1218  S*«  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
The  Home  Dressmaker 
Fall  Dresses. — The  feature  that 
comes  as  a  new  note  in  Fall  gowns  is 
the  use  of  a  straight  pleated  underskirt 
and  long  smock  or  coat-like  top.  This 
style  is  shown  for  girls  of  the  “flapper” 
age,  and  also  for  their  elders :  and  is 
decidedly  long-waisted.  This  is  a  style 
that  may  be  modified  for  the  individual 
wearer.  Many  of  these  dresses  are  of 
serge  combined  with  taffeta  or  messaline, 
black  silk  with  dark  blue  serge  appear¬ 
ing  frequently  in  ready-made  dresses,  a 
combination  that  was  much  seen  last 
Winter.  Frequently  these  dresses  have 
braiding  or  beaded  trimming  on  belt  or 
sleeves.  There  are  some  trim  little  dress¬ 
es  for  young  girls  having  the  pleated 
skirt  with  a  straight  boyish-looking  lit¬ 
tle  jacket  bound  with  black  silk  braid. 
Adults  are  to  wear  their  skirts  rather 
longer  on  the  street,  and  decidedly  long¬ 
er  indoors,  it  is  predicted,  but  at  present 
this  is  not  outwardly  apparent.  Autumn 
styles,  as  a  rule,  are  not  “fussy”  aud 
show  more  dignity  of  outline;  dressmak¬ 
ers  returning  from  Europe  say  that  new 
models  are  all  intended  to  give  a  tall 
slim  outline. 
Two  Fall  Coats. — The  traveling  coats 
worn  by  mother  and  daughter  in  the  il¬ 
lustration  both  show  possibilities  for 
home  sewing.  The  child’s  coat  is  a  very 
simple  pattern,  hut  was  given  a  new’ 
touch  by  its  trimming.  It  was  midnight 
blue  basket  cloth,  trimmed  witii  palest 
flesh  pink  broadcloth,  a  combination  of 
color  often  seen  now.  The  hem  of  the 
little  coat  is  turned  up  on  the  outside, 
with  a  piping  of  the  flesh  pink;  a  sim¬ 
ilar  piping  edges  the  yoke,  and  also  the 
edge  of  closing.  Buttons,  collar  and 
cuffs  are  all  of  the  pink  broadcloth.  For 
Winter  wear  such  a  coat  is  interlined 
throughout,  and  the  yoke  padded :  for 
Fall  and  Spring  it  may  m?rely  have  the 
yoke  interlined,  lnit  it  is  better  to  line 
the  whole  coat  with  China  silk,  so  that 
the  dark  color  will  not  rub  off  on  white 
dresses.  The  lining  should  be  flesh  pink. 
If  economy  must  be  considered,  there  is 
a  lustrous  light-weight  lining  called  silk- 
and-cotton  China  silk,  that  is  satisfactory 
for  such  use.  It  is  the  care  given  to 
lining  and  finishing  that  gives  the  right 
look  to  all  home  sewing.  The  little  hat 
worn  by  the  small  girl  is  merely  a  close 
helmet  crown  of  the  blue  basket  cloth, 
having  a  narrow  rolled  brim  faced  with 
the  flesh-pink  broadcloth.  The  orna¬ 
ment  in  front,  which  formed  the  only 
trimming,  was  a  pink  silk  rose  with  a 
worsted  center.  Such  little  hats  are 
often  trimmed  with  a  flower  or  orna¬ 
ment  of  woolen  embroidery. 
A  Comfortable  Model. — The  woman’s 
coat  shown  is  little  different  from  last 
season,  except  that  the  high  muff  col¬ 
lar  is  absent.  Those  swathing  fur  band¬ 
ages  are  the  mark  of  a  last  year’s  coat, 
but  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  remove  one, 
aud  by  altering  the  collar  transform  the 
last  year's  coat.  The  garment  illustrated 
was  very  dark  brown  (tote  de  negro) 
velours,  a  loose  mannish  shape,  without 
a  belt,  and  witlij-aglan  sleeves.  It  had  a 
wide  turn-flown  collar  and  deep  gaunt¬ 
let  cuffs  of  champagne-colored  broadcloth. 
The  collar  had  an  under  strap  buttoning 
across  in  front,  to  dose  it;  the  buttons 
were  of  brown  horn.  This  new  coat  at 
once  suggested  an  idea  for  changing  one 
with  a  muff  collar,  by  removing  that  and 
fur  cuffs,  and  replacing  them  with  broad¬ 
cloth  collar  and  cuffs  of  champagne  color, 
fawn,  sand  or  beige.  These  soft  neutral 
colors  go  well  with  brown,  blue  or  green; 
with  a  gray  coat,  Russian  green  or  some 
well-selected  blue  should  be  chosen.  A 
good  many  coats  of  mixed  tweed  have 
collar  and  cuffs  of  plain  broadcloth. 
Some  of  the  coats  have  belts,  some  are 
without.  The  plain  little  black  velvet 
toque  worn  is  draped  with  a  champagne- 
colored  chiffon  veil.  These  draped  veils 
began  to  appear  on  our  streets  in  July, 
and  by  the  middle  of  August  it  looked  as 
though  every  other  woman  in  New  York 
had  bought  one,  bright  purple  and  emer¬ 
ald  green  chiffon  being  everywhere  in  the 
lead,  though  many  lace  veils,  black, 
white  and  colored,  are  in  evidence.  Many 
of  them  were  large  enough  to  come  well 
below  the  waist,  when  folded  over,  a  lit¬ 
tle  turban,  but  they  are  also  worn  on 
hats  with  brims,  folded  snugly  over  the 
crown,  aud  falling  from  the  back  like 
a  widow’s  veil. 
Models  For  Girls. — Three  models  for 
young  girls  were  seen  in  a  Fifth  Avenue 
shop,  that  suggested  ideas  for  home 
dressmakers.  The  one  at  the  left  was 
of  plaid  taffeta  combined  with  plain  dark 
blue  of  the  same  material,  hut  it  at  once 
suggested  itself  as  an  admirable  model 
for  combining  plaid  woolen  goods  with 
plain  serge.  The  serge  may  be  blue, 
brown  <»r  green,  but  should  of  course  be 
like  the  dominant  color  in  the  plaid.  The 
plaid  skirt  is  kilt-pleated;  in  the  model 
the  plaid  was  on  the  bias  but  this  is  a 
matter  of  taste.  The  blouse  of  plain 
silk  was  box-pleated,  aud  over  this  was 
a  plastron,  curving  at  the  waist  line  into 
a  belt,  stitched  flat  over  the  pleats. 
Back  and  front  were  alike,  hut  if  de¬ 
sired  the  plastrou  could  be  used  in  the 
front  only,  merely  continuing  the  belt 
across  the  pleats  in  the  back.  A  round 
cape  collar  of  the  plain  goods  sloped 
from  the  shoulders  to  the  back,  with  a 
small  roll  collar  of  the  plaid  over  it. 
The  fastenings,  down  the  center  front, 
were  invisible,  the  six  buttons  at  top  be¬ 
ing  merely  for  ornament.  The  sleeves  of 
plaid  had  falling  cuffs  of  plain  material. 
The  hat  was  a  wide  felt  with  a  figured 
band,  and  a  fancy  feather  pointing  for¬ 
ward  across  the  front. 
An  Arrangement  in  Stripes. — The 
central  figure  was  striped  taffeta,  but 
this  again  is  an  excellent  model  for 
woolen  goods,  fine  striped  worsteds  and 
serges  being  among  attractive  new  ma¬ 
terials.  In  this  dress,  the  skirt  had  a 
yoke  with  vertical  stripes,  while  the  low¬ 
er  part  was  shirred  on  with  stripes  run¬ 
ning  horizontally.  The  material  was 
mingled  stripes  of  brown  aud  blue,  the 
trimming  being  dark  brown  velvet.  A 
four-inch  band  of  velvet  was  put  around 
the  skirt,  blind-stitched  on,  while  a  nar- 
row  fold  of  velvet  stood  up  at  the  top  of 
the  shirring.  The  waist  was  plain  and 
semi-fittiug,  the  stripes  up  and  down.  In 
the  front  was  a  vest-like  panel,  the 
stripes  running  across  at  top  aud  bot¬ 
tom,  and  vertically  in  the  center,  the 
waist  having  a  band  of  velvet  at  each 
side  of  panel.  The  upper  part  of  the 
sleeves  is  cut  with  vertical  stripes,  the 
lower  portion  horizontal,  with  a  narrow 
slanting  band  of  velvet  at  the  seam  just 
above  the  elbow.  There  is  a  straight 
narrow  girdle  of  the  velvet.  The  upper 
part  of  the  vest  is  filled  in  with  a  tuck¬ 
er  of  shirred  organdie,  and  an  organdie 
collar  extends  the  depth  of  the  tucker 
on  each  side  of  vest.  The  points  of  the 
white  organdie  collar  were  tipped  with 
Small  blue  silk  tassels,  and  flaring  orgau- 
die  cuffs  fell  over  the  hands.  A  dress 
made  iu  this  style  would  be  entirely 
suitable  for  a  tall  young  woman,  as 
well  as  for  a  “flapper,”  as  it  is  u  style 
that  is  becoming  to  a  tall  slim  figure. 
The  hat  is  fawn-colored  felt,  with  a  loose 
bow  of  brown  and  blue  silk. 
A  Velveteen  Frock. — The  third  model 
was  a  very  dark  brown  velveteen,  ex¬ 
tremely  plain,  but  most  attractive.  The 
September  1G,  1916. 
skirt  was  straight,  rather  high  waisted, 
and  gathered,  except  directly  iu  front. 
On  each  side  of  the  skirt  was  a  triangu¬ 
lar  pocket,  bound  all  around  with  brown 
silk  military  braid.  The  plain  waist 
was  cut  like  a  man’s  evening  waistcoat, 
opening  over  a  white  organdie  “shirt 
front.”  Around  the  opening,  and  be¬ 
yond  it,  following  the  same  outline,  was 
braid  stitched  along  the  upper  side  only, 
so  as  to  give  the  effect  of  a  tuck.  The 
back  was  trimmed  with  braid  giving  the 
same  outline,  but  of  course  without  the 
vest  opening.  The  long  plain  sleeves  had 
gauntlet  cuffs  edged  with  braid,  and 
there  was  a  single  row  of  braid  at  the 
waistline.  The  closing  was  invisible,  at 
the  side  of  the  vest.  A  touch  of  color 
was  given  by  an  odd  flat  tassel  of  beads, 
directly  in  front  at  the  waist  line.  The 
beads  were  of  several  colors,  yellow, 
bronze  and  green,  and  fell  like  a  gradu¬ 
ated  fringe  from  an  oval  heading.  Such 
ornaments  arc  not  bard  to  make,  and  are 
a  fashionable  finish.  The  hat  worn  is 
a  plain  girlish  shape  of  caf4  an  lait  felt, 
trimmed  with  a  lutestring  band  of  the 
same  color,  with  a  flat  little  pump  bow 
above  it  at  both  hack  and  front. 
Junior  Smocks. — A  shop  making  a 
specialty  of  clothing  for  the  young  re¬ 
cently  displayed  smocks  for  girls  of  from 
four  to  12  years  that  were  very  pretty 
and  practical.  The  material  used  was 
Japanese  crape,  that  solid-colored  cotton 
material  with  a  weave  rather  like  mum¬ 
my  cloth,  and  a  firm  texture.  The 
smocks  were  longer  than  the  ordinary 
middy,  and  not  very  flaring.  There  was 
the  usual  smocking  iu  front  and  back  to 
give  fullness,  and  the  garment  was 
closed  invisibly  at  one  side  of  the  smock¬ 
ing.  The  garment  was  delft  blue, 
*  smocked  in  black  and  rose,  the  long 
sleeve  being  gathered  at  the  wrist  A 
touch  of  novelty  was  given  by  the  hems 
on  collar,  sleeve  and  lower  edge  of  smock. 
These  hems  were  half  an  inch  wide,  and 
were  worked  in  black  cross-stitch,  the 
crosses  being  the  depth  of  the  hem,  and 
about  half  an  inch  apart.  This  eross- 
stiteh  was  worked  over  the  hem.  so  as  to 
make  a  border  just  the  width  of  the 
hem.  The  effect  was  very  pretty,  and 
would  make  an  attractive  trimming  on 
other  garments  for  children. 
Trimmings. — Braids,  military,  Her¬ 
cules  and  soutache,  are  seen  on  street 
dresses  and  jacket  suits,  Embroidery  of 
all  kinds  is  popular;  we  see  some  waists 
and  dresses  of  Georgette  crape  or  silk 
trimmed  with  chenille  embroidery.  Wool¬ 
en  or  crewel  embroidery  retains  its  vogue, 
and  this  is  very  desirable  for  children’s 
woolen  dresses,  as  it  is  so  quickly  done. 
Iu  addition  to  the  blanket  stitch,  which 
we  have  mentioned  before,  darning  and 
cross-stitch  can  be  used  to  good  effect. 
Three  or  five  rows  of  darning  in  German¬ 
town  wool,  spaced  for  the  stitches  to  al¬ 
ternate,  makes  an  attractive  trimming  if 
a  good  color  combination  is  selected,  as 
old  rose  on  dark  blue,  or  alternating  lines 
of  rose  and  willow  green.  Another  new 
old  trimming  seen  on  women’s  dresses  is 
twisted  wool  fringe.  <  >ne  black  serge 
dress  rather  similar  to  the  brown  vel¬ 
veteen  illustrated  was  trimmed  with  red 
stitching  and  red  buttons.  Beads  are 
used  iu  all  sorts  of  trimmings,  including 
flat  motifs  and  odd  little  button-like 
drops,  these  beads  often  showing  some 
combination  of  colors  that  contrasts 
rather  strikingly  with  the  dress. 
Fall  Materials. — Broadcloth,  iu  very 
lustrous  finish,  is  soon  in  shades  of  taupe, 
tan,  blackberry,  browns  and  olives,  Rus¬ 
sian  green,  burgundy,  and  a  variety  of 
blues.  There  are  many  colors  and  quali¬ 
ties  in  gabardine  and  serge,  both  of  these 
materials  continuing  to  hold  their  popu¬ 
larity.  Wool  velours  in  black  is  favored 
for  handsome  street  costumes;  it  is  54 
inches  wide,  and  costs  from  about  $2.50 
to  $3  a  yard.  There  are  a  great  many 
fancy  checks  in  velours  and  worsted  that 
are  favored  for  separate  skirts.  Other 
woolen  dress  fabrics  that  are  seeu  include 
English  meltons,  Scotch  tartans,  cheviots 
and  homespuns,  suede,  tricot  aud  diagonal 
weaves  ia  velours,  and  peau  de  souris. 
The  French  twill  serges  are  especially  de¬ 
sirable  for  one-piece  dresses  for  both 
girls  anil  women.  There  are  attractive 
worsted  serges  iu  regimental  stripes  that 
have  attained  much  favor,  and  handsome 
combinations  of  color  iu, velours  checks. 
Soft  browns  are  plentiful,  and  the  taupe 
shade  now  called  field  mouse.  A  moo: 
