The New Dressmaker/Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
REMODLLING
Materials—Dyeing—Cleaning—Remodeling Waists—Skirts—Coats—Suits—Children's Clothes—Boys' Clothes
AT THE beginning of every season when you are planning your clothes, look over, your wardrobe and decide what you have that is worth remaking and will fill some definite place in your outfit. Do not make over any clothes simply because you have them. If you are not going to need them for the present brush them thoroughly and put them away carefully until you want them.
Things that are genuinely worn out should be thrown away or given to the Salvation Army. Do not try to make them over for they are not worth the time and effort.
MATERIALS—Wool materials that are too shabby to be made over can often be used for interlining Winter coats and jackets.
Wool materials and some silks that are shabby on the outside but comparatively fresh on the inside can be turned if the wrong side is nice looking. It may not be exactly like the right side but if it is presentable it can be used. Satin, plush, velvet and silks that have a design on one side only can not be turned for the wrong side is not wearable. Plush and velvet can be steamed to freshen them, remove the wrinkles and raise the nap. Silks and satins can be steamed to remove bad wrinkles. (Chapter 6, page 32.)
Small pieces of material can often be combined to make hats for children, or if suitable used for collar and cuff facings.
When combinations of materials are in fashion remaking is a simple matter. Wool materials can often be combined with satin, taffeta, foulard, or with plaid, stripe or check silk or wool materials. Silks, satins, plushes and velvets can be used with Georgette crêpe, chiffon, silk voile, lace, or tulle. Plush and velvet can also be combined with silk and satin. Gingham can be used with chambray, and the heavy cotton and linen materials with batiste, handkerchief linen, etc. In Summer materials one can usually combine white with a color, or a plain color with plaid, clieck, stripe or figured material. If one feels inclined to take a little trouble one can completely disguise a last year's suit or dress by changing it to another color.
DYEING is a very simple thing, but there are certain hard and fast rules in regard to it that must not be disregarded. In the first place you can not dye a silk or wool material with a dye intended for cotton and linen. Neither can you dye cotton and linen with a silk and wool dye. In the second place, you can't change dark colors into lighter ones. In the third place, the material must be prepared carefully for tlie dyeing. If there are any grease spots or stains they should be removed as thoroughly as possible. (Chapter 34.)
Afterward the material should be washed for two reasons. The first is, that if the material is put into the dye soiled, the dirt will mingle with the dye and the result wiil be muddy instead of bright and clear. The second is that as much of the old dye should be taken out or "discharged," as it is called, as possible. Otherwise it will be impossible to predict how the mixture of the two dyes will turn out.
Cottons and silks can be washed in soap and boiling water, but it is not safe to use soap to any great extent on wool materials, as it softens the wool. Boil the materials about half an hour, changing the water as it becomes discolored. Keep up the washing until the water remains clear — a sure sign that all the dye has been discharged that is likely to do any harm.
It is best to dye the material while it is still wet from the washing as it absorbs the dye more readily and more evenly in that condition. Be sure to follow the directions given with the dye you use. A good reliable dye compound will be accompanied by explicit directions, which you must take care to follow. You must be especially careful in picking out a dye that will suit your material. White, of course, can be dyed any color. Pale shades can be dyed darker or changed into other slightly deeper colors. A material of one color dyed with a dye of a second color will emerge from the fray an entirely different shade from either. For instance, if you dye a yellow material with a light blue dye, you will get green; while the same light blue over light red makes purple, and over light green makes peacock. A dark blue dye over brown makes navy blue, and over yellow, bottle green. A brown over blue makes dark brown; over green makes olive brown; over red makes seal brown. There are dozens of combinations and variations of colors that one can bring out by a clever combination of dye and material. One should go back to the old safeguard of experimenting first and doing the actual business afterward.
After you've dyed your material, take it out of the dyeing fluid and hang it up until it is nearly dry. Then rinse it out in clear water to prevent its cracking. If a material has been dyed black, do not rinse until it has dried thoroughly. It will leave it, a better color. If you do not dye your material, clean it carefully. Directions for removing spots, stains, etc., are given in Chapter 34, pages 157–159.
REMODELING should be done with as much care and interest as you would give to making a new dress. Otherwise your dress, etc., will look "made-over" and you will be dissatisfied and half ashamed of it. If you do it skilfully you will enjoy the remade dress as much as if it were really new.
Before remodeling look over the Delineator and the latest editions of Butterick Fashions and consider your dress from the standpoint of the new styles. See exactly what it will need to bring it up to date. It must have the right sleeve and collar and the skirt must be the correct width and length. The waistline must come at the right place. Don't wear a high, Empire waistline when a low or normal waistline is the vogue. Don't wear a belt that gives you a pinched-in waist when a wide waist is in fashion.
Be sure that the collar is not only the right size and shape but is absolutely fresh. Collars get hard wear and a collar that is still good style might be worn and shabby. It should be replaced. The same thing is true of chemisettes, undersleeves, cuffs, etc.
If the dress is to be entirely remodeled, rip it apart with a sharp knife or pointed scissors. Do not stretch the material, especially at the neck and armholes. Brush the seams carefully, and remove all clipped threads. If the material has changed color, use it on the reverse side if possible, even if the weave is slightly different.
It should be cleaned if necessary and thoroughly pressed so that it can be cut exactly as if it were a new material.
After the material has been thoroughly freshened—washed, pressed or dyed—lay it out on the new pattern and see if it requires piecing. If piecing is necessary, make the seams fall in places where they do not show or when- they can be covered with trimming.
IN MAKING OVER A WAIST it is sometimes necessary to use new material; but when chemisettes, yokes and half-sleeves are in fashion, you can use net, lace, chiffon, etc. In remodeling a waist or dross, put it on a bust form and stuff out the sleeves with tissue-paper. Look it over to size where it requires alteration.
Put the lining on, and then drape the outside over it after you have cut it according to your pattern. By using fancy trimming-pieces, collars, yokes, etc., you can almost always model a waist so that the piecing will never show. Lace or net for yokes, chemisettes, etc., can be dyed the color of the dress either at home or at a regular dyeing establishment. Lace can be dipped in tea to give it a rich cream color that can be made lighter or darker according to the strength of the tea.
REMODELING A SKIRT is an easy matter if the new pattern is narrower than the old skirt. In that case it is only a question of recutting; but if the pattern calls for more material than you have in the skirt itself, you will have to do some piecing or combine with new material. Braided bands covering the skirt seams are an excellent way of increasing the width of a skirt. Or you can raise the skirt at the waistline, refit it, and add to it at the bottom by a band or a fold. Or it may be pieced at the bottom and the line of piecing covered by wide braid, bias bands, etc.
Linen or Piqué Skirts can often be lengthened by bands of embroidery insertion or by bias bands of the material. These skirts are very apt to shrink around the hips. They should be ripped from their belts, raised and refitted. They will have to be lengthened.
COATS—Coats should be remodeled by an up-to-date pattern. If they require piecing, try to let it come at a seam and cover it with a stitched or braided band.
Coats of fur fabrics that have become shabby can often be cut down into coatees when they are in fashion, or into children's coats. When they are too badly worn to remake in that way there are often unworn portions that can be used for neck-pieces and muffs, or for collar and cuff facings for a coat or suit.
Suits are apt to wear out in the skirt first. In a suit of a plain colored serge, gabardine, twill, velours, taffeta, satin or linen, a new skirt can often be used, made of the same material in a plaid, check or stripe. If the suit material harmonizes with the jacket you will have a very smart-looking costume. The great French dressmakers frequently make new suits in combinations of this kind. Sometimes the skirt material is used for collar and cuff facings on the coat.
REMODELING FOR CHILDREN'S CLOTHES—Quite frequently it is easier to cut down a coat suit for one of the children than to remodel it for the mother. But do not use a material that is old and somber for a child, without relieving it by a trimming that is bright and youthful-looking. A black-and-white pin-cheeked wool or a dark serge is apt to make a dull frock for a little girl, but if it is trimmed with bands of contrasting material in a suitable color it becomes childish-looking and pretty.
CHILDREN'S CLOTHES—Children grow so fast that the problem of remaking generally includes lengthening and enlarging.
One—piece dresses can often be lengthened by dropping them from a yoke which gives them new width in the shoulders and also gives them new sleeves.
Skirts can be pieced under tucks, folds, bands, flounces, etc. They can also be dropped from an Empire waistline to a normal waistline or they can be lengthened by a band at the bottom. When middy blouses are worn over a skirt, the skirt can be pieced at the top to lengthen it. The blouse will hide the piecing.
Frequently children's dresses can be made into jumper styles. New blouses will give new sleeves and new width through the body.
In making over half-worn garments into presentable and at the same time durable clothes for boys, such as suits, reefers, and overcoats, a tailored finish is the first requirement. It means neat work, even stitching and careful pressing. For the pressing you will need heavy irons, evenly heated, and a piece of unbleached muslin that can be dampened and laid over your work.
In ripping apart the old coat or suit that is to be remodeled for your little son, notice carefully all the small devices of interlining, canvas and stitching that the tailor used in making the garment. You can repeat many of them in your own work. If you use the old canvas and find that it has grown limp, you can restiffen it by dampening it thoroughly and ironing it with a heavy iron thoroughly heated. Full directions for making boys' trousers are given in Chapter 36, "Boys' and Men's Clothes," and Chapter 22, "Pockets." Chapter 12, on "Coats," will give you the additional information you will want for finishing the jackets or overcoats.