Victorian London - Publications - Etiquette and Household Advice Manuals - Cassells Household Guide, New and Revised Edition (4 Vol.) c.1880s [no date] - Children's Dress (1) - Clothing for Infants - (2) - (3) - (4) - (5) Children's Clothing - (6) - (7)

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Volume 1

[-33-]

CHILDREN'S DRESS.- I.

CLOTHING FOR INFANTS. 

ALMOST any amount of money may be spent on the decoration of the various articles of an infant's clothing. Embroidery and lace are both lavishly used, and the finest materials are purchased by many mothers who are rich enough to pay for their fancies in this respect. We would advise the young mother to avoid needless display, even though able to afford it. All purchases should be made at a good shop, where the articles sold may be relied on. All ostentation is vulgar, besides which babies are sufficiently attractive to need little adornment; and there is more elegance in simplicity.

    The clothing absolutely necessary for a baby may be£ supplied at a small cost if the mother be able to make up the materials at home, and so save the cost of the making. 
    Materials.-Purchase an easy-fitting thimble of steel, lined with silver; it is well worth what it will cost. Have two good pairs of scissors - one pair of large ones, worth about three shillings, and a fine embroidery pair that will cost 1s. 6d. It is always a good plan to have an old or common pair kept where any one can have free access to them, because this saves good scissors. Be very careful to have good needles and cotton; sewing-machine cotton is the best made. Always have a lead pencil - an HB is the most useful - and a penknife in the work-basket. One of those covered baskets that stand on legs is the most useful to hold work, and costs four or five shillings. A large work-basket to hold materials is also needed. Procure fine cotton [-34-] and fine needles for babies' work; needles Nos. 8 and 9 should be used, and the best cotton, in about three sizes. An emery cushion is also useful. Do not commence work without a good leaden pin-cushion, a yard measure, and plenty of pins. If you employ a machine, the cotton used will be finer than that quoted, which is suitable for hand-work.
    We are aware that there exists amongst some ladies an unfounded prejudice against the use of the machine for under-clothing, especially for that of babies. But exquisite work can be done with the better class of machines; quite suitable for the work in question, on account of the very fine cotton used in them.
    We wil1 commence with a list of articles required for the baby's outfit:-

    To Cut and Make a Baby's Chemise.-Half a dozen little chemises are the first requisites for an infant's toilette, to make which it will be necessary to purchase a yard and three-quarters of lawn at 1s. 6d. a yard; the lawn should measure twenty-eight inches wide. Cut this up in six lengths of ten inches each. To cut the material accurately, measure ten inches on each side with a yard measure, put a pin at each place, fold the stuff across, and crease it quite flat ; pin it to a leaden pin-cushion. Take one of the ten-inch strips to make the first chemise, and fold it in three -see Fig. 1. The folds C C should be cut for the arm-holes, and at A A and B B shorter cuttings should be made for the shoulder-straps. Fig. 2 shows the flaps of the back and front turned down. The corners B and C should be put together-run and felled-preparatory to the insertion of the sleeve. Fig. 3 represents merely an oblong strip. When the corner, marked 2, is turned down, and the other end, marked 1, is brought round and sewed to it, a gusset is formed. The latter should not be cut out in the piece when making any chemise, as it never wears well ; and to make a separate gusset is to lose much time without any advantage. The corners between the sleeves and flaps of the garment should be button-holed. Next turn a very fine hem down for the edge of the sleeves; afterwards hem the bottom of the little garment rather deeper. The selvage for the sides may be left. The points of the sleeves are armed with straps, and fine linen buttons are placed midway on the shoulders. These are used when the child is older, to button down the flannel straps, and need not be added till required.
    Those who can afford it use French cambric for babies' chemises, and should then edge the sleeves with very narrow Valenciennes lace; while those who use lawn may trim them with Cash's frilling, which is inexpensive.
    The Night Flannel- Next to the chemise a flannel is worn. This should be Saxony, and measure not less than forty or forty-four inches wide. It may be purchased for 1s. 6d. a yard, unless a higher-priced one be desired. Two yards must be purchased to make two flannels. Mark the centre of the flannel, and form a box-plait there an inch and a half wide, or two inches in the wider flannel (the forty-four inch). Make two other similar plaits on each 6ide of this-five plaits in all-with fully an inch of space between each, and about four inches over at each end. Tack these plaits down for seven inches to form a body, and let the rest hang free; cut out two half-circlets between the two outer plaits each side, to form the arm-hole, as shown in Fig.4. at M and M. Run the plaits very neatly down each side, and stitch them across at the ends marked by the letter N. Stitch a washable binding all round the flannel, and add two tapes for, shoulder-straps, marked O, and tapes each side at the  places marked P, to tie the flannel, which folds across the baby. 
    For a Day Flannel-Purchase two yards more of better quality flannel, say 2s. 6d. or 3s. per yard. Make as before directed. Some persons give as much as 4s. or 5s. a yard for perfectly white flannel; bind it with white linen-binding, and tie it down the front with sarcenet bows. The plaits are either quilted across with white or coloured silk, or sewn down with chain-stitch. Fig. 5 represents parts of two folds of a baby's flannel, the one quilted, the other chain-stitched. Chain-stitches are formed by leaving the loop of the first thread above the work, and entering the needle of the second stitch through it, as shown in Fig. 6.
    The First Gowns.- These are made half high, and with long sleeves. Buy twelve yards of fine dimity, almost like piqu£ , and make six of them. Cut off two lengths of a yard each, and run and fell them together till they look like a sack with two seams, Fig. 7. Leave these seams open (U U, Fig. 7) for the sleeves to be put in; slope off pieces at V V, as shown in the illustration, to form the shoulders, which should measure about two inches long. Run and fell these together. Either merely hem the top and run a string in it, or gather it into a band, which must, however, also have a string in it to draw it close to the baby's little neck. Gather in the skirt from X to X to form a waist. The piece gathered should be fifteen inches long, and brought into a band one inch deep and five long, as shown in Fig. 8, at Q. One end at each side of this band (R R) ties round the back of the waist, and draws the loose part of the robe close to the baby's figure. A placket hole is made five inches long, down the back of the body. The robe is not really open at the back; it is only drawn like this in the diagram to show the looseness of the back, and how far the waist gathers extend. The seams come at the sides. The sleeve is of the coat shape, cut like Fig. 9; it is run and felled together, the seam being placed downwards at Y in Fig. 7. The Z marked in the diagram of the sleeve, Fig. 9, shows how the top is rounded to sew it into the arm-hole. It is run and felled in, and eased a little at the top; the arm-hole should not be quite so large as the sleeve. The baby's sleeve is eight inches long, such across the top before it is joined, and five at the cuff. The measurements are all given allowing for turnings, hems, &c.
    A pretty First Frock (Fig. 10) is made of fine cambric muslin ; three rows of insertion embroidery, edged each side by narrow pointed work, trim the body. The cuffs and epaulettes are enriched to correspond, and the necks and waistband are also of fancy work. The skirt is embellished with a number of narrow tucks, and edged with pointed embroidery.
    A Handsome Day Flannel.-Fig. 11 gives a design, for a handsome day flannel. It is made of very fine white Saxony. The body plaits are machine-quilted, with white crochet-silk. The skirt has a deep hem, also quilted. It is bound with broad white ribbon, and tied with large bows. 
    In our next article we propose giving another pattern for a baby's flannel, a baby's house wrapper, a baby's cloak, cape, and hood, with ample directions for cutting them out and making them up, as in the case of the garments described in the present paper.

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CHILDREN'S DRESS.-II.

CLOTHING FOR INFANTS (continued from p. 34).

CHANGES in fashion affect the clothing of infants less often than the toilettes of the more mature. The greatest alteration that has been made for some time regards the length of the little ones' dress. Robes that once reached absurd proportions are curtailed to the length of a yard and the yard may even include the bodice. Of course, the petticoats and flannels are all shorter in proportion. Another way of making the baby's flannel is shown in  Fig. 18, which represents the back of the little garment, and Fig. 16, which displays the front. The back has either three or four box-plaits in one with the back breadth of the skirt. The front of the bodice is made of two plain pieces wide enough to wrap over one another, and joined by a band (which also goes over the plaits behind) to the skirt in front, which wraps over and ties on one side. The dotted line L shows how far the body of the flannel folds over on the under side. M shows where the under skirt ends, and is buttoned to the upper one. The third way of making a flannel, very suitable for summer, is given in Fig. 23. A strip of flannel six inches deep and fourteen inches long, from G to G, is cut away to points each side, H and H. This is bound all round. The skirt is plaited and set on from I to I. There are semi- circles for armholes cut, and tape straps added at K and K. The dotted lines show the portions meant for the back, and to wrap over in front. The points are folded round the baby's body, and tied by strings sewn on at H and H.
    Another necessary item will be 24 yards of good linen diaper, a yard wide. It will cost about one shilling and sixpence a yard. Cut 24 squares from this, hem them round, and fold four times. For a pilch to wear over the squares, take a square of Welsh flannel, fold it shawl-shape, and cut it in half. Take off the two shawl ends,  marked by the dotted lines N and N in Fig. 19, and gather it into a band, as in Fig. 15, about fifteen inches long. Button it at R and R, and add a loop at O also to fasten on to the buttons at R. Macintosh for extra-secure pilches can be bought by the yard.
    The House Cloak or Flannel Shawl.- A yard of flannel twenty-seven or twenty-eight inches wide will be required. This must be shaped to an exact square of twenty-eight inches. To cut a square of anything always fold your material across, as shown in Fig. 12, bringing the material where it is cut across equally to the selvage at B. The fold comes at the dotted line C C, and when folded the material resembles Fig. 14. Cut it off at the dotted line D D D, you then have a square exact. To cut the baby's wrapper, keep your square folded, as shown in Fig. 14, and cut it out as shown in the plain line in Fig. 25, the dotted line indicating the folded square. To ornament the flannel, work it all round the edge in scallops with blue or scarlet crochet silk, and work a dot in every scallop. To scallop the edge cut a card out, like Fig. 26, cutting holes for the rounds. This can be done by tracing the outline on the card first. Then with a red chalk pencil mark the scallops and holes all along the edge of the flannel. Run them over with cotton, afterwards button-hole the edge in silk, and work the large dots in satin stitch. On the wrong side of the flannel square, at the dotted line marked s, in Fig. 25, put on a ribbon case, and run in a string to draw the hood round the baby's neck. This flannel square is worn over the dress in the house during the month; and afterwards when the child is carried from room to room. 
    The common head flannels should be rather more than a yard square.
    The Baby's Cloak.-It has been very usual lately, and more fashionable, to drape a baby in a simple deep circular cape out of doors, in preference to the old cloak with its cape. There is no essential difference in the pattern needed. The cape is merely a cloak without its second cape, and with the trimming differently arranged. If a young mother have not a pattern for the purpose she can easily make one herself. In the first place, let her take one or two old newspapers, and tack three of them together neatly with needle and thread, as shown in Fig. 17. The centre of these united papers must be ascertained by doubling them. Then spread them out upon a table that has a cloth upon it. Pin the end of a yard measure securely to the centre, through the cloth at the top of the paper. Then take hold of it where the figures thirty-six denote the yard, and move it from end to end of the paper, holding a pencil in the same hand to mark its movements. The yard measure is pinned at A in Fig. 24, and moves from B to G at the other end, the thirty-six inches, or yard, marked on the tape, and then again from B to C. The line in the centre, it will be observed, is exactly straight, being rendered so by folding the paper after the circular line is made. Having marked the half circle thus described with a pencil, allow it at the line C and G, each side of the centre B, five inches shorter, according to the dotted line D D. Pencil this nicely off as shown in the illustration. Now [-89-] cut out the pattern with scissors ; fold it together, and give the corners the little slope or curve marked at E and E.
    When a cloak is to be made it is cut just the same, but a cape is formed two-thirds of the size, at the dotted line marked F, and a collar at that marked a. For a baby's circular cape a collar is added, but the trimming is put on the neck like a collar, and of the same shape. Both cloaks should measure in the longest part, that is, from the neck to the edge in the centre of the back, not more than one yard ; a circular cape rather less. Having obtained an accurate pattern it is easy to cut the material. Two yards of cashmere at 3s. 6d. or 4s. a yard is required. White is the most esteemed, and scarlet the most durable, of colours. Cashmere washes well, and can be dyed so as to look like new. A very pretty circular cape can be made of white cashmere, trimmed with bright, light blue llama. A design for this is given in Fig. 21. The llama is put on broadly ; it must be cut to the curved shape of the cloak, and joined in breadths ; it encircles the lower edge, and is rounded off towards the front. Up the front several handsome blue ribbon bows are sewn on, and the cloaks secured beneath them by hooks and eyes. The llama should be tacked on flat after the breadths are joined, and very fine cotton should be used for the purpose. Turn in the tipper edge, and sew it down with a narrow white silk braid. A handsome cloak may be lined throughout with white sarcenet; but it is very general, and far less costly, to use fine white cambric for the purpose. Having tacked on the blue trimming, and neatly run it into the braid at the edge, put the lining upon the cloak face to face, and tack it round, leaving the outside of both visible. Run it nicely together at the edge, and then turn it inside out, so that the right side of the cloak is outwards. A trimming, like a collar, of the blue has, of course, been placed on the cape as well as the broad edge. Add the bows, and the cloak is complete. It is very easily made. The trimming may be of silk instead of llama, and quilted instead of plain; no braid is then needed.
    In cutting the newspaper pattern, we should call the reader's attention to the fact that it must be doubled after cutting to see that both sides are alike. indeed, it will be as well to cut it in half from A to B at the dotted line down the centre. The cashmere is cut in two pieces, the seam coming down the back of the cloak, unless it be wide enough to get the whole cloak without a seam. Pin the pattern thoroughly on the material; double before cutting. 
    To make a cloak, as before named, the same directions must be followed, and the cape and collar cut on a similar plan, but smaller. The cloak is trimmed down the front, as shown in Fig. 20, the trimming becoming wider, and rounded off at the end. The cape is ornamented all round ,and so is the collar. The cloak may be of white, grey, scarlet, crimson, or blue cashmere, and the trimming of sarcenet, either white or of the same colour as the cloak, lined with a little wadding, and quilted. The wadding is tacked to the silk, and the quilting done, the silk being shaped and the breadths joined before it is applied to the cloak. In using a sewing-machine keep the wadding uppermost. 
    Fig. 22 offers a pretty design for a baby's cloak; the edges scalloped and pointed, and trimmed with a small tassel at every point. 
    it is decidedly best to buy the baby's hood. The cap worn under the hood is a caul with a full lace edge. The lace must be removed to wash it, and requilted each time. A boy's hood is distinguished from a girl's by a rosette. A hood as soft as possible is a better covering for a baby than any fancy kind of hat, however pretty it may look. The stiffness of a hat is unsuited to the tender softness of a baby's head; neither is it any protection to the child. Caps are only worn under hoods, and not indoors.
    In Fig. 21, under the cloak, a pretty design is given for a handsome frock. It is made with two flounces and [-90-] work between; one row over the first flounce, and two over the second. The flounces may be worked, or of plain fine muslin edged with work or lace. Fig. 13 is a design for a body to wear with this skirt. The braces match the flounces. The stomacher is embroidered; and bows tie the shoulders.
    A few words on the art of embroidering cashmere, French merino, or flannel, will doubtless be found most useful to many young mothers. I have spoken of tracing the scallops for the edges with a red chalk-pencil ; this, however, is only suited to an unskilled worker. There are two methods of tracing-pouncing, and the use of carbonised paper. The last is the easiest way; but care must be taken, as the black of the paper may soil the material. It should be well rubbed with bread before use, and the effect tried on something first. Draw the design on paper ; between it and the material to be worked place the black tracing-paper, carefully pinning them in position together; then, with a knitting-needle or very hard lead-pencil, follow out the design, as if sketching it afresh, line by line. Carbonised tracing- paper can be obtained in sheets of any stationer who keeps drawing materials ; and, if preferred, blue, red, green, or white tracing-paper can be substituted for the black. Patterns used for open-work embroidery can be adapted as borders, and worked in satin-stitch, the edges being button-holed. Floss, or ordinary embroidery silk is used for cashmere, but wool, or what is called linen-floss, is better for flannel than silk, which sometimes turns yellow when washed.

[-116-]

CHILDREN'S DRESS.-III.

CLOTHING FOR INFANTS (continued from p. 90).

WE promised in our last paper to lay before our readers practical directions for making babies' long frocks and petticoats. These are not worn so long in the skirt as they were formerly. For full-dress toilette far a baby the skirt of the robe, however, is still very long; and as the body, including the band, is two and a half inches deeper than the old-fashioned-ones, the difference in the length is not very great. The length of the skirt of a robe thirty or forty years ago was forty inches, and the body three inches. A full-dress robe is now made thirty-six inches long in the skirt, and five and a half in the body. Very pretty robes may be bought ready-made for about 14s. or 15s. They should be made of fine Nainsook, at about 2s. 6d. or 3s. a yard ; according to the width. It will be the best plan for the young mother to commence by making the petticoats before she attempts the frocks, by which arrangement she will get her hand accustomed to the work.
    Four white petticoats, and four plain frocks, with three handsomer for best, will be sufficient; but where means allow of frequent change double the number can be made and the every-day frocks embroidered also. For the petticoats, a fine, thin, soft long-cloth should be chosen, and will cost 9d. or a 1s. a yard. Eleven yards will be sufficient for petticoats ; a very wide material is not needed. Procure also two pieces of tape, one a quarter of  an inch, the other three-eighths of an inch wide. Undressed long-cloth should be procured. It can always be had by inquiring for it at a really good shop. The thrifty housewife will find that she saves ten or twenty per cent. by going to a large, well-established shop, and the trouble and fatigue of a long walk, or the expense of an omnibus will be amply repaid. When a lady has to go a distance to a shop she should try and make all the purchases needed at once, which may easily be done by keeping a little memorandum-book, and jotting down from time to time the articles required. The petticoat may be made in two ways. First, the simplest - cut off nine breadths, of thirty-four inches each. Split three of these in half lengthways, to make half breadths. Each skirt consists of a breadth and a half.
    If the material be undressed, soaking alone is necessary. Rubbing between the hands, or soaping the work with dry soap, is sometimes sufficient preparation if dressed. It should always be soaped for the sewing-machine. Any dress in the material clogs the teeth of the feeder and impedes the motion. If the work be soaked it should be ironed whilst damp, and made very smooth, otherwise it is a not easy to work evenly upon it. Where the selvedges come the breadth and half-breadth of the skirt need only be run together neatly. The other seam must be run and felled.
    Make a cut down the centre of the half-breadth, seven [-117-] and a half inches long, as shown at C in Fig. 27, and hem it round with the narrowest hem that can be turned down, neatly button-hole stitching the angle A, Fig. 34, and then making a loop across, shown at B B B. In case any of our readers are not acquainted with the correct mode of making a loop, we will describe it in detail with the help of the diagram, Fig. 28. Pass the cotton across from side to side two or three times, taking an imperceptible stitch through the material, and keeping the three bars of cotton close together and as much like one as possible. Then work over them closely in button-hole, stitch, as shown in Fig. 29. The object of this loop is to prevent the placket-hole from tearing down, and it must be made to all the frocks as well as the petticoats. Next hem round the skirt, as shown at D in Fig. 27, and then gather it finely at the top (E and E) all round. Gathering is simply running, and drawing up the thread.
    It will be necessary to use rather coarse cotton for this purpose, because a fine thread is always exceedingly liable to break in the drawing. However the body is made, the skirt is always constructed in the same way. To make the simple body, Fig. 34, cut a strip of long-cloth five inches wide and twenty-six long. Fold it in four, and hollow out a piece for the arms, as shown in Fig. 31 by the dotted line between F and F. How these arm-holes look when the piece of long-cloth is opened-up maybe seen by referring to the diagram of the completed body (Fig. 37) at G and G. Cut two little strips of long-cloth (cutting down the stuff, not across), each four inches long and one inch and the sixteenth of an inch wide. These are to form shoulder- straps, run and felled on at H and H in Fig. 37, having just nipped off the corners with the scissors, as shown at J J in Fig. 32, treating both arm-holes alike. Then hem all round the arm-hole, and inside the shoulder-strap, making the hem no wider than the sixteenth of an inch, which is the smallest division you will find marked on an English yard-measure [The French, who are much neater workers, preciser copyists, and better fitters, divide their inches into [-118-] thirty parts.] Then hem the backs (K and K in Fig. 37) a 24 quarter of an inch deep. Next hem all along the top, shoulder-straps included, a quarter of an inch deep, and run the narrowest tape in for a band. Cut two strips of long-cloth (down the material) half an inch wide and nineteen inches long. Gather the waist of the body a little at each side of the back and in the centre of the front, as shown in Fig. 37, the limit of the gathers marked by four O's. Measure the strips just cut exactly, and run it to the body on the wrong side, and turn it over. Join the other end of the band to the gathers of the skirt. The second band strip is used to line this, turning it down at both edges, and hemming it on the wrong side, taking care not to let the stitches show through on the right side. This completes the petticoat.
    The second or cheaper petticoat bodice is made like a dress body, and the same illustration will serve for both. Take a piece of long-cloth six and a half inches wide and thirteen inches long, double it exactly in half, the short way, and cut out the front of the bodice like Fig. 30, the fold coming in the centre, at M. Pencil the shape on the stuff, before cutting it out, into a one inch wide band, marked at P, which is put on afterwards, and with ends. Next take long-cloth eight inches wide and fourteen long, double it the narrow way, the fold at a, and cut it the shape illustrated by Fig. 33, afterwards cut it in half at R, as the back is in two pieces. The two back pieces and the front will resemble Fig. 36. Join the pieces together, T to T, running and felling the seam from the arm-hole to the waist. Do the same at the other side, at U and U. Then also run and fell the shoulders, V to V and w to W. Cut a strip band half an inch wide, and turn it down to make a narrow false hem round the top, in which a tape must be run. Hem the arm-hole, and let the waist into a band. A petticoat bodice needs no sleeves. Whip the skirt instead of gathering it, and sew it to the bodice when the bodice itself is quite completed. Whipping is done by rolling the edge of the calico very finely between the fingers, and sewing over the roll in rather long stitches, but such as will draw up into fine gathers. The rolling is done piece by piece as you sew it along. It gives less trouble to turn down about a quarter of an inch of the material, instead of rolling it, but it is less neat. Some persons stroke the gathers down with the point of the needle, which gives a regular appearance, but it is better not to do this to fine muslin, because it helps to wear out the fabric.
    We have already recommended fine dimity for the six gowns of the Layette; but they can be made of plain cambric muslin, at 1s. 6d. a yard. About three yards will be wanted for each frock. There are two breadths in each skirt, a yard and a quarter long, the body is nearly a quarter of a yard deep, and the sleeves and band cut into another quarter width-ways. Eighteen yards will therefore be wanted for six frocks. The addition of embroidery is entirely optional, except round the top and sleeves, where a little fancy work cannot be dispensed with. The embroidery used for the purpose should be very narrow. A simple scallop and dot is pretty enough.
    To make the skirt, cut two breadths (these should not be less and need not be more than twenty-six inches wide), each breadth a yard and a quarter long. Run and fell them together with as narrow a turning as possible, and very fine cotton and small stitches. Hem the bottom, and reduce the length of the skirt to thirty-six inches (that is, a yard) by making a number of tucks. The hem must be of the same width as the tucks.
    There are different ways of tucking the skirts, which give variety to the plainest frocks. We will describe two or three ways. First, a half-inch wide hem, and a number of half-inch wide tucks, each half an inch apart. Second, half-inch hem and half-inch tucks, each one inch apart. ~ Third, half-inch hem and one tuck, half an inch apart. 
    Leave two inches, and make two more tucks, half an inch apart. Leave two inches again, and repeat, making the tucks in the same way till you have sufficient. Fourth, a number of tucks the sixteenth of an inch wide, with the same space between each, and the hem to correspond. Fifth, a hem and two tucks the sixteenth of an inch wide, and the same space between ; miss half an inch, three tucks again; miss another half-inch, and repeat once more. Either of these patterns will look well with a single row of embroidery added at the bottom, but it is not necessary. Wide tucks may also be run in threes, with a wide space between. Sixth, an inch wide hem three quarter-inch tucks, each a quarter of an inch apart. Miss an inch, and make an inch wide tuck and three quarter-inch ones, a quarter of an inch apart. Repeat the tucking once or twice more in the same way.
    A plain body can be made with tucks to correspond, perpendicularly down the body. To make a tucked body, a piece of muslin eight inches wide and the whole length of the material should be cut and tucked across, commencing the tucks three inches from the end; when the tucked piece measures four and a half inches from S to S in Fig. 35, allow three more inches, and cut it off. This piece resembles Fig. 35. Fold it in the centre, and carefully pin it together; then pencil and afterwards cut it to the shape of Fig. 30, having the folded part at M. The back should be made quite plain, and cut in two pieces, like Fig. 33 ; join it in the same way at the sides and shoulders, as shown in Fig. 36. Set the top into a quarter-wide band, the. front of embroidery, or worked with dots or corals, which we will presently describe. The band for the top is made in two pieces; cut each half an inch wide, and allow for turning in. First run the embroidery to the band; -then lay the body on the table, the right side up, towards you. Put the band on it, the wrong side upwards, so that the right side of the band lays face to face with the right side of the body, as shown in Fig. 45, where the tucks on the wrong side of the band can be seen. Pin it, and run it to the top of the body, then turn it up, and you have the right side of both facing you. Line the band by running on the second strip of muslin. Run a tape in. Let the waist into an inch-wide band, made of embroidery or worked with coral or dots. The sleeve is cut on the cross, like Fig. 46, nine inches long and three and a half wide. Y Y is the piece for the hem, which is made after it has been run and felled together at Z Z. Run and fell it into the arm-hole. The skirt must have a placket-hole made, and be drawn into gathers in the same way as the petticoat, and then sewn to the body. Fig. 41 shows a plain frock completed- the neck, waist, and sleeve edges set in bands worked with dots.
    To Work the Dots.-Fill a needle with rather coarse embroidery cotton; commence with a stitch, just as if you were about stitching a waistband. You have inserted your needle in the stuff thus - but do not draw it through - leave it so, as shown in Fig. 40; twist the cotton round it, close up to where it comes out of the stuff (the place is marked by the letter A); twist it a second time in the same way. Draw the needle through; if the worsted cotton be not close up to the stuff pull the thread, and set it with your fingers. Take a second stitch through the very same holes - B and A - and the dot is formed. When dots of graduated sizes are required, take a small stitch, and twist the cotton once, for the first size; a larger stitch, and twist the cotton twice, for the second; a still larger, and twist it thrice, for a larger dot. Two stitches taken in the same place (from B to A) raise the work still more.
    Coral Stitch.-Coral stitch is much used on the joins of embroidery insertions. It should be worked downwards, the thumb of the left band keeping down the thread while the needle is inserted slant-wise above the thread, [-119-] and so drawn through; taking the stitches alternately on the right and left.
    Herringbone Stitch (Fig. 47) need scarcely be explained; we need only to remind our readers that it is very suitable for embroidering babies' shawls and flannels.
    A Pretty Baby's Robe (Fig. 38).-A very pretty baby's robe may be made with the help of the sewing machine, with a front en tablier. A very fine muslin should be chosen. for this purpose. The tucks will require a breadth about two yards long. It is best to work the tucks before cutting the material, as if there is any variation in the width, the length will not be exact. First leave five inches the sixteenth of an inch wide, and work a similar one between. Miss two inches, and repeat till the work is a yard long. Then cut it off. This tucked piece must be gored on both sides. Fold it in the middle and pin it well together and cut both sides together. The half width as it lies doubled must be gored off to five inches across the top. It is better also not to let it measure more than fourteen inches at the bottom. The five inches left are to come at the bottom, one of which is allowed for the hem. Join a plain width to this to make the skirt; but before joining, run down each side of the gored breadth a piece of embroidery-simply a scalloped edge-carry it also across the bottom of the skirt just below the tucks, marked A to A in Fig. 38. When the skirt is completed, add a three and a half inch flounce, to be fluted all round the bottom, the edge scalloped in button-hole stitch. For the body, tuck a straight piece horizontally with small tucks close together, and cut it stomacher shape, as shown in Fig. 39, inserting it into the remainder of the body, with a brace of the scalloped muslin added each side, and straight round the back like a berthe. The sleeves are made the same as Fig. 46, but over them is a frill of the scallops. The waist and neck-band are slightly embroidered, and a simple edging placed round the neck.
    To obtain the stomacher pattern is not difficult; cut the bodice pattern, Fig. 30, in paper, with a pencil mark off the line of the stomacher shown in Fig. 39; cut the tucked piece stomacher-shape, and the side pieces form the remaining portion of the pattern.
    A Christening Robe (Fig. 44).-To make this dress, take half a width of muslin and run tucks three and three with about four inches between each. Cut them apart. In paper cut the pattern of the front of the robe, which is to be a gore twenty-eight inches at the bottom and ten at the top. Cut the half of it in paper, and allow three inches for the centre and outside insertion. Between every three tucks place a row of insertion, laying each on the paper pattern, so as to cut them the right length and not waste the embroidery, which is expensive. Between every three tucks there must be a piece of inch-wide embroidered Insertion. Cut both tucks and insertion a little longer than the pattern to allow for working-up, then neatly join them. Down the centre there is a row of embroidery bordered each side by edging, and this is repeated at each side and carried round the bottom. A plain breadth of wide muslin completes the skirt, which is bordered all round by an embroidered flounce four inches deep. The body is composed of a stomacher of two tucks and one insertion, placed alternately. An insertion, double edged, occupies the centre, and the braces, which form a berthe behind, are of the flouncing embroidery that robes the front of the skirt. The sleeves are plain, like Fig. 46; but covered with a frill of the flouncing. The waist and mock-band are made of insertion, and a narrow edge finishes the top. Christening robes for babes are sometimes made of lace instead of embroidery; but of course this requires everything en suite in richness and costliness, and is by no means necessary.
    Bibs (Figs. 42 and 43) can be purchased for 8d. or tad. well quilted and wadded. If made at home, cut it out in fine soft calico, and a coarser piece for the lining. Thick flannel or cotton-wool should be placed between the calico and lining, so as to absorb the moisture. Then quilt it, pipe it round, and sew on edging.

[-177-]

CHILDREN'S DRESS.-IV.

CLOTHING FOR INFANTS (continued from p. 119).

    Short-coating the Baby.-There are two important things that never should be forgotten in dressing infants and children neither to load them with clothes, nor to let them, on the other hand, be exposed to cold insufficiently protected. With a young child, care to shield it from draughts and to wrap it in a comfortable cloak, and not to expose it to inclement weather, is most necessary. Overheating clothing weakens children, and by causing profuse perspiration, predisposes them to take cold. Colds are the commencement of all kinds of diseases, and sometimes establish a permanent constitutional derangement. Secondly, the clothes of babies and little children should never restrict them. All strings and buttons should be loose; bodies, waists, and arm-holes roomy. There must be no compressing ligatures anywhere. Boots, such as - we often see adopted for babies, are unfit for them. The shoemaker produces a narrow case that cramps up the little creature's toes, and deforms them it is tightly laced up the middle, and cruelly confines the ankle, that actually swells round it, often the occasion of weak joints and thick and unshapely limbs in after life. Up to a year old, the little knitted sock all of soft wool is the best foot. covering for the infant human being. After that, when the child begins to walk a little, and toddles from chair to chair, a similar knitted sock, with a cork sole to it, is all that is needed. As soon as It begins to get about on its feet let it have little shoes-very small pieces of silk, merino, or llama will make a baby's quilted shoes. Place a piece of thin flannel next the silk, and line with cambric muslin; tack all together, and quilt it. Any shoemaker will cut the mother a pattern for its shoe, and also a pair of cork or thin soft leather soles for them. It is easy, and takes little time to make such a pair of shoes. They must be bound with. ribbon round the top and straps have buttons on the straps, and rosettes on the toes. Many ladies make such shoes for fancy bazaars. When the child is carried out, a little pair of woollen gaiters, with soles, must be drawn over the shoes and up the legs. When the baby begins to walk out of doors, let it have easy black kid shoes with straps; these may be followed by very loose cashmere.
    [-178-] It is, generally speaking, an unthrifty plan for a young mother to cut up her baby's long robing and underskirts to short-coat it. If her family increase, these long garments will be ready for new visitors, and it only takes two thirds of the material to make the little frocks and petticoats afterwards, it is one comfort, where economy is needed, to know that the expense of clothing the first baby will cover the cost of two, or even three more and the first trouble, too, will be sufficient for all ; and only a few renewals will be wanted in the wardrobe. The expediency of keeping the flannels is doubtful, because new flannel is better than old for this purpose.
    There is a better way of making babies' flannels than either of those we have yet given; but many mothers object to the pleated flannel body as too warm and weakening for the infant. The body is a plain piece, fifteen inches long and eight wide; double it in half the narrow way at A A, Fig. 55, and cut out the half circles for arm-holes at B B. Bind it all round with white ribbon or flannel binding, and after the skirt has been added, sew on strings at C C C, about three inches from the edge, and the other side at the edge at D D D. This allows the body to wrap over in front. The back breadth of the skirt of the flannel is gored away each side to six and a half inches at the top - the half being allowed for the skirt seam - and the front breadth to nine and a half inches. The front breadth is split open down the centre. The two breadths of flannel are run and felled together before this slit is made. Next bind it all round, waist and all, then sew the waist of the flannel to the waist of the body. Tie the skirt together, with ends of ribbon sewn on for the purpose. Flannel can be bought with the edge worked with coloured silk to use for babies' clothing.
    The cape of the baby's cloak must also be used alone where the child is short-coated. Most likely the entire cloak will require remaking and cleaning for a new baby, and therefore it is well to wear out the cape in this manner.
    Short frocks, or, as they are called, three-quarter frocks, which are first used for babies, measure about half a yard long in the skirt, and are added to eight-inch deep bodies. After a month or two, a few more tucks are run in these skirts, to enable the child to walk freely. The "short coat" of a delicate infant should be five-eighths long in the skirt in cold weather; and their reduction in length should be very gradual.
    Plain muslin frocks neatly hemmed are quite sufficient for short frocks, but where it is desired to have them handsomer in appearance, they may be made like long frocks as regards the embroidery.
    Both for the three-quarter dresses and the quite short ones, many mothers use pretty light fine-printed cambrics or white piqu£ ; or, in winter, merino or plaid. All babies frocks are now completely gored on both sides of the front breadth, which is set into the body perfectly plain at the waist. The back breadth may be plain and set into the waist gathered. Two widths generally suffice to form an infant's dress, but should more be employed the side one would also be sloped away in the seams toward the front.
    A very handsome frock for a baby may be made of muslin, the gored front breadths made of rows of machine tucks upright, and placed between bars of embroidered insertion. This entablier front, as it is called, is edged all round with insertion, outside which there is a robing of vandyked work, also carried all round, and forming a robing continued from the braces on the body. These braces go straight across the back of the body like a berthe, as shown in Fig. 51. The back of the body is simply plain, a little full, and drawn slightly at the neck and waist into the worked bands. It is a plain unsloped piece of muslin. All round the hem of the skirt there is a deep embroidered flounce. The front of this dress is shown in the illustration marked Fig. 50. A frock made of very fine Swiss muslin, with Swiss muslin or lace trimmings, is an elegant dress, either run with blue ribbon under every part of the insertion or worn over a blue sarcenet slip. A sash can be tied behind of pinked-out blue gros grains, bows to correspond should tie up the shoulders, and silk or fine thread lace socks and blue silk quilted shoes cover the little feet. Silk quilted shoes are very soft, comfortable, and pretty for a baby's best wear up to a year and a half old.
    Winter frocks for children short-coated are exceedingly pretty made of plaid. The Rob Roy--that is, scarlet and black ; the Robertson, also scarlet and black, dice of scarlet and white; and the scarlet Stuart plaid, are particularly appropriate for children. So is the dress Stuart, the scarlet plaid, in which a little green, yellow, and black is mixed, mounted on a white ground. Fig. 52 illustrates a pretty way of making a boys frock of this plaid. A yard and a half makes a child's frock. Cut the body and sleeves first, using about a quarter of a yard for the purpose; fold the rest in half.. The front width is gored on both sides to about eight inches across the waist. For a boy's frock gore a little off each side of the back also, but not for a girl's frock. Cut the front breadth in half where the slanting pattern is observed. Mitre one side and bind it with black ribbon, velvet, or braid. Bind the under edge straight, to prevent its fraying. Sew the mitred edge about an inch over the other, and put a small black or a gilt button in every scollop. The mitres continue up the body. The body is piped at the top and the mitres added. The sleeves are plain, and mitred bands are laid round them with lappet ends behind, as shown in the figure. The belt is mitred, and so is the sash of two short ends and four bows and a knot. The edge of the skirt is merely hemmed. Lace must be tacked round the top and sleeves of this and all coloured frocks.
    Fig. 53 is suitable for a girl or boy. It may be made of cambric or very fine mull-muslin. The tucks on the body are very fine: the sleeves are a straight piece of muslin, which is tucked before it is cut into shape. The skirt has a deep hem, and from eight to ten small tucks above it. The neck and sleeves are finished, with lace or edging.
    Fig. 48 is a baby girl's short frock. The tunic and lower part of the bodice can be made of plaid, and the rest of the frock of plain cashmere. It is also pretty if with the tunic and corset of grey cashmere and the petticoat and bodice top of scarlet. The tunic is gored quite plain to the waist in front, and slightly gored at the sides of the back, which is pleated at the waist. The edge is mitred and bound with black braid. The petticoat is only a piece put on under the mitres of either plain scarlet cashmere or with upright small pleatings. The top of the body and sleeves are scarlet, plain, or pleated, according to the petticoat. For a dress frock blue llama over white alpaca is very pretty, and the alpaca petticoat trimmed with two rows of blue ribbon. Instead of the mitred edge two rows of white ribbon can be used to trim the tunic, or instead of two plain rows a twisted row, like Fig. 49. The tunic must of course correspond with the petticoat in the style of trimming, only blue trimming is laid on the white, and white on the blue.
    In winter, children from the time they are short-coated generally wear a pelisse made exactly like a frock with a high body and long sleeves, and a cape and collar of the same material. The capes are deep, and reach below the waist. Black velveteen, grey or blue merino, are very suitable for such a purpose. Trim velveteen with a broad military braid and a narrow one of the same colour as the pelisse, and a row of buttons down the front. Merino pelisses look best when trimmed with quilted silk of the same colour; but many people use white worsted braid [-179-] for such a purpose. In very cold weather the pelisse can be worn over the frock, which is generally removed.
    The modern fashion of pelisses, such as we have described, made in velveteen of various colours (dark rich ones being preferable to lighter tints, and more suitable, especially in London, for winter use), and handsomely trimmed with fur, is an excellent one, and is a style likely - to return frequently to fashion. These fur borderings can be obtained at all prices and widths; and will be found to contribute additional warmth. It must ever be remembered, in the clothing of an infant that, while the pressure of heavy cumbrous clothing is to be avoided, as oppressive and fatiguing both to the child and the nurse who carries it, still, as long as it can take no sort of exercise, the blood circulates but feebly, and the heart being weak in its action, the vital heat must be kept up, both by warm food, and warm, though light, clothing.
    Ruby velveteen trimmed with grey imitation Chinchilla fur is a very handsome mixture. To match the pelisse,: the head-dress for a girl is a little drawn bonnet of the same material, edged with the fur; while for a boy a little round cap or hat is suitable-the shape for which may be purchased at any milliner's - covered at home with the velveteen, and trimmed round the brim with fur, like the bonnet.
    Little out-of-door boots, trimmed in the same style with fur, are much to be recommended, and are very easily prepared for use by a skilful mother or nurse. Black velveteen frocks for wearing in the house may be ornamented, with white embroidery laid on beneath the hems, and encircling the neck of the dress and sleeves, instead of fur. The embroidery can be taken off and' washed frequently, when soiled, as it wears well; and it looks charmingly fresh and pretty. If the work be rather deeply vandyked it is necessary to tack down the points to the dress, which can be done without any chance of tearing it if the embroidery be not put on£ too tightly and scantily. Otherwise, the points of the work will turn up at once, and will have the appearance of being soiled when really clean. With these little dresses silver buttons may be suitably worn.

[-236-]

CHILDREN'S DRESS.£ V. 

CHILDREN'S CLOTHING (continued from p. 179). 

WHEN the babe is short-coated it may either wear the little chemises it already has, joined up the back, or have a set of six new ones, made in fine cambric muslin, ten inches wide (doubled), allowing another half inch for the seams at the side. This is cut like Fig. 66,ten inches long, allowing another half inch for hems. Fold the muslin, so as to have it double on the shoulders at A A. Cut the slanting lines close beside the A A's which divide the shoulders from the flaps. Cut the flaps apart, and hem them and the shoulders all round, button-holing the corners. But the seams should first be sewn and felled with very fine cotton. The bottom may then be hemmed round a quarter of an inch deep. Make the sleeves, cutting them like Fig. 61, six and a half inches long, the straight side. Sew together at B and C. Then turn down and stitch the straight side, and sew and fell the other side into the chemise. At the corners of the flaps marked E and E sew on strings, which are tied under the arm, the strings of the front to those at the back. A button is placed on the sleeve, and a button-hole for it is made at the point of the shoulder. This fastens over the little one's many shoulder-straps, and keeps them neat. Edge the sleeves with Valenciennes lace. Fig. 61 is a design for the chemise sleeve, to be made seven inches long.

    The short-coat stay body is illustrated by Fig. 63. It is made of fine jean or of stout fine linen, faced with twilled muslin, and quilted : with a machine this is easy to do. The size is five inches deep and twenty-two long. It is then bound all round. The shoulder-straps are of the same material, a quarter of an inch wide and about four inches long, quilted and bound all round. They are sewn to the back and secured by a button in front. The little flannel petticoat is generally plaited at the waist and sews on the body. The breadth of flannel is sufficient ; the length, guided by the size of the child, should be an inch less than the white petticoat. The prettiest flannels for infants are those sold by the yard, scalloped and embroidered in blue or scarlet.
    Further on we give full details for making a flannel' petticoat, which, with the exception that it is longer, is the same as the baby's.
    We now pass on to clothing for children of two or three years old. The directions are equally applicable for those of a year and upwards, but are a little longer and larger, perhaps. First of all, for children of both sexes little flannel jackets of fine Welsh flannel are needed. The shape resembles Fig. 68, measuring eleven inches and a half (double) under the arms from A to A, and thirteen at the bottom from B to B. The length is nine inches. It is well, however, to make it three or four inches longer and three inches wider (double) each side. We measure from one which has been worn some time, and consequently shrunk.
    Run and fell the side seams from A to B, and the shoulder seams. Hem the top and bottom narrow, and also the armholes. When the shoulders wear out cut them away, and put broad tape straps an inch wide. Never use narrow straps for children, because they drag and cut the skin. It is well to have four flannels, for children often need a change, and these little things do not cut into much stuff. They should be worn all the year round, for they are even more needed in summer than winter.
    Next make six chemises. Very fine longcloth is generally used for such young children ; a shilling a yard is not too much to give. Some persons lay out one shilling and sixpence on it. Half a yard is more than sufficient for one. Two yards and a half of thirty-two [-237-] inches wide longcloth (actual measure) will make six. Each one is fifteen and a half inches long, and sixteen wide at the bottom. Cut the shape like Fig. 72, that is, in the same way at the top as the short-coating chemise, but a little more sloped at the waist. The sleeves, too, are cut as before, but measure eight inches long when cut out like Fig. 61, which, of course, is double, and is reduced to four before it is inserted in the form of a sleeve. The apparent gaps between the shoulders and flaps are only the result of the narrow hem. Run and fell the side seams, A to B, and hem the bottom half an inch wide. Run and fell the sleeve together, and also into the armhole. Turn down and stitch the edge of the sleeve and trim it with lace£ a good but fine tape-lace serves the purpose. Our readers must not confound the tape-lace with tape trimming, which is quite another thing. Tape trimmings are very pretty to look at, but do not get up easily.

    Figure 69 shows the shape of a shirt for a little boy of the same age; it takes the same quantity of material as the girl's chemise; it is sixteen inches wide all the way down. Cut it with the longcloth double on the shoulders, A A; leave the sides open as far as B B (three inches and three-quarters or four inches) ; run and fell the rest of the seam to D D, and leave it open again from D D to C C at each side. Let in a little three-cornered gusset at F, each side (E to F shows the side of the shirt). The gusset is double, run and felled in very narrowly and neatly, and stitched across the double edge, where a line may be noticed; then hem very neatly, and as narrowly as possible, each side of the open seam from n to F; afterwards hem the bottom of the shirt half an inch wide. Hem round the flaps and shoulders very fine, button-hole the corners, and sew on tapes long enough to tie under the arms. Do not tie these so as to confine the garment to the child, but loosely, merely to keep down the flaps. Tapes are sewn on quite half an inch down the flap, hemming both sides all the way to the edge. The armhole of the shirt must next be finished :£ Take a strip of long. cloth, cut down, not across, the material, two inches wide put it on the sleeve inside at the dotted line, A to B and E, in Fig. 69, running it first to the edge of the hole, turning it over, and hemming it down finely ; afterwards stitch the edge of the armhole marked by the dotted line, A to B, on the other side of the diagram, Fig. 69. Small children may not need such large armholes or sleeves, and three inches doubled or six long in the cutting will suffice.
    The next thing is the stay body, which may be made alike for boys and girls. The bodice is generally seven or eight inches deep and twenty-four long, and the backs wrap over ; some children, however, are small, and do not take them larger than the short coat bodies, five inches deep and twenty-two long. These are made of jean, lined with soft linen, and run together the short way with cords. Tack jean and linen together, when cut out, all round with coloured cotton, and then tack the places to be run between the cords with another colour; pull out the first coloured cotton, that fixes jean and linen together, as it is not now needed, and is in the way of running the cords between the tacking. Put in the first cord with a bodkin; finely run with white cotton over the tacking; put in another cord, and run the next line, and so on till all the cord is in; then cut it even at the edges and bind the body all round with twilled binding. Make the straps half an inch wide, of jean and linen, bound, and sew them on. There are various ways of running the bodies. Fig. 64 is regularly corded close together; Fig. 57 in alternate groups of three cords and a space. Either tapes or buttons may be used to fasten the body, but tapes are best, as other buttons must be sewn on, as shown by four A's, both in Figs. 64 and 57. The lower and smaller row of these is for the drawers; the upper for the flannel petticoat. When the drawers or petticoat are new and full long, place these buttons higher up; as the garments get short for the child, [-238-] lower the buttons. The petticoat is buttoned on higher up than the drawers.
    Cut the drawers from Fig. 70. Each leg is cut separately, measuring four and a half inches across, from D to D (doubled, or nine inches open), five inches and three-quarters, or six inches, from E to E (doubled), and four inches (doubled) from F to F, sixteen and a half long from D to F, nine inches from D to G, and on to E. Run and fell each leg together on the sloped side, from E to F ; then join them together down three-fourths of the length of the front, leaving the rest of the front and all of the back open, hemmed each side as narrow as possible. Cut open the sides from D to H and hem them narrowly, putting in a little gusset at the corner. Make a hem and four tucks, each a quarter of an inch wide, with scarcely any space between ; then set the front, in a band twelve and a half inches long, the half inch to be turned in at the ends, and two inches wide, the half inch to make the two turnings. To do this pin the top of the drawers to one edge of the band, run together, fulling it a little to get it in; then turn down the opposite edge of the band, turn it over and pin down on the wrong side of the drawers, turning in the ends also ; hem it neatly down, and sew the edges. Cut two bands, each six and a half inches long and two wide ; run and hem them on to the two halves of the back, in the same way as with the front band ; make large button-holes at seven places, to fasten the drawers to the stay bodice. Stout children may require the drawers longer in the body from the slanting line, D to E, in Fig. 70, or only longer at the back ; in either case the back only, or both pieces, are cut by the dotted line, D to as, in Fig. 70, which slopes upward. If they are wanted wider, the width must be allowed from D to D and E to E; and the leg also, F to F, it will be well to increase in proportion. This may be done by taking the sloping and curved lines on one side of the leg, D to E and E to F, an inch or an inch and a half longer (doubled).
    The flannel petticoat is the next article of clothing. This should measure nine or ten inches long made up, allowing two inches for a tuck and one for a hem, that is, twelve inches in all. It is well to make a new one with two tucks, or fourteen inches long. One width of flannel suffices. Run and fell the back together, Fig. 56, half way up ; make a wide hem on one side and a narrow one on the other for the rest of the seam, folding the wide one over the other, and stitching it down across at A. Make an inch-wide hem and then one or two tucks, according as the material has been allowed. The child's waist, over the stay bodice, must be measured, and the shirt box-plaited into a two-inch wide band, half an inch of which is allowed for turnings. Five button-holes are made in the band at the five B's in Figs. 56 and 58, which also show the plaiting. There is one button-hole in the centre in front, one exactly over each hip, and two at the two ends behind ; these last two are fastened on the one button at the back. A yard and three-quarters of fine Welsh flannel is sufficient to make four flannel shirts, which will be needed. It must be sloped a little in front before setting it into the band.
    The next items in the child's wardrobe are its white petticoats. Two widths of longcloth, of a fine quality, measuring thirty-seven inches long, will be required. The exact width of the long-cloth to an inch does not signify, but it should not be much wider. The length of the skirt is ten inches. To each breadth allowance must be made for the width of the hem ; for a half-inch hem, half an inch ; a half-inch tuck an inch, because the tuck is double. The simplest way to make the skirt is with a hem and three tucks, each an inch wide. That, with the turning in of the hem and at the top, makes eighteen inches, or half a yard ; that is, a yard for each skirt; half a yard for the body and sleeves will probably be sufficient. Either run and fell, or sew the skirt seams together. Far tucks, sewing is the neatest and best. Make the hem and tucks with half an inch space between each. Cut open a slit down the back for the placket-hole, half the length of the skirt. Make a broad and a narrow hem on the respective sides, as shown in Fig. 62. Stitch the broad over the narrow where they meet at A. Petticoats may be made with a number of narrow tucks, like Fig. 65, and three narrow and a broad one alternately, for variety. Sew the gathers larger at the back and closer, and finest of all and plainest in front. Over the hips they are between the two in size and fulness. They are sewn to the body, after being first pinned to it. To make the body, cut the fronts and two backs like Fig. 67£ From A to B the body measures six inches.
    To make the size of the body more easily intelligible, we give the following instructions : draw an oblong on paper, measuring nine and a half inches wide, by twelve long, G G G G. From C to H, down the centre, there is a space of three inches; measure and mark this with a large dot. The shoulders rise to the top. It is easy to draw the undulating line thus assisted. From the side at D to the line E there is a space of an inch. Dot it, and get the curve of the waist. From G G to I I, under the arm, the length is five inches. The backs are cut from first drawing the oblong of nine and a half inches high, and six and a half inches wide. The slope at the neck is two and a half inches, the shoulder meeting the top line G. Draw the slope at the waist; the back measures five inches under the arm, and five and a half at the back. Having drawn these pictures on paper, cut them out, and the longcloth by them. Both backs are alike, but reversed, lefts and rights, as with shoes and gloves. In longcloth, which has no right or wrong side, this does not matter. Run and fell the side seams and shoulders of the body together. Hem the back an inch wide. Hem the top and waist each half an inch wide, and run strings to draw in both. A few buttons should be placed up the back also. The sleeve, Fig. 59, is eight- and a quarter inches long and two inches and a half wide in the broadest part, and two inches at the narrowest. Run and fell it together underneath, run and fell it into the armhole, using a quarter of an inch for this purpose, and make a hem at the edge, a quarter of an inch wide, and edge it with narrow work or lace. Be sure in cutting the body not to shape the armholes too large. They can always be increased from every side but the shoulder, which must not be made too narrow. An inch should be allowed in cutting for the shoulder width, one quarter to fell to the sleeve, one quarter to turn down for the hem, one quarter for the inner turn of the hem, and a quarter left for the strap when completed. The quantities for turning were allowed in the measurement given in Fig. 67 and Fig. 69. Fig. 60 shows the sleeve ready to be felled in. A in Fig. 71 illustrates the manner of putting in the sleeve. The right side of the sleeve is outwards, and put in at the right side of the body, as it would be if worn. But it is run and afterwards felled from the back, according to the diagram at A.

[-291-]

CHILDREN'S DRESS.£ VI.

CHILDREN'S CLOTHING (continued from p. 238)

THE best out-door dress for a child two years to four years old is a pelisse and cape. In winter it is warm and comfortable, and it always has this advantage £ if a child makes its frock dirty in the house, the pelisse is fresh and clean for out of doors. In very cold weather it is put on over the frock, or frock and pinafore ; in warmer weather the frock is removed. In winter, serge or merino or velveteen are good substances for pelisses ; in spring, fancy mixtures of wool and cotton ; and in summer, pretty prints, brown holland, plain linen, and checked muslin and white piqu£ s.
    To take a pattern for a child's pelisse and dress.
    To cut a Cape.£ Take a small newspaper, as it lies, folded in four. We assume it to measure twelve and a half inches long from A to B, Fig. 74. Fold the corner B back to C. The fold will come at the dotted line A to D. Cut the paper at the dotted line from D to C. Turn the paper over and cut another piece like the first, or, rather, continue the cut from D to C along the back of the paper, as shown in Fig. 75, at the dotted line a to F. You have now two squares in one, marked G and H in Fig. 75. Fold these exactly together, as at Fig. 86, one square; fold again i to j, at the dotted line K to L. The piece of paper is now the shape of Fig. 87. Cut it with a slight circular slope from o to P and M to N, taking care that it is as long from o to m as from P to N. Then open it and it will resemble a half-circle (Fig. 73). It may be bolded in half again, and sloped by the slanting line shown by dots at A and a from the centre [-292-] S very slightly. The pattern is, of course, much smaller than a child's cape, but it instructs the mother how to cut a cape. She can afterwards easily cut one any size desired.
    The Pelisse.£ The cape of a pelisse should half cover the skirt, and, indeed, be an inch over the half-measure at the centre behind. The length of the pelisse must be determined by the size of the child, and the cape by the pelisse. The pelisse for an infant in arms should be made long enough to cover the feet, and just touch the ground. If the child walks, it should come half-way between the sock and the top of the boot, which it will do when worn if the measure be taken from the waist to the top of the boot. For the body, measure the length of the child from the neck to the waist, and round the waist very loosely. Take a piece of double paper as long as the length from neck to waist, and a quarter the width of the waist (doubled paper). Measure the size of the child round the neck, at the place where the top of the pelisse would come, not tightly. Then, from the top of the piece of paper, measure from the centre a quarter of the size of the neck (from A to B, Fig. 83), and just cut off the corner by a little slope, exactly to the measure. Then measure the length of the child's shoulder from the neck to the arm, and mark the length on the paper, beginning at B and measuring to C. You will then cut off the piece there at the slanting line dotted. Measure the child's arm at the top of it, loosely, Make a mark on the paper from C to D, a quarter of the size of the arm. Make another mark from half-way between C and D to E, also as long as a quarter the size round of the child's arm. Now, by the help of these marks, cut out a small half-circle from C to D and to E. Measure the length of the child's side under the arm from the arm-pit to the waist. The paper from E to F ought to be as long as this measure. If it be shorter, you must pin a piece as much longer as is needed across the end of the pattern, from F to G exactly equal. Your pattern is now complete. There is no slope under the arm of a young child's body from E to F. Your paper being double, you can now open it, and leave the front of the body entire, like Fig. 76. Double it to cut by, and double the material. Cut the material doubled from the paper for the front. The same pattern will do for the back, cutting from the material also doubled, but allowing two incites larger at the doubled part (C D, Fig. 77), as a hem for the backs,
and leaving half an inch at top and bottom to pipe and to turn in on the shoulder and side. Put pins in the material along the edge of the paper pattern, to indicate how much is allowed to turn in. For the fronts, allow an inch at the side and shoulder. Allow nothing where the material is doubled. Allow half an inch at top and bottom and round the arm-hole. Cut the body on the straight of the stuff£ that is, the sides level with the selvage ; the width of this is to be taken the narrow way of the stuff£ that is, with the selvage on a level with H and I, Fig. 76. 
    To make a frock body, cut paper pattern first from the one like Fig. 76, and then mark the dotted line at H in Fig. 83 on it, and cut it across there. This makes it a low body, and will serve for a petticoat or frock. All bodies are best cut as directed, with the stuff double, backs as well as fronts. 
    To cut the sleeve, Fig. 78, measure the length of the outside of the arm. Mark it on a piece of paper from E to F. Measure the length of the inside of the arm. The length outside is measured from the arm-hole in the frock behind, with the arm bent, and the inside from the arm-hole in front, with the arm straight. The inside measure is an inch or two shorter than the outside. Mark the inside length on the paper from C to D, Fig. 78, allowing equal space to each end. Measure the arm loosely at the top. Mark half the size round from C to E. Measure the wrist large enough for the hand to slip through easily. Take half of this and measure from D, sloping it as low as F, Fig. 78. Make a dot for the elbow exactly halfway down the pattern, at G. Then draw a curved line [-293-] (like the dotted line in Fig. 78) from E to F, a well-rounded line from C to E, and a straight line from D to F. Cut out the pattern as you have drawn it. Cut two pieces alike for each sleeve, doubling the stuff first, or else taking care to reverse the pattern. Sleeves like this are cut straight£ down the material£ as it is called ; the selvage is level with C and D on the straight side. The shape of the curve at the outside makes that part of the sleeve in effect on the cross, although the inner side is straight and level with the selvage. This is shape enough
for a young child's sleeve. Allow half an inch in cutting all round the paper pattern. Take the dotted line K for a pattern for a short sleeve for a frock or petticoat. If the petticoat be first cut from this pattern, cut the body and sleeves of the dress a little wider£ a quarter of an inch on each side. Short sleeves are not cut in two pieces like the long ones, but in one, at the side E, and joined once at the side C.
    Measure the child to cut the skirt. Allow half an inch for gathers. The hem had better be two inches deep, therefore allow two and a half for it, as it has a turning-in. A tuck is advisable in a growing child's skirt. As a tuck is double, allow double the depth. Four inches is wanted for a two-inch tuck, which is best with a two-inch wide hem. A skirt for a child
of two should not measure less than two yards round. Often three yards is allowed. 
    To make up the Pelisse. £ Cut a lining of thin calico, the same size as the pieces of the body and sleeves. Tack each piece of the body and sleeves to the lining, half an inch in from the edge. To do this, lay the material on the lining, using a rather large needle charged with a long thread of very fine white cotton, such as you would use to mend lace. Tack the body and sleeves together at the places marked by the pins for turning in, and try them on. Then stitch together the sides and shoulders neatly with cotton the same colour as the material. Pipings are cut from the material on the cross and first run. When the backs we hemmed, run a piping round the neck, waist, and arm-holes of the body. Run the piping on the right side, the cord downwards, half an inch in. This is afterwards turned down at the back and hemmed. It is neater, however, to run a narrow white ribbon (or twilled tape) on after the piping, still on the right side, and then turn down piping and ribbon. If the ends of the piping are too wide, cut them away, and run down the ribbon to the body on the wrong side. The pipings round the armhole must not have the ribbon run on, nor yet be turned down and hemmed. The sleeves are stitched in, and the ends cut away close and overcast. Stitch the sleeves together first, and pipe the cuffs, turning them down with the ribbon. Overcast the sleeves.
    To put the sleeve into the arm-hole, fix the seam of the sleeve quite an inch behind the shoulder-seam of the body.
The skirt is not generally lined. Hem the bottom, and make the tuck if there is one. For a trimmed pelisse there had better be a deep hem. Cut a slit in the centre of the breadth behind for a placket hole ; hem one side inch-wide, the other quite narrow. Fold the broad over the narrow hem, and stitch the fold across at the bottom. When the trimming is on, turn down half an inch at the top of the skirt, and pleat it in small pleats, turning towards the front, and beginning two inches apart, in front ; these pleats are closer and larger towards the back. 
    The cape must be lined with fine cambric muslin, or twilled muslin, to match it in colour. Cut it out from the same pattern, and tack it to the cape when trimmed, both lining and material face to face, and the wrong sides outwards. Run them nicely together half an inch in. Take out the tacking threads and turn. The cape is run all round the edges and sides, the throat only left. It is turned through the opening at the throat. Tack it together all round again. If the cape is to be faced with silk, cut the silk the shape of the dotted line T in Fig. 73; run the edge next T on the wrong side of the silk to  the right side of the lining; turn it over and tack it down before tacking the whole of the lining to the material. Cut a small collar, and also line it after it is trimmed. Turn the lining as the cape lining was turned. Run the neck of the collar to the material of the cape, not taking up the lining. Then turn in as much of the lining of the cape as you have run into the collar of the material (about half an inch), and hem it neatly to the collar, taking care the stitches do not come through.
    The Trimming.£ The trimming is put on the cape and collar before they are lined ; on the cuffs of the sleeves before the straight or under seam is closed so that the ends may be turned in; on the skirt it is set before the pleats are made. Lay the cape, &c., flat on a table, and tack the trimming first, not pulling it tight, but letting it go easy. Lay the trimming down on the material, and tack it ; lastly, run it on neatly, taking a back stitch every time the needle is inserted afresh. The skirt may be either trimmed before the last seam is run up£ leaving the ends of the hem open an inch each way, and closing them after £ or half the skirt can be laid on the table, the trimming tacked, then turned, and the other half tacked. In that case, open the seam, and let in the ends of the braid or velvet. Fringes and muslin edges are put on last, when the  cape is lined.
    Capes of muslin or pique are not lined, but piped at the edge, and the pipings hemmed down. Some of the piqu'd ones, with muslin-worked edges, have the muslin hemmed down over the pipings ; others are cut rather close, left loose, and overcast neatly. This stiffens out the embroidered edge well. Piqu£ is piped with cambric muslin.
    [-294-] Crimson, bright blue, and violet cashmere pelisses are pretty for children, trimmed with one straight deep row of velvet ribbon, or one deep and one narrow above the hem of the skirt, round the cape, collar, and cuffs. An edging of piece velvet round the cape and collar makes a handsome trimming to a cashmere pelisse, but is more difficult to put on. It is cut on the cross, shaped to the slope of the cape, and joined in breadths, and run on the wrong side and turned over on the cape, and tacked down before the lining is added. There is then no trimming on the skirt, which may have a tuck if plain. Sable, chinchilla, or quilted silk make pretty edges for capes for children in winter.
    For a costly toilette, a silk velvet pelisse is handsome, either black, dark blue, or dark green. In winter, a narrow tip edge of sable, chinchilla, or a band of ermine or minever, is appropriate. For any time of year, nothing can be handsomer than a rich wide lace on the cape and collar, and robing the sides or round the hem of the skirt.
    Brown holland pelisses look well with capes edged by embroidery. Plain linen pelisses can be merely trimmed with embroidery, or embroidered in crewels. White piqu£ s are now braided in elaborate patterns, and trimmed with embroidered edges. A neat and pretty and easy way is to place a narrow ornamental braid on .t cape like herring-bone, wide enough apart to admit a ribbon an inch wide through it, which can be removed to be washed (see Fig. 82). Checked thick muslins and sprigged Swiss muslins are pretty for summer. The checked may merely be trimmed on the cape with an embroidered edge, or have an insertion let in, run with coloured ribbon, and be worn with a sash, the hat or bonnet corresponding in colour.
    Little children of two years old wear velvet hats bordered with fur£ a plain buckram shape of the turban or "pork pie" make, covered with a piece of velvet hemmed to the crown, the edges turned down in reversed pleats round the brim and inside. Tack it down with small stitches that are not seen on the right side, and long ones inside. Line it with silk, run on the wrong side over the tacking stitches, and then turned over and into the crown. Little girls wear bonnets like hoods. The Marie Antoinette shape is pretty, made in quilted white or coloured silk or satin, edged with a narrow scanty ruche of ribbon, and a ribbon bow or rosette on one side. In summer, straw hats may be used for boys, with a band of blue ribbon.
    There are many mothers who prefer jackets to pelisses. Fig. 91 is a jacket of white pique or brown holland, suitable for a child from two to three years old.
    Pinafores are made various ways. A piece of diaper may be folded in half, lengthwise, and then in half again lengthwise, taking from the second folds a slope off the top at A (Fig. 81) for the shoulders to be run and felled together, and a circular slope at a to form an arm-hole and epaulette with the narrowest hem possible, the epaulette edged with muslin work ; at the top a wide hem and a string to draw, a hem at the sides and bottom, and a second pair of strings at C, complete it. Fig. 79 shows another way of cutting a pinafore. The slope on the shoulders can be made, but the pinafore looks quite as well without it. The arm-hole is cut and hemmed round ; the front is gathered on to a band at D, shown better in Fig. 85, with ends to tie behind. Brown holland braided is pretty. Many children wear pinafores which are really little frocks; for girls a skirt and body, for boys a plain piece of holland wide enough to go round them over their clothing, is sloped over the shoulders like A in Fig. 81, and then the whole of the front set in three box pleats, and the whole of the back in three box pleats at the top, sloped a little for the neck, and set in a narrow band,. Arm-holes are cut, and the rest left loose. Epaulettes are set in the top halves of the arm-holes, and the rest hemmed narrow. The opening of the pinafore is behind, between the second and third pleat. The skirt has a deep hem. A two-inch broad belt, with a button behind, is put on over the pinafore, but separate. For a girl of three, a book-muslin pinafore, trimmed with Valenciennes lace and embroidery, with a tucked skirt and bib-shaped top, is very pretty for evening dress (see Fig. 88). A low frock, for a child of two, may be seen in Fig. 90. Fig. 92 shows an out-of-door jacket for a boy of three years old. Fig. 89 is a pinafore for a child of three years old and upwards. Fig. 80 is a knitted jacket, likewise for a child of the age just named. For this jacket the materials required are:-  2£ oz. of white single Berlin wool, or 3-thread fleecy, £ oz. black single Berlin, and the same quantity of dead gold, blue, ponceau, or any colour preferred for the border, a skein of white filoselle, and five needles, No. 12. This jacket is knitted in white wool, and trimmed with the other colours. It is worked the long way (not across) entirely in plain knitting, and as the rows go backwards and forwards, they look alternately plain and purl, and give a ribbed appearance to the work. It is commenced at the straight edge of the front by casting on seventy-two stitches, and the first fifty rows are knitted plain, always taking off the first stitch, which will give twenty-five ribbed or purl rows on each side of the work. In the following nine ribs (a rib includes two rows), viz., in the 51st, 53rd, 55th, 57th, 59th, 61st, 63rd, 65th, and 67th rows, an increase must be made in the last stitch but one, by knitting it twice, first from the front as usual, and then from the back before taking it off the needle ; this increase is for the rise from the neck to the shoulder. In the 68th row there should be eighty-one stitches.

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CHILDREN'S DRESS.£ VII.

CHILDREN'S CLOTHING (continued from p. 294).

    Nightgowns.£ These should be made as simple as possible for little children. Take a plain breadth of calico at eightpence a yard, long enough for the child. Run and fell it together behind, leaving a placket-hole which must be hemmed. Double it in half, and double again to find the shoulders. Take a slope off; cut a straight slip in the side for the sleeves to be put in. The placket-hole should be open enough. Run and fell the shoulders ; scope out the neck a little in front; set it in a band three-quarters high ; make the sleeves of straight pieces as long as the rows and moderately wide; run and fell them together. Run and fell the top into the arm-hole, and set the cuff into a band that will slip over the child's wrist ; then run a string round the top band; the bottom having been previously hemmed. The nightgown may be worn this way, or it may be gathered into a band sewn on at the waist in front as far as the arms, and lined with a similar band on the wrong side. The band in front is in one, with a pair of strings piped and lined, that button or tie behind, but quite loosely, Fig. 99. In winter, a flannel gown is desirable for so young a child, made the same way, of Welsh flannel. If desired, the neck and wrists of the child's gown may be edged with embroidered work,; but it is quite unnecessary. A child should have half a dozen longcloth nightgowns, and four flannel ones, as they require frequent changes. Fig. 99 shows the gown made to button on one side.
    Fig. 98 is a summer dress. There is first a fine Swiss muslin skirt, with a number of minute tucks edged with a deep embroidery. A sash should be worn with this, with a large bow behind. The body and sleeves are plain. The berthe sets out nicely over the sleeves, and is made with three rows of tucks and spaces alternately. It is edged with embroidery and so is the neck. There are bows on the shoulders to match the sash. Fig. ioo shows the back of the frock, and the sash.

CLOTHING FOR CHILDREN OF SIX YEARS.

For a little boy of six years old, cut a Shirt according to Fig. 96 in shape, seventeen inches long and twenty wide (double). It is similar in pattern to the one used at two years old, but larger ; the material is double at the top, so as to form the shoulders. Cut the flaps at the mark at A A, and cut the top of the shoulders straight, in the manner shown there ; the three-cornered piece between the shoulder and the flap comes away entirely. The dotted lines at B B show where pieces are applied on the wrong side to strengthen the arm-holes. Two straight bands are cut£ each two inches wide and ten inches long £ for this purpose, sewn to the edge of the shirt, and then turned down, pinned flat, and neatly hemmed. The flaps must be cut apart at the top, and hemmed round, as well as the edge of the shoulders. The seams should be run and felled before the flaps are hemmed, and left open at the bottom as far as C C. A gusset is inserted at each side at C C, and the open piece hemmed very narrowly. A hem, half an inch deep, round the bottom completes the shirt.

    Drawers for Boys are not only larger, but vary from those used at an earlier age. Each leg is cut separately. The material must be doubled on the straight side of the leg from A to B (Fig. 93), and here it is eighteen inches long, allowing for a hem and three tucks. But we recommend mothers, as children grow fast, to cut the drawers two inches longer, and dispose of the additional length in a way we shall presently describe. The measure, with the allowance made, is twenty inches from A to B, eleven from C to D, eight and a half from B to E, eleven and a half from F to G, and fifteen and a half from E to D. Run and fell the leg together from E to D. Round the end, from B to E, make an inch wide hem, and above it, three-quarter inch tucks. Cut a slit down the side from A to a. Make a quarter-inch wide hem on the front side, and a very narrow one towards the back. Stitch the wide one across the other. Make the other leg, and then run and fell them together from C to D, going right round the other side from D to C. Lastly, set them in the bands, one for the front and one for the back£ the front thirteen and a half inches long, the half inch to turn in ; and the back fourteen inches, one half inch of which is turned in. Make a button-hole in each side of the front band, and one in the middle (shown in Fig. 101, at A A A), but only at the two ends of the back. The drawers are now completed. To shorten them for use, make a tuck near the top of each leg, rather better than half an inch wide, at B B B B, and from C to C, on both sides, rather less than half an inch wide. As the child grows. these tucks can be let down, either entirely, or narrowed to make the drawers longer.
    A Stay Bodice is the next article required. Measure the [-333-] size round of the child, just under the arms, taking the size very loosely and easily; allow three or four inches over. Then measure the depth of the body. Always cut your pattern first in paper, and then try it against the child. If you have any old lining, it is a good plan to put the pattern next to the lining, and fit it. The stay body, like all the other articles of a child's clothing, should be easy. It is wrong ever to girt children in any part of the figure. The stay body should wrap over about four inches, and tie, as shown in Fig. 94, having a good shape cut in jean, and also in linen lining. There are no turnings-in. Tack the jean and lining together flat, by the edges. Run three piping cords across the centre ; leave an inch space, and run three more ; and so on, till all the body is quilted. These cords are inserted the short way, as Fig. 94 shows. A piece of stay binding is wanted, and should be stitched all round. Cut straps for the shoulders, of jean, line them with linen, bind them all round, and sew them to the body at the four A's in Fig. 94. The strings are sewn in the way illustrated. In cutting the body, there is a slight curve or stomacher in front, and a little sloped out over the hips, which makes the petticoat sit better than if the body were straight, which gives it a bunchy look about the waist. The neck is also hollowed front and back, but most in front.

    Make the Flannel Petticoat as before described. Take two widths as long as the child requires, allowing two inches for the hem, and four inches each for two tucks. Herringbone the seams nicely. Make the hem and the tucks an inch apart., Cut a placket hole in the centre of the back- breadth, half way down; herringbone a hem each side. Pleat the flannel at the waist ; make a box pleat in front. The front of the flannel requires to be sloped as much as the curve of the body. To do this, place anything across the body, from B to C (Fig. 94), that will make a line exactly straight with the hips. Put a pin where it comes, at D, and measure the distance from D to E. A thin child will bear the flannel sloped equally with-this-measure; but a stout child has a full stomach, and the slope may be half or three-quarters. It is best to pleat the skirt before sloping, then pin it to the bodice, and try it on the child. It will immediately be seen how much slope is needed.
    In another place we shall have a word to say about the washing of children's flannels, which is very important, and yet very little understood.
    The White Petticoat is now wanted. Rather stout calico should be used for this. To cut the body, measure the child round easily under the arms, round the waist, and round the shoulders. Write down these measures :£ Mark at the top of a square of paper a quarter of the size of the waist, across the paper, like the line A in Fig. 97. Measure the child from under the arm to the waist, and make a dot on the paper at B. Then mark on the paper a quarter of the size round of the child under the arms, which will bring you about to the dot c. You must then draw a line from A to C. Measure loosely round the top of the child's arm. Say it is eight inches (it may be more), but take the half of whatever it is, and pin it on a tape - measure. Suppose it is the eight inches, put a pin at four inches in the tape ; lay the tape in a curve like a half circle on your paper, and it will describe the mark from C to D. Take a quarter the measure of the neck, and mark it by a dot at E. Then draw a line from D to E. Make a sloping line from E to F for the neck, and from A to G at the waist. Now cut out the paper; cut a lining from this. First pin the paper on the lining ; stick pins in the lining, all round the edge of the paper. Leave the pins in, and cut the lining two inches wider, each way, at the sides. Then pin it slightly together where the pins are, and try it on. The margin left is to allow for alterations, if the pattern is incorrectly taken. This pattern will serve also for frock bodies. To make a high body, it is only necessary to extend the pattern, by taking the length of the shoulder from D to H, instead, of D to E, and measure a quarter of the size of the throat from H to I. This pattern (Fig. 97) must be cut. out of double stuff, twofold in the material, coming from G to I, as it represents only half a front, the waist at the top. For the backs, allow an inch for each, to make a hem from G to I, if the stuff is folded [-334-] there to cut the backs. Having procured a satisfactory pattern, allow an inch at the sides and shoulders, and half an inch at the neck, waist, and arm-hole, for turnings. Tack the backs and fronts together by the sides and shoulders, an inch in, and slip the bodice on to try it. If too high in the neck, long in the waist, or tight in the arms (making due allowance for turnings-in), slip it with the scissors, as shown by marks in Fig. 95, which represents the three pieces of the bodice before joining. Hem the backs ; stitch the sides and shoulders. Run a piping round the neck and waist, turn down, and 'hem them on the wrong side. Pipe the arm-holes, and put in the sleeve. The skirt of the white petticoat must be a little longer than the flannel, and should be ornamented with a narrow hem, and a number of narrow tucks all of equal width. For every such, allow double the width. Two breadths of longcloth are wanted. Run and fell these ; make the hem and tucks. Make a placket-hole ; gather the waist, and sew it to the body.
    Frocks for girls of this age may be made in a variety of ways. Some like merino, pereale, or fancy stuff frocks,. according to the season, thick or thin ; simply made like the petticoat£ a broad hem and one or two tucks in the skirt, and a low body, trimmed. Robe trimmings, covering body and skirt, are pretty; or the body only may have braces, and a row of trimming be placed straight round the head of each tuck. Many frocks are made without tucks, but they are useful, because children grow so fast. When a dress has been made without tucks, and the child grows out of it, the best method of lengthening the skirt is to mitre, that is, regularly scallop the edge, and bind it with braid. lithe frock is coloured, lengthen it with black ; if black, with a colour. Scallop and bind the piece added, and hem it on above the scallops of the frock, on the wrong side, so that the frock and scallops fall over the new piece. The scallops of the one ought to be uniform with the scallops of the other, and not to be arranged alternately.