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.
