Measuring for 1921 Butterick Patterns

Here we have more from "The New Dressmaker" put out by Butterick in 1921. These are the measurement guidelines you need, even for your doll. 

"It is absolutely essential that you buy your pattern by the right size. In no other way can you be sure of securing the perfect lines of the original design. The right size will save you time because it means there will be no unnecessary fitting. It will save your material. A size too large takes more material than you require while a size too small might make your dress unwearable. Insist on being measure each time you buy a pattern. New corsets or an unsuspected change of weight may have altered your bust, waist or hip measure. Before buying a pattern put on your best corsets and lace them properly. Wear a waist or dress that fits nicely. Never be measured in old corsets, over your coat, or in a clumsy dress or a negligee."

Altering Waist Patterns - 1921

"Altering Waist Patterns For Figures That Vary From The Average"

"For a Figure Broader at the Back than at the Front, for Square Shoulders, for Sloping Shoulders, for a Full Bust, for a Small Bust, for Round Shoulders, for an Over Erect Figure."

This helpful advice is from The New Dressmaker, The Butterick Publishing Company, 1921. "The New Dressmaker is the accepted authority on dressmaking and tailoring and the methods which it gives may be used whenever the current styles call for them"

Delineator Magazine - 1888 Hall's Bazar Portable and Adjustable Dress and Skirt Forms

"Endorsed and recommended by all Fashion Publishers as being a long-felt want admirably supplied."
And this must be true because:
"We consider these the most perfect Forms ever introduced, and cheerfully recommend them to our customers everywhere. THE BUTTERICK PUBLISHING COMPANY [LIMITED]"

MISS MEDDLESOME (to her mamma).--Ah! We have now discovered the secret or her gracefully draped dresses, which have been the envy or our lives. Look! She has HALL'S BAZAR FORM. We shall send for one at once! It can be adjusted to fit either of us.

MISS FASHION PLATE (soliloquising).-The effect Is simply charming. It would have been Impossible to produce this result without HALL'S BAZAR PORTABLE FORM. I can now make over and drape my own dresses and not become worn out standing for the dressmaker. This Form was a happy thought, and is worth more than Its weight In gold to ladies easily fatigued by standing.

Delineator Magazine - 1888 Pattern for a Donkey

This is a very realistic looking donkey!
"The parts are joined by seams which are so curved as to produce "a fine figger of a donkey"."

Delineator Magazine - 1888 Patterns for Dolls

We don't have the typical fancy girl doll and her fancy outfit. We get a boy doll, his sailor uniform and the nightgowns and underwear for babies and "Lady" dolls. But look at these. The details and the work..."may be trimmed as simply or as elaborately as little mamma desires".

Delineator Magazine - 1888 Electric Corsets, Florance Ladies' Waist and Madam Foy's Skirt Supporting Corset

So many choices! Go for "health and comfort" in a "Graceful Form" skirt supporter, use "An embodiment of hygienic principles in a Ladies' Waist", or even go Electric!

Delineator Magazine - 1888 Hats! Toques, Bonnets, Turbans

"The beauty of the materials this season - the "piece stuffs" as the milliners call them - has given special prominence to hats and bonnets with soft, full crowns. They can be made demure in cloth or quite gorgeous in gold brocade, and the trimming may be provided by dainty wings in gold or silver, loops of ribbon, fancy aigrettes or clasps, ect.

Feathers are arranged in coronet bands to encircle turbans, and they make a very handsome trimming. The golden pheasant, the merle and the peacock are robbed of their finest plumes to crown the chapeaux of womankind. The large hats obtain, but on a windy day a small closely fitting chapeau is a desideratum.

The capote in every possible size and outline finds many admirers. Probably the newest is that which has a brim not unlike the Directoire and yet retains the close, compact shape of the capote at the sides. The very close capote, however, is still worn by those who like it."

Delineator Magazine - 1888 Ladies Costume, Basque, Walking Skirt

I really encourage you to click on each picture twice, because I don't want you to miss any details. Then look for the differences in the two versions. It's amazing how different fabrics and trims change these.

The first two pictures (labeled 428 and 429) are front and back of the same Ladies Costume, Butterick 2360, also shown in two views below.

The third outfit (labeled 430) shows a Basque that is Butterick 2364, and a Ladies Walking Skirt which is Butterick 2363.

Art Of Dressmaking - Sewing Machine Advice - 1927

THE SEWING-MACHINE

"It may be taken as a matter of course that any one who does dressmaking has a sewing-machine, but many people own machines for years and never learn how much a sewing machine can accomplish, the many almost unbelievable things it will do and the real economy in its use.


Whatever make of machine you own, the company which made it is the best authority regarding its care and operation. Their book of instruction is your best aid in becoming thoroughly familiar with the machine itself, the places for oiling, the needed adjustments of needle, bobbin or tension screws, and especially with the various attachments that can be used for so many fascinating methods of finishing and trimming garments and accessories.


If you have bought a new machine, read the instruction book from beginning to end before using it. Then take a few pieces of material, thread up the machine and experiment. Try it out not only on plain stitching but with all the attachments, making yourself familiar with their possibilities.

If there are points you do not understand, after reading your book of instructions, ask the personal instructor at the shop where you bought the machine to help you; or, if you are not near enough for this, write to the manufacturer and explain your difficulty.


If you have had a machine for some time, but are not getting the best results, begIn is though it were new. Read the instruction book and then ask for any needed help from your local sewing-machine shop or from the manufacturer.

Sometimes just cleaning and oiling, tightening the belt, or readjusting the needles or tension will correct what seemed to be a serious difficulty; yet a small thing of this kind sometimes causes a machine to remain unused for long periods of time.


Keep your machine in a convenient place in the sewing-room so that it is always ready for emergency seams, for mending, and for the occasional readjustments of clothing that come so frequently, especially in homes where there are children."