THE LADY'S DRESS ON HORSEBACK. 49 



perfect before attempting to cut it out in cloth. By this 

 simple process you and he will be spared much disappoint- 

 ment, and you will be saved unnecessary expense. A well- 

 cut habit-skirt should fit without wrinkle or fold ; it should 

 be barely long enough to cover the left foot ; there should 

 not be a particle of superfluous cloth about it ; the end of 

 the hem should form a line as nearly as possible horizontal ; 

 and the circumference inside the hem should certainly not 

 exceed two and a-half yards, even for the most matronly 

 rider. 



I adhere to the belief that no habit-skirt can be properly 

 adjusted unless the maker of it can have the advantage of 

 adapting it to the figure of the intended wearer while she 

 sits on horseback. All fashionable tailors have model or 

 block horses, on which they mount their customers, and by 

 no other plan can a perfect fit be secured. It must be 

 borne in mind that the better shaped a habit-skirt is for 

 riding the more unsightly it looks when seen on a standing 

 figure, or when held in the hand ; in fact, it is then a 

 seemingly hideous and " all wrong " thing, full of irregu- 

 larities, and apparently without form and void — whereas, 

 when viewed in the saddle, it adapts itself to the figure of 

 the wearer, and falls into perfectly correct and shapely lines. 



All modern habit-bodices are made entirely without per- 

 ceptible basque, having merely the coat-tail at the back. 

 Some are made to open at the throat, and these look smart 

 with a white or pale buff scarf tie. Others, again, are slightly 

 opened at the waist, or very much so at the breast, dis- 

 playing fancy waistcoats of various kinds and patterns, 



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