Page:The Girl Who Earns Her Own Living (1909).djvu/131

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Openings are to be found in both the retail and the wholesale establishments. In the large cities, each branch of the trade has two distinct seasons. The spring retail season in the workrooms runs from February 1st to May 30th. The fall season in the retail shop runs from August 15th to November ist. In the wholesale establishments the spring trade lasts from January 1st to March 15th, the fall trade from July 1st to September 30th.

The girl who would succeed in millinery must have deft fingers, a genius for combining colors, ambition, energy and a tremendous capacity for hard work. Before her rise five uncomprising steps which lead to the capstone of efficiency and the coveted position of buyer.

Having decided that she has the natural ability and the persistency to learn the trade, she will apply to the owner or forewoman of a millinery establishment just before the season opens, which means in the retail field about the first of February or the middle of August. If she has traded regularly at a certain store, and if her family has a personal friend employed in a millinery workroom, an introduction through such a medium is invaluable. If she is accepted as a learner or apprentice, she will spend the first season making bandeaux, the bands tacked under the crowns and brims of hats to give them the correct tilt or raised effect. Day in and day