The workwoman's guide

PLATE 3. FIG. 22.

Intended to be worn when the child’s frock is tumbled or untidy. It is made of cambric or jaconet muslin. There are two breadths in it of 14 nails wide—one breadth in front, and the other cut in two, and sewn on each side. The arm-holes are made in the seams, and frilled round, or lappets sewn on. At the top in front, from shoulder to shoulder, the pinafore is drawn up by a tape in the hem, and secured to the proper size. The front is biassed into a band of insertion-work, to go partly round the waist. The back is drawn by a string at the top, and again below by a string-case. The front may be either simply biassed once into the band, or it may have three or four rows of biassing. Round the top is an edging of work, or a frill.

INFANTS’ PETTICOATS.

PLATE 4. FIG. 1.

Petticoats are generally made of jaconet muslin, twilled muslin, or fine calico, and should be about 14 nails wide. The skirt is 2 breadths in width, and cut to the length required, after allowing for the deep hem or tucks. They are usually cut the following sizes for the rich and poor.

In cutting out the body, double the strip in two, and again in half, so as to be folded exactly in four, and cut out the arm-holes according to the depth and width wanted, as seen by the Scale. The sleeves are cut out according to the pattern in Plate 4, Fig. 12 or 13; the shoulder-straps are cut out, and the body is ready for making up. Hem it along the top, sufficiently wide to admit a tape, stitch on the shoulder-straps, sew and hem the sleeves, and gather them into the shoulder-straps. The body should have rather wide hems at the two ends, and a sufficiently wide hem at the bottom to admit a narrow tape. Full the body in front, and sew it firmly to the skirt (which should be previously gathered), making it lie pretty evenly all round. The top strings should draw from the shoulder-straps only, and another string may be run in the front to draw it, and tie on one side.

INFANTS’ FROCKS.

PLATE 4.

Are generally made of jaconet muslin, twilled muslin, and print, and, when the children are older, sometimes of nankeen, jean, Holland, merino, cloth, stuff, and silk. Those for the poor are usually of print, and are made according to the pattern for petticoats (see Plate 4, Fig. 1); those for the rich are made in various ways, among which are the following:—

• The full body.
• The plain body, cut in one piece.
• The plain body, with backs and fronts cut crosswise.

SCALE FOR THE SKIRTS.

Width of skirt 2 or 3 breadths, so as to form from 14 to 16 nails wide, when the skirt is double, as if made up.

There are so many ways of making up skirts, that only a few will be described.

Broad hems and tucks of various depths are the simplest and prettiest; others are more ornamented by letting in work at the top of the broad hem, or working with braid, bobbin, or cord. Robings are often brought down in front, in continuation of the little capes sewn on the bodies. These robings should be 1½ nail broad, sloped off to ½ nail, and carried down to the bottom of the skirt, or to the top of a deep hem. They should be sewn on so that the edge of the work is turned outwards.

The sleeves are made according to fancy, and are of the sizes marked in the Scale, pages 35, 36.—(See also, Plate 4.)

FULL BODIES.

PLATE 4. FIG. 1.

In cutting it out, double the strip for the body once, and again in half, and then cut out the arm-holes the proper depth and width. The full body is made up in either of the following ways:—the first and most simple, is by merely hemming it at the top and bottom, putting wide hems at the ends, and then setting it upon the skirt, making more fulness at the back and in front than at the sides. The sleeves are put into the body with shoulder-straps.

The tapes are put in to draw from the shoulder-straps behind, at the top, and another string to draw in front, also a tape all through the waist-hem.

These simply-made frocks are very useful for fast-growing children, as they will let out to the size wanted.

ANOTHER MODE OF
MAKING UP.

PLATE 4. FIG. 2.

The other mode of making them up is the neatest in appearance. The body is gathered at the top and set into a long narrow band, which forms the hem and the shoulder-straps. The bottom of the body is also firmly gathered, and sewn on with very strong thread to the skirt, which is also gathered so as to let the fulness lie principally in front. Sometimes the body is biassed in front in two or three rows, as in Fig. 2.

PLAIN STRAIGHT BODY.

Straight bodies are generally used for ladies’ children, and are ornamented in different ways. Some are worked in bobbin-work, coronation braid (see Fig. 4), common braid, or else work is let in; and others with satin-stitch worked on the muslin, or very fine small tucks, either horizontal or perpendicular (see Fig. 3). One or two bodies will be more minutely described here, as a guide by which to make others.

PLATE 4. FIG. 5.

Divide the body in half, so as to ascertain the middle, and run a tacking-thread down it; run two others, one on each side, at the distance of little more than ½ a nail from the middle, at the top, and slanting down to the middle point at the bottom of the body; run two others, at the distance of ⅔ of a nail on each side of the last, slanting them towards the centre, at the distance of ½ a nail on each side from the centre. These tacking-threads serve as a guide, by which means the pattern can be done more regularly. Sew two bobbin-lines, one on each side of each tacking-thread, leaving a small space between them sufficiently wide for little oylet-holes, or some other ornamental pattern, to be worked. Afterwards, sew on the bobbin neatly in patterns, according to fancy. Put in the sleeves next, having worked the bands and the triangular shoulder-bits to correspond with the front. Next put on the capes. The whole should be trimmed with a little edging or narrow work.

PLATE 4. FIG. 8.

The front is worked in fancy button-hole stitch, as in Plate 5, Fig. 19. The bands round the sleeves and the triangular shoulder-bits are worked in rows of the same stitch. The capes are worked near the edge with the horse-shoe stitch, as also the ends of the body (Plate 5, Fig. 20), and the edging is entirely of fancy bobbin edging (Plate 5, Fig. 18).

PLATE 4. FIG. 6.

Procure some pretty open work, in the style of that in the Plate, and sew several strips together, always making the pieces narrower at the bottom than at the top, in order to make them point towards the centre, as in the Plate. A body made thus generally wears and washes very well. The capes should be of some pretty work, and the whole trimmed with edging to match the rest. The triangular shoulder-bits have a piece of insertion-work inlaid in them.

BODY WITH
HONEY-COMB STITCH.

This body has the side-bits cut as above, and the front is a triangular piece of honeycomb-stitch worked and let in. In making the triangular bit, lay the plaits very narrow and even, before working it in honeycomb. For a description of the stitch, see Plate 1, Fig. 15, 16.

SLEEVES.

PLATE 4.

There are various sorts of long and short sleeves, some of which it is impossible to describe clearly, and it will not, therefore, be attempted. The most simple are the following:—

THE ROUND SLEEVE.

FIG. 1, 18.

FIG. 18.

Cut your material into square pieces of the size wanted (in proportion to the Scale), and double the square in half, so as to make it triangular, or three-cornered in shape. Fold it in the same manner again and again, as often as it will admit of being done; one side is longer than the other, mark it with your scissors the same distance on the long side from the point, as it is on the short, and cut it directly across; by which means the square will become a circle, as will be seen when opened. This circle should be hollowed out at one side (Plate 4, Fig. 18), in order to make it set better under the arm. Before opening the circle, a small hole should be cut at the pointed end, to form the opening for the arm in proper proportion. The shoulder-strap and band are next cut. Set the inner circle very neatly into the band; after which, gather the outer circle and sew it to the shoulder-strap, ready to put into the body. This sleeve is sometimes confined by loops of ribbon, or little triangular pieces of work, as in Fig. 2 and 6.

ANOTHER SHAPE.

PLATE 4. FIG. 13.

PRINCIPALLY USED FOR
PETTICOATS AND PLAIN FROCKS.

It is better to cut this pattern (and indeed all patterns of sleeves) in paper, before cutting your material, to prevent waste. The pattern, when folded in half, resembles Fig. 13, being for the first size, and is 2 nails deep from A to B, and 3½ nails long from B to C. The top, from A to D, is sloped down, beginning at E, which is about half the length, by which means the depth from D to C is only 1 nail. When opened, the sleeve resembles Fig. 12. In cutting it out, turn up a corner of your material (Fig. 12) in the form of a half-handkerchief, A B being parallel to, or straight with C D. The pattern sleeve is laid with the long straight end upon the crease, so as to lie crosswise. Cut through the folded muslin carefully by the pattern, so that the pair of sleeves is cut at once. The part which forms the bottom of the sleeve is straight, and should be gathered into the band. The sloped side is gathered or whipped into the shoulder-strap.

PLATE 4. FIG. 14.

The Scale is the same as Fig. 13 and 8.

This sleeve is the most favourite shape, and is cut out exactly like Fig. 13; after which the part, A B, is sloped off at 1 nail from the end, C. A triangular piece of worked muslin is hemmed round; the sleeve is then neatly put into the arm-hole, with mantua-maker’s hem, or run and felled, after which the rest of the sleeve is whipped and sewed on to the triangular piece. These sleeves are generally made with a little frill very much fulled, which forms a cape behind, and also in front; the frill is therefore sewed on the sleeve neatly at the edge of the triangular bit.

PLATE 4. FIG. 9, 11.

This is another variety of sleeve, and is very pretty for a young child. It is cut out, in the first instance, exactly like Fig. 14; after which it is sloped off in the shape of a triangle below, so that the sleeve requires a triangular bit below, as well as on the shoulder, for the sleeve to be fulled to. The bottom triangle should be cut with the band, into which the sleeve is confined.

LONG SLEEVES.

PLATE 4. FIG. 15, 16, 17.

Long sleeves, if for bed-gowns and under clothes, may be cut according to the bits of cloth left, to prevent waste, always remembering to cut selvage-wise. They are generally the shape of Fig. 15, Plate 4. The sleeve is sloped off from D to A, so as to cut about a nail off the stuff (see D C). Slope in the direction D E, to make the wrist about 1½ or 2 nails wide. The part, A B D, should be hollowed. Sometimes it is desirable to piece the sleeve when there are many bits; in which case it may be joined across from B to E of the under double, taking care that the muslin pieced on also runs selvage-wise. In cutting out long sleeves, take care to cut them a pair, so that the joinings shall lie outside, and the hollowed part towards the inside or front. From A to C is 3½ nails.

Long sleeves, for dresses, spencers, &c., to be properly made, should be cut as follows (Plate 4, Fig. 16 and 17):—turn up the corner of your muslin to form such an angle as will just hold the sleeve, so as to make the one side of the long sleeve lie along the selvage, as in Fig. 16, where, the sleeve being small, but little of the corner is turned up, in which the sleeve, A B C D, exactly fits. The top corner, F, must be sloped off, and the corner, D C, also, to the proper width for the wrist, which is 1½ nail.

Fig. 17 is a better sort of sleeve, and is here introduced, though it properly belongs to the table of sleeves in Plate 12, in which a description and pattern of each size is correctly given. The corner is turned up to a complete half square, so that A and B are parallel to C D. From A to B is 6 nails; from B to D 5½ nails. From A to H, and from B to C, are 1½ nail. Curve from H to E. From H to G are 5½ nails. From E to F are 3½ nails. From F to G, 1¼ nail. This sleeve is called the gigot, or gigot de mouton sleeve, from its likeness to a leg of mutton. For further particulars, see Sleeves, Plate 12.

AN INFANT’S RECEIVER.

A receiver, or wrapper, in which an infant is put immediately on its birth, previous to its being washed and dressed, is composed of the finest Welsh flannel, with a soft warm nap upon it. This flannel should be a perfect square, and is generally made of 2 breadths of flannel; the width of the flannel must, therefore, determine the size of the square, which should not be less than 24 nails, or more than 2 yards. A soft piece of fine calico, linen, or cambric muslin, is taken, of the same size, and they are bound together with flannel binding. This receiver is frequently used afterwards by the poor in the double capacity of coverlet and shawl, to carry the infant about in.

INFANT’S SHAWL.

For the first three months, infants should be carried about in a shawl, not only on account of the warmth, but as a matter of security to their tender heads and limbs, which cannot bear the hard pressure of the nurse’s arm or hand.

These shawls for the nursery should be simply a square of flannel of 1½ breadth or 2 breadths. The best shawl, with which it is carried into sitting-rooms, should be made of merino, Indiana, kerseymere, or, what is better still, of the fine thick Saxony flannel. These are usually made with very deep hems, about 1½ nail of the same material, braided with silk braid all round, and worked at the corners, or else the hem is formed of pearl-white satin or rich silk; but these last spoil so soon, that it is a great expense.

INFANT’S FLANNEL CLOAK.

PLATE 4. FIG. 19, 24.

It is recommended to all mothers to have a flannel cloak to wrap round their infants when carried about in their night clothes, and when up at night; and they will be found especially useful when the baby is old enough to be dipped in a cold bath, or obliged to be put in a warm one, as, on taking the child out of it, they can wrap it up entirely, and almost rub it dry with the cloak itself.

The first size here mentioned will last a child well from its birth until eighteen months or two years old.

The cloak requires two flannel shoulder-pieces to make it strong. Full the skirt very evenly all round to the proper size, and then laying the edge between the edges of the two shoulder-pieces, which should be held so as to fall back or down against the skirt, one on each side, sew, or rather back-stitch them very firmly together. When this is done, turn up the shoulder-pieces on each side, so that the edges are completely hidden on both sides of the cloak. Sew the collar neatly on to the other two edges of the shoulder-pieces, and conceal the rough edges by means of a wide string-case of soft tape or calico.

The cloak is bound with flannel binding, and the arm-holes also; they are either opened in the seam, or if that would make them too far back, they should be cut in the flannel at once, at the proper distance. A deep cape might be added as the child grew older, or if it were sickly and required additional warmth.

CHILD’S BIB.

PLATE 4. FIG. 25.

This is often used by mothers for their children while cutting their teeth, to prevent the moisture from their mouths wetting their chests and the bosoms of their frocks. It is made of three or four folds of fine diaper, sewed together on the wrong side, and turned inside out, to conceal the edges, it is hollowed to fit under the chin, and made to tie with a ribbon round the neck.

INFANTS’ PELISSES
AND CLOAKS.

PLATE 4. FIG. 20.

Infant’s first cloaks are generally made of some warm material, as cloth, merino, kerseymere, or wadded silk. The last-mentioned, though pretty, soon spoils, being easily injured by wet, and the colours of those parts near the baby’s chin fly and look shabby; merino and kerseymere are decidedly the best for the purpose, and look equally neat and handsome. There is a kind of fine but thickly woven flannel, particularly strong and elastic, and well adapted for children’s shawls and cloaks. It is called Saxony flannel, but is rarely to be procured at country shops, and seldom of any colour but white. It is about 1 and 1½ yard wide, and varies from 3s. 2d. to 5s. per yard: for the lower orders, cloth, stuff, nankeen, gingham, or print, are the most serviceable.

INFANT’S LONG PELISSE.

PLATE 4. FIG. 20, 21, 22, 28.

It must be made of two or more breadths, according to the material; as the widths vary exceedingly, it is impossible to lay down a definite rule further than this; that the whole width round the bottom should be from 30 to 33 nails; and at the top sloped off to 24 nails.

Supposing the material to be of wide width (say 20 nails), half one breadth would be wide enough for the back, and one whole breadth crossed according to Fig. 22, would form the two fronts. Observe that the two straight sides of the crossed pieces are set in front.

The sleeves, collar, &c. should be cut from the remaining half-breadth of the cloth.

If the material be but 10 or 12 nails wide, 3 breadths must be used, and the two front breadths sloped off to the proper width at the top.

In making up the pelisses, the front breadths are lined with silk or sarsenet, as also the top part or body, collar, cape, &c., but the back breadth should be lined with cambric muslin. The hem at the bottom of the skirt is about 1½ nail deep, while that up the sides and round the cape and collar are but ¾ of a nail. Take notice, in cutting your collar and cape, that allowance must be made for the hems.

The skirt seams are sewed up, as well as the lining, and joined together by means of the broad hem round the bottom; the shoulders, arm-holes, and sleeves are next completed, after which the neck is finished by making a hem at the top, and drawing a tape through it, which is fastened down at both ends after the skirt has been drawn up to the proper width which should be about 1 nail wider than is required to set round the neck. A strong case of ribbon or other soft material is next put round the neck inside, through which a ribbon is drawn and fastened in the middle. This ribbon, of course, ties in front.

For children’s short pelisses, see Plate 14.

CLOAKS FOR SUMMER.

PLATE 4. FIG. 23.

This is a very simple and remarkably neat looking pattern for a second sized cloak. It looks well when made of twilled muslin, cloth, nankeen, print, and especially fine dimity. The material should be about 1 yard 3 nails wide, in which case one breadth and 14 nails is sufficient for the skirt, which should be one yard long.

The remaining 5 nails off the second breadth of the skirt may be cut into collar, shoulder-piece, &c. The cloak has a broad hem laid on all round, which the cape and collar have also, to form which, strips should be cut selvage-wise of 1¼ nail, and sometimes worked muslin edging of a neat but open pattern is put on all round.

About 9 or 10 yards of the strips are required, and, as frequent joinings look ill, it would be better to cut off a piece of the material a yard long, from which all the strips can be taken off; 9 strips of this length will only take 11¼ nails out of the breadth; therefore, if economy is a great object, 10 strips might be cut in the breadth of but 10 nails deep, which would cut up the breadth without waste.

If the strips are often joined, 3 yards 8 nails.

In making up the cloak, the shoulder-piece is piped all round, and the skirt fulled evenly into it. The collar is then sewn on, and a casing made at the top, to admit of a ribbon. The broad hem is next laid on all round, and the sleeves put in. At the waist, the casing is sewn on inside, and the band outside, the back may be confined to the band or not, at pleasure.

INFANT’S FIRST HOOD.

PLATE 4. FIG. 26, 27, 29, 30.

This is the most approved shape for infant’s first hoods, whether they are boys or girls, owing to its warmth and softness, and also for the comfort with which an infant can rest its head on its nurse’s shoulder. They are generally made of merino, Indiana, kerseymere, satin, silk, nankeen, or indeed of any material similar to the cloak. Kerseymere, lined with silk or satin of a pale colour is particularly pretty and suitable, from its simplicity.