The Evening statesman. [volume], March 28, 1909, Image 13

About The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910

Image provided by: Washington State Library; Olympia, WA

                
SECTION
TWO.
4, + * + 4
ESTABLISHED 1869.
TMIS «
— sprimt 6
iailoeed"
WEA°B
A Smart Tailored Suit Always Good Economy—The Knack of
Cutting a Smart Skirt—New Coats Do Not Define the
Figure—Back Comes the Polonaise.
All the summer plans have now
been laid. Buyers have returned from
abroad with brains teeming with new
ideas and packing boxes heaped with
fresh, spring-like Paris wearables and
fabrics. Tailors here are prepared to
furnish next summer's costumes along
the prescribed lines and already van
guards of the coming styles are to
be seen, displayed in high class shops.
The woman who must study econ
omy in dress always does wisely to
provide herself early in the season
with a smartly made coat and skirt
suit. This costume renders her fresh
ly spic and span with the coming of
the tirst spring-like days and may be
worn all through the fall and when
summery togs have become passe and
it is not yet time for heavier rai
ninnt. Such a suit also proves a
reliable standby for little out-of-town
trips during the summer; for no wo
man in this changeable climate ven
tures fir from home without the pro
tection <>f an always neat suit, made
of something more substantial than
washable stuff.
Good Lines of First Importance.
1 he ( lit. or as the tailor deftly ex
presses it, "the line," of the coat and
f-k; rt suit is a far more vital matter
than the kind of material used. The
tailored suit of good meaterial will of
course wear through two seasons, but
what profit is the second season'®
wear if the style is hopelessly out of
date or the shape of the garment un
becoming? it is, equally of course,
wisdom to put money into fine ma
terial when one can, but in these
changeable times when styles vary
with bewildering rapidity, it is a ques
tion whether material that will wear
like iron is the chief desideratum.
After all the appearance of the coat
through one season is what matters
roost, and unless the lines are
hy a master hand i broadcloth at $3
a yard will scarcely be more satis
factory than humblej cheviot at a
third of that price.
Therefore, if economy must be ac
complished somewhere, let it not be
5n the tailor's price. If he is true to
SUNDAY UNION-STATESMAN
his ideals —and values his reputation—
he will cut his garment, not according
to his cloth, but rather in spite of
his cloth; and the desirable lines and
smart touches of his finished effort
wll attest his skill.
Making the Skirt at Home.
Some women compromise cleverly
on the tailored-suit problem by hav
ing the smartly built by an ex
pensive tailor and fashioning the
skirt themselves, or with the aid of
the home dressmaker. It takes a
clever knack, however, to cut and hang
a skirt just right—especially in these
days, when the allowance of material
is so scanty that every line is, so
to speak, in the limelight for criti
cism.
Moreover, the short, trotter skirt,
the accepted style for all tailored
suits except very ceremonious calling
costumes, is much more difficult to
manage than the trailing skirt whose
breadths of fabric hide discrepancies
of "hang" by their kindly amplitude.
If the skirt is to be made up at
home it will be wisest to avoid the
eccentrically cut models offered by
French fashion magazines and choose
instead a simple gored pattern with
good lines. The crafty home dress
maker knows a trick or two about
skirt patterns. She purchases a pat
tern two inches too small for her
actual waist measurement and then
cuts the back breadths that much
wider along the seams. This gives
the skirt a smooth, snug fit across
the figure in front while allowing suf
ficient fullness at the back to avoid
a scanty or drawn appearance. High
class tailors achieve this effect and
their skirts always hang gracefully
without too much fulness, while the
average "ready-made" or cut-from-a
paper pattern skirt is apt to bulge out
below the waist line in front.
Another tailor trick which the home
skirtmaker makes the most of is the
hot pressing iron. A very heavy iron
should be kept in the sewing room for
this purpose, and every inch of the
skirt should be gone over a thin,
damp cloth between the material and
the pressing iron. Only by thus
SUNDAY UNION-STATESMAN, WALLA WALLA, WASHINGTON, SUNDAY, MARCH 28,1909.
steaming and pressing the material
will a wool skirt be made to take on
crisp, tailored lines.
Another point that should not be
overlooked in making up such a skirt
is to have the same shade of sewing
silk used on both skirt and coat.
Many a cleverly-made skirt, worn be
neath the faultless tailored coat, has
betrayed the secret of its home con
struction by the shade of stitching
outlning its seams. Co-operation with
one's tailor upon this point should be
Insisted upon.
Spring Materials Are Satiny.
Fabrics with a rich, yet soft luster
have the palm for this spring; chiffon
broadcloths, satin cloths, the luster
finished serges over which Paris is
enthusiastic, prunelles, cheviots and
the heavy pongee silks will all be used
for servicable coat and skirt suits.
Perhaps the most desirable fagric
of all for the warm-weather tailored
suit is one of the lightweight silky
mohairs which come now in all the
smart shades. There is a new mohair
i
and wool mixture which, while it has
all the advantages of a wool fabric,
has not its weight. The mohair threads
on the surface give a lustrous finish
which is very much like silk. This
fabric like mohair, is ideal for trav
eling and motoring, as it sheds the
dust easily and is very light and com
fortable for warm weather wear.
A Three-Piece Suit on Practical
Lines.
Mohair in a cool navy blue color
was used for a smart little traveling
suit which is shown among today's
illustrations. The suit comprises a
three-quarter length coat and a prin
cess frock, the latter cut very simp
ly and trimmed only with braiding,
satin-covered butons and a graceful
little girdle. To match this neat cos
tume in which on warm days, one
might fare forth presentably without
a wrap, there is a loose coat, also
built on simple lines and trimmed
with braid and buttons. The coat has
plenty of roomy pockets—and every
traveling coat should have—and as
a means of still further dressing up
this, little suit for special occasions
there is a natty waistcoat of blue and
mauve flowered silk with fastening of
small gilt buttons.
A Khaki Suit of Sergo From Paris.
Khaki nowadays to everybody ex
cept the military man means a color
rather than a fabric. Khaki is a pe
culiar shade of sunny brown resemb
ling the soldierman's fatigue uniform,
but much richer in tone when develop
ed in silks, wools and other stuffs
of this character. Earth brown is an
other new brown shade. Indian is
still another and this latter color is
supposed to be the hue of the Indian
maid's cheek—a rich bronze brown
mixed with red. These three shades
blend together artistically and all will
be favorites for spring and summer
wear.
A three-piece suit of khaki serge by
Bernard shows the straight, undefining
lines which most tailors are favoring
now. This smart litle costume is
trimmed on both coat and princess
frock with very wide golden brown
silk braid, matching the khaki color
of the serge/ and across the front of
the bodice so that it shows under
the open lapels of the coat, goes a
".trip of Pharoah embroidery in ger
anium reds and brown tones picked
out with black.
This suit is matched by one of the
new Paris flower toques in bowl shape.
The crown of this hat is entirely cov
ered with bronze green foilage and
against the hair is a line of vivid
pink and red roses which repeat the
color emphasis of the embroidery on
the breast.
Being on the Safe Side.
The woman who is planning to make
m
her spring tailored suit do duty for
two seasons will do well to have it
cut on rather roomy, straight lines.
While the high Directoire waistline
will be in vogue through the coming
summer, its doom has been sounded
within the inner fastnesses of the
Parisian style citadel, and within six
months we shall doubtless see a return
to the normal waistline, and indeed
very likely to a waistline exagger
atedly long. Therefore the woman
who has a penchant for the short
waisted litle empire coat would best
purchase one of the models which
ir.ay be picked up at sacrifice prices
from far-sighted dealers; and not
have handsome material cut up into
these hard-to-alter proportions.
The Femme de Tube Must Be
Slender.
These long "sac" garments do not
define the figure at bust or hip, but
they make the wearer look very
slender indeed when rightly cut. The
extreme of this style, originated by
Redfern, has given to the wearer of
such a gown the name "Femme de
Tube." The tube tailored coat or
frock hangs exactly as might a
straight pillow case from bust to feet
and curves in even at the back but
a trifle. A certain skilful cut, how
ever, prevents the garment from look
ing in the least baggy or shapeless
and with every movement the outlines
of the wearer show beneath the
fabric.
A coat of white serge, shown among
today's photographs, is cut on these
tube lines, and as will be seen, the
lines are exceedingly graceful.
Lengthwise trimmings of braid and
lines of buttons accentuate the long,
tube-like effect.
White serge promises to be a favor
ite material for dressy summer suits,
and either white serge or white mo
hair will give very practical service
for mountain or seashore wear, where
the touch of additional warmth is
often most acceptable.
An Old-Fashioned Polonaise Revived.
From Cheruit, famous for his mas-
| terly treatment of simple effects,
| comes an interesting frock in "sac"
effect. This tailored costume of dull
sage green satin cloth buttons from
neck to hem with big covered silk
butons and the lines are extremely
beautiful and distinguished. The folds
from hip to foot are particularly
graceful and this frock, while not ac
centuating any part of the figure,
gives it a most graceful, natural out
line by the cut of the fabric. The
famous "Cheruit back" is noticeable —
the habit back breadth rounding up
over a fitted panel on the bodice.
Around the lower edge, and trim
ming the sleeves and turned-down
collar, is an old-fashioned garniture
which our grandmothers would rec
ognize in a minute as»the "rose
made of pleated silk with edges fring
ed out to imitate fur.
Naturally, the rose ruche is a capa
ble dust and microbe collector —es-
pecially when it is used —as in this
case, on a street suit; but this style
of trimming is considered just now
very chic in Paris and will no doubt
soon be seen on this side of the At-
lantic.
"Sac" frocks will be seen later in
tha summer developed in linen and this
simple one-piece style is particularly
well suited to linen fabric?. From
Cheruit, also, comes a fascinating
little sac frock of rose colored linen,
cut with a childish pinafore front,
whose belt straps cross demurely i j .t
the back of the waist over a straight
panel which extends from neck to
hem.
Cheruit also sends a dainty tw
niece suit of light gray striped mohj'r
most simply cut in the masterly style
of this tailor-wizzard. There is a
straight, gored skirt and over thi.-j
goes a three-quarter length coat on
almost straight lines. This coat is
lined with soft gray chiffon and the
effect is indescribably light, cool and
summer}'. There is no coat collar,
but around the neck and in panel ef
fect down the back is a trimming of
old-fashioned crewel embroidery done
by hand with worsted the same shade
a sthe pale gray mohair.
Such a suit, developed In a darker
.shade of mohair, might be worn all
summer for traveling and general
wear, yet the whole suit would be so
light that it could almost be drawn
through a bracelet.
More Libel.
"Why does .a woman always want
another woman to go shopping with
her?'
"She gets the other woman to makt
the selections, and then takes some
thing else."
EIGHT PAGES
FASHION NOTES.
Embroider a Tablier for the New
Gown.
Swinging stoles, or tabliers, richly
j embroidered or encrusted with beads
and weighted with fringe, are a fea
ture of new Paris frocks for cere
monious wear. One handsome cos
tume shows five of these tabliers
hanging over a satin gown and laced
together to give the effect of a tunic.
Over a black lace or net evening frock
a gold-embroidered tablier is very
stunning, and any woman could make
this dress accessory at home. The
tablier should hang straight from the
bust or high girdle and should be at
least four inches wide at its narrowest
part. The lower edge, near the foot,
is rounded off in broad tab fashion
and is weighted by fringe. The tab
lier is embroidered with soutache
braid or coarse silks and the Pharoah,
or Egyptian patterns are most pop
ular.
A New Way to Fast Dress Shields.
Every woman knows what a bother
It is to pin in fresh shields each time
a blouse cornea from the laundress,
and if stitches are used the trouble is
tenfold increased. An ingenius wo
man hit upon the device of hooking
her shields in. Tiny eyes were sewed
to the armholes of the blouse and
hooks to the shields. Care should be
taken, of course, to procure the non
rustable hooks and eyes which are to
be had in reliable makes.
How One Buys a Paris Petticoat.
French women dress daintly on
much less than their American sisters
spend. One way the Parisienne saves
pennies is on her petticoat, which she
may procure half made—or, at least,
all ready to finish. In the French
shops one picks up for 15 or 18 francs
—about $3 in our money—"la Jupe en
plisse," a pleated petticoat flounce at
tached to a deep yoke and finished
about the foot with a full ruche. This
garment is all ready to fit to the fig
ure by a seam down the back of the
yoke and pleating. A belt and hook
and eye will complete a dainty satin
petticoat suitable for wear under any
frock. For the same garment In
America one might pay a fabulous
sum of course, for the "bought
in Paris" halo. As for American
shopkeepers, they have never yet
thought of offering anything so alto
gether practical and desirable as the
"jupe en plisse."
Information Wanted.
Lady Clara Vere de Vere,
Help us guess.
When the spring time doth appear,
What of dress.
Will the waist line be this year
At the knees?
Lady Clara Vere de Vere,
Tell us, please.
Or wiU belts beneath the arms
Be the thing
To enhance a damsel's charms
In the spring?
Lady Clara Vere de Vere,
Help us guess.
When the gentle spring is here.
What of dress?
SECTION
TWO.
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