CUTTING AND CHOOSING YOUR DRESS FABRIC

With a basic knowledge of how to draft a simple pattern and how to draft variations of design for any part of the pattern, we can now begin to think of the dress fabric.

In choosing your material you must keep several things in mind. Keep the style you have designed in mind. Remember to judge the dress fabric for its suitability as far as season, occasion, and the individual who will wear it is concerned.

HOW MUCH MATERIAL WILL YOU NEED?

The dress has been designed, the pattern drafted and cut — every necessary part, facings, bias bindings, pockets, trimmings, etc., have all been cut and marked.

First decide on width of dress fabric to be used, then lay all your pattern pieces on the same width muslin or paper exactly as it will be layed out for the final cutting. Make sure to place all your pattern pieces parallel with the straight of the goods. The amount of material you will need is exactly the amount you have used for laying out your pattern.

Special planning is required for stripes, plaids, prints, and material with nap. The additional amount of dress fabric needed will depend on the style and amount of matching required, and on the size and spacing of the fabric design. Generally fabrics with small designs will require 1/8th yard extra.

Medium designs, stripes, and small plaids —¼ yard extra.

Napped materials, large plaids and large spaced prints will require ½ yard or more extra depending on the design and style.

PREPARING MATERIALS FOR CUTTING

Before any cutting is to be done the dress fabric must be checked for shrink­age control. It is always best to shrink all cottons and woolens whether they have been preshrunk or not. This is best accomplished by immer­sion in tepid water and pressing dry through a cloth or by pressing the dry material with a damp cloth and steam iron. When pressing be sure to just press and not push the iron back and forth over the material — the latter will only stretch it out of shape.

Another important thing to do with all materials is to straighten edges. Firm materials can be straightened by clipping selvage and tearing.

Delicate materials require delicate handling. Some materials are impos­sible to tear — with these you will have to draw a thread across the dress fabric and cut along this guide.

Determine which side of the material you want to use as the right side: Washable materials usually come with the right side folded out.

Silks and Wools usually come with the right side folded in to prevent soiling.

Some materials may be used either side — use your own judgment as to which side is more attractive in finish, pattern, weave, etc.

Straighten grain of dress fabric by stretching on the bias from selvage to selvage. Press out all creases and wrinkles.

Pin selvages together to make certain the center fold will be directly on the straight of the dress fabric. Always fold your right side in. Extra pinning is required for plaids, checks, stripes, and smoothe slippery materials to prevent material from crawling and the design from creep­ing out of alignment.

When you lay out your material for cutting use a large table. Special cutting boards (folding) are available — these are especially good because they are marked for straight lines and right angles and fabric can be pinned to it to keep it in place.

CUTTING

Have all pattern pieces properly marked for straight of goods and for joining points. Place all pattern pieces on your dress fabric making certain that the straight of goods marking matches the grain of the material.

Use sharp, long scissors. Keep material and pattern flat on table. Don't pick up the material. Let the blade of the scissors lift only enough to enable cutting. Take long, clean strokes.

Before removing pattern from material, make sure that you have trans­ferred all the markings to the dress fabric. In a later chapter you will learn how this is done.

SPECIAL CUTTING PROBLEMS

MATCHING STRIPES

In preparing your material for cutting, pin stripes together. Have fold of material exactly in the center of a stripe or exactly in the center of the space between. If dress fabric has a tendency to crawl, pin stripes to­gether at varying intervals.

With no front opening in the dress design place dominant stripe at center of front and match the rest to this.

On openings stripes must be matched and appear unbroken.

Your second pattern piece with the opposing stripe marked on it is placed on the material, for proper placing, keep the shoulder seam on this piece turned back and move your pattern over the dress fabric until you match the stripes marked on them at the points where they cross the seamline. Pin your pattern securely at this point, unfold seam line — and this is ready for cutting.

HOW TO MATCH OTHER FABRIC DESIGNS

The same procedure can be used for matching stripes, plaids, or checks at any seam.

Plaids or checks have to be matched crosswise and lengthwise at the same time. Since there is always some difference in the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the fabric design in plaids and checks, always remember to match lengthwise design with lengthwise design and crosswise with crosswise.

With all such problems it is important to train your eyes and your judgment.

Cutting plaids or checks on the bias requires extra care. Fold your dress fabric on the true bias and pin at frequent intervals to keep the design in perfect alignment and symmetry on both sides.

When cutting sleeves on the bias of plaid material, cut each sleeve separately. Use the first sleeve cut as your pattern for the second sleeve. Place right side to right side and move sleeve on dress fabric until you have the fabric design exactly matches at all points.

Figured materials can be treated as plain materials unless the design is large and widely spaced. Under such circumstances you will have to place the various parts of your pattern on the dress fabric in such a way — always matching the straight of grain — that the design of the print will show on the finished dress exactly where you want it. With such careful planning and placing the fabric designs can and do contribute a great deal to the style of the dress.

DIAGONAL WEAVES

In the front, lines should travel from the left shoulder down to the right waistline.

In the back they travel from the right shoulder down to the left waistline.

NAPPED FABRICS, VELVETS, OTHER PILE FABRICS

Care must be taken in laying out your pattern that straight of goods of each pattern piece runs in the same direction. Richer effects are obtained by having the nap of the dress fabric facing or running in an upward direction, smoother effects with nap running downward.

KNITTED MATERIALS

As some knitted materials have a tendency to ravel at cut edges, it may be neces­sary to machine stitch around the edge of each piece you have to cut out.

SHEER MATERIALS

Chiffons and voiles and other sheer materials stretch very easily. To insure ac­curate size in cutting, it's worth the extra effort to pin or baste the entire dress fabric on thin tissue paper before laying out the pattern. Then after your pattern has been properly pinned, cut through the material and tissue paper at the same time. All bias edges have to be stay stitched either by machine or by hand to prevent stretching out of shape or size. In cutting straight edges in sheers it helps to draw threads for a more accurate guide.

LEATHER AND SUEDE

Leather and suede present special problems to the designer. To smooth out wrinkles, creases, and stretched out bumps — use a lukewarm iron (dry iron) on the wrong side and keep on pressing and gliding iron over it until the leather lies smooth. These materials have to be sewn with a larger stitch than usual. All the seams should be stay stitched with tape to prevent pulling and cutting through the skin.

Both leather and suede come in the shape and size of the animal from which it is obtained. For full size garments larger sections have to be pieced, therefore your design will have to be well worked out in advance to take this into considera­tion and to have the lines of patching form an integral part of the design.

important — do not pin leather or suede — Cut and fit your entire pattern accurately in muslin and after all alterations and fittings are as good as can be — use this muslin for your pattern in cutting out the suede or leather. Once your material is cut out — this is it — no changes can be made.

Lay your pattern pieces on the wrong side of the dress fabric, do not pin. Weight it down to keep it in place. Outline and put in all marks with tailor's chalk. Cut. Seam allowances need not exceed 1/4inch but neckline and armscye have to be stay stitched with tape to reinforce all points of possible strain and tearing.

In working with leather or suede — the first sewing has to be the final sewing. If stitching has to be removed and done over, the material will be weakened and cut by the needle, and unsightly markings will be produced.

FURS

Cutting of furs is very exacting, and delicate, and difficult, but if your design calls for fur trimming you will want to know how it's done. Follow the same pro­cedure for marking as you have done with your leather and suede. Place the fur side down and do all your marking on the skin side. With a sharp razor blade cut into the hide — but be careful not to cut into the fur itself. After you have finished this cutting procedure grasp the fur with both hands and firmly pull apart on each side of the cut

MARKING THE PATTERN PIECES

CHALK MARKING

Carefully lift pattern from cutting table to chalk board with muslin side up. With your tracing wheel trace over every marking, all sewing lines, and every cross mark. Use short firm strokes and lift wheel at each stroke so that dress fabric is not pushed out of place.

Remove from chalk board and check that all markings are clear. Remove muslin pattern, but don't unfold material. Place the opposite side on the chalk board and proceed to mark this side by tracing over the first chalked lines. Again check that all markings are clear and that you haven't forgotten any.

Don't knot the thread. Leave a tail piece and secure your thread with one or two back stitches. End your line of marking stitches in the same manner. Do not Knot. Never knot your marking or basting threads. You will run into less trouble this way when pulling them out later.

Begin and end each straight line of stitching in the same manner. Do not turn corners with a continuous thread. Break off your thread each time direction changes and start anew.

Cross marks take the place of notches. In making cross marks use a double thread, no knots, and no back stitches. Start with a tail, taking small running stitches, and end with a tail.

PIN MARKING

On light dress fabric when chalk marks will not show up very well pin marking is used. For very delicate materials on which pins will leave permanent marks use needles instead.

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