artificial appliances as bustles, crinolines, &c, &c.

It teaches the symmetry of the body, and shows how the left side is an almost exact reproduction of the right only in reverse.

It teaches where growth is possible and where impossible; how certain bones always remain near the surface of the skin, and how, when the body develops either fat or muscle, where the increment is placed and how it affects the surrounding parts. teaches the movements of limbs, where the three different joints are to be found, viz., 1 the gilding, the universal or ball socket and the hinge joint.

But the study that applies more particularly to thiswork, is what we may term comparative anatomy, by which we may realise the difference between the male and female form, and as we have treated of Anatomy in Part 1 of the "Cutter's Practical Guide", we will suppose the readers of this work have made themselves, to a certain extent, acquainted with the general anatomy of the male form. On

Figure 1

The female skeleton is illustrated, and on figure 2 the male. By comparison we at once notice the smallness of the ribs and the largeness of the hips, whilst the space between the chest and pelvis (hips) is much wider in woman than in man. The collar bones are weaker in woman than in man, and are differently shaped, which remark applies to all the bones of the superior extremities 2 .

The ribs of the female are not so arch-like nor so strong as in the male.

When the bones are quite characteristic, the male are more arched than the female ribs, especially between the fifth and ninth on either side. It is there that the female ribs are flattened, and it is in this situation that the female waist exists. In man, when strongly formed, the ribs continue fully arched, much lower down, placing his waist between the last rib and the top of the haunches.

In man the back is strong; in woman the loins.

But probably the part where the tailor will learn the best lesson is the hips, as it will soon force itself to his notice in practice how very much more the hips are developed in the female form than the male. Another reference to figure 1 and 2 will readily illustrate this; of the male pelvis we shall not particularise, but of the female we wish to call attention to the fine oval form it presents as compared with the male, the great breadth of the haunch bones, &c. It is this great breadth of the hips in woman, that the ladies' tailor has to observe and make provision for, and which, together with the other peculiarities of the female skeleton, will open his eyes to the reason for many of the effects he has to deal with. Important as is the study of anatomy as a foundation upon which to build up a scientific and practical knowledge, we do not wish to overlook the undisputed fact, that the skeleton bears but an indistinct resemblance to the outside, the muscle and flesh formation having much to do with that. But a little study will soon inform us where and how these muscles develop, and as we know the bones never really alter their actual forms (though they seem to do so by the condition of the surrounding muscles) and consequently a knowledge of the skeleton formation is the very best foundation we can possibly have. In

Figure 3 and 4

Plate

Anatomy - The Male and Female Form.

Plate

Anatomy - The Male and Female Form.

we have illustrations showing the proportions of man and woman, taken from a manual of artistic anatomy by Robert Knox, M.D., F.R.S.E., which still further emphasises the lessons we learnt from the skeleton. The shoulders are small, the circumference of the chest is increased by the development of the breasts, the extra size of the hips and thighs, and lastly, the softness of outline, which seems to hide every trace of the skeleton, and even tones down, and in many cases altogether hides the muscular development which is so clearly marked in man.

We cannot close this section on anatomy without referring to one of the best works published in modern times; it is by J. Bononi, F.R.A.S., M.S.B.A., entitled, Proportions of the Human Figure, and from which the following diagrams and quotations of relative proportions of the human figure are taken. Amongst the various difficult questions which are always cropping up in connection with our art is: What is proportion? and on this topic we give the definition of proportion as laid down by Virtrivius. "Proportion is the commensuration of the various constituent parts with the whole, on the existence of which symmetry is found to consist". As, for instance, the human frame is divided into four equal parts by very distinctly marked divisions in its structure and outward form. See,

Figure 5

Firstly. From the crown of the head to a line drawn across the nipples, as at 3. Secondly. From the nipples to the pubis as from 3 to 4. Thirdly. From the pubis to the bottom of the petella, as from 4 to 5. Lastly. From the bottom of the petella to the sole of the foot, as from 5 to 6. Again, four measures equal in themselves, and likewise equal to those just described, and as well marked in the structure of the human body, are seen when the arms are extended...