1914 . 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1135 
A DRESSMAKING LESSON. 
Making a Tunic Skirt. 
M ANY amateur dressmakers seem to 
find the tunic skirt a problem, so we 
asked May Manton to give us a practical 
lesson on it. This is a very useful pat¬ 
tern for making two old dresses into one 
new one, as different materials may be 
S341 Russian Tunic Skirt. 
used for skirt and tunic, the waist being 
combined to correspond, sleeves or trim- 
ing being of the one material, bodice of 
the other. The lesson tells how to make 
the skirt from 44-inch material. With 
the open tunic the entire skirt should be 
of one material, but with the closed tunic 
it is wiser to reduce both the weight of 
the skirt and the cost by using lining ma¬ 
terial for the skirt and facing it to a 
sufficient depth above the edge of the 
tunic. 
In the diagram at right are shown the 
two portions of the skirt and the belt, in 
the left, the two portions of the tunic; 
all laid on material 44 inches wide folded 
lengthwise. Note that iu the case of the 
tunic there is a tiny little section separ¬ 
ate from the main portion of the front. 
The section must be cut separately and 
seamed to the side edges because the ma¬ 
terial is not wide enough to cut the en¬ 
tire tunic in one piece, but when the 
seams are well stitched and carefully 
pressed they will not be noticed. If you 
use narrower material, it will be neces¬ 
sary to make larger piecings of this sort. 
This skirt can be made with either a high 
or a natural waistline, but we will first 
consider the high waistline shown in the 
illustration. 
First, smooth out the different pieces 
and pin them carefully into place, as in¬ 
dicated, with the edges marked by the 
triple crosses on the fold. The group 
of three large perforations indicates the 
front of the skirt and it is important to 
bear this in mind since the two pieces are 
much alike. 
Mark all around the outside edges with 
a tracing wheel or tailor’s chalk and 
mark the various notches and perfora¬ 
tions. Mark through to the other side 
with tailor’s tacks. Then cut your ma¬ 
terials as far beyond the traced outline 
as is necessary to make a good seam. 
For broadcloth or other closely woven 
material a narrow seam will suffice, but 
if you are using loosely woven material 
that will fray readily a wider seam will 
be needed. Baste on the traced line and 
the perfect contour will be preserved. 
To make the skirt, close the seams, 
leaving an opening at the left side above 
the notches. Under-face the front edge of 
the opening and finish back with an ex¬ 
tension underlap. Take up the darts in 
the back of the skirt only, bringing the 
perforations together. 
Close the portions of the tunic, leaving 
an opening at the left seam above the 
notches and finish as directed for the 
skirt. If you like the open edges, cut 
the tunic through at the center front and 
turn the edges under on the line's of 
perforations. Then finish the lower edge. 
If the closed tunic is to be used, finish 
the lower edge in the way best adapted 
to the material. Gather the tunic at the 
upper edge between the double crosses 
and arrange it over the skirt with the 
center backs, seams and edges of the 
plackets exactly together, with the front 
edges of the open tunic two inches within 
the center of the skirt or the center of 
the closed tunic exactly at the center of 
the skirt. Arrange both skirt and tunic 
over webbing or belting one and one- 
half inches wide, and close invisibly. 
For the natural waistline, mark the 
double crosses in the tunic below the per¬ 
forations at the uper edge: then cut all 
portions of the pattern off on the perfor¬ 
ations nearest the upper edges and pro¬ 
ceed exactly as directed, but take up the 
darts in the front as well as in the back 
of the skirt. Join both the skirt and the 
tunic to the belt with the center backs 
together, the center fronts at the large 
perforation in the belt, and cut the left 
side of the belt off at the edge of the 
opening. 
For the skirt will be needed 314 yards 
of material 27, 2% yards 44, 2% yards 
50 inches wide, and for the tunic 3y> 
yards 27, 2% yards 44, 50 inches wide. 
If remodeling is in process and thex-e is 
already a two-piece skirt on hand, the 
tunic can be adjusted over that quite as 
well as the one in the pattern. If one 
has a bine serge suit, the addition of a 
tunic of black taffeta or black moii*e ben- 
galine with coat trimming of the same 
would make a new costume at very little 
cost. 
Concerning Preserving Powders. 
O NE August day, my neighbor came 
calling. She brought a parcel which 
she carefully placed upon the table. After 
a while, when greetings had been ex¬ 
changed and we were comfortably set¬ 
tled for a good chat, she undid the wrap¬ 
pings, disclosing a glass jar of canned 
corn which she held up for my inspection. 
“I brought this over for you to try, 
Marie,” she said. "I know you prepare 
your Winter supply of corn, and use the 
tedious, long-boiling process. Sister and 
I have been doing ours a new way. You 
add this powder to the corn, cook 20 min¬ 
utes, and put into the cans. It keeps 
splendidly. I’m sure you’ll like it, for 
it’s so much easier.” 
Forewarned is forearmed; I knew that 
injurious substances are usually found in 
such preparations, so was not atti’acted 
by the bait, but it annoyed me to find 
my friend, a frail woman past middle 
age, so easily misled. 
“Now, Heni-ietta Brown,” I scolded, 
“do you know what that stuff is made 
of? Of course not. neither do I, and that 
is a good and sufficient reason why I 
will not use it. The Department of Agri¬ 
culture has sown bulletins broadcast over 
the country, explaining to the housewives 
how to preserve their vegetables and save 
money. Their way is to sterilize by heat 
Do you think if there was a safe short 
cut they wouldn’t mention it? The stuff 
which is put iuto those proprietary pre¬ 
parations is the very same that has been 
forbidden to the manufacturers by the 
pure food laws—boric acid, salicylic acid, 
saccharin, and others. It amounts to 
this: The men who prepare canned goods 
are no longer allowed to poison us whole¬ 
sale, so we buy the same ingx-edients and 
poison ourselves, because it’s so much 
easier. Let me show you what the authoi’- 
ities say about it.” 
I hunted for the bulletins from which 
I had gleaned my little stox-e of informa¬ 
tion and soon found what I wanted. 
Then I read extracts, telling of careful 
experiments, made by chemists em¬ 
ployed by the government, to determine 
whether these preservatives weie harmful, 
and of the results obtained; also other 
extx-acts, warning the housewife against 
so-called preserving powders which, in 
small quantities, may not injure a per¬ 
son in nox-mal health, but which may pro¬ 
duce effects of a serious nature in a child 
or invalid. It was all plain and convinc¬ 
ing, and Henrietta’s face was very sober 
when I finished. She didn’t say much, 
just thanked me, put on her hat, and 
went home. 
“She wants to consult with her sister,” 
I said to myself, “but she’ll do the right 
thing in the end. One may trust Hen¬ 
rietta for that.” 
The same evening I was summoned to 
the telephone and found my neighbor on 
the line. 
“Sister and I have talked it over,” she 
said, “and we’ve decided to write to the 
Bureau of Food and Drug Inspection, in 
Washington, D. C., and find out about 
that preparation. You see we don’t like 
to throw away all that good material un¬ 
less we really know that it is harmful.” 
I warmly applauded this decision, for 
it shifted a load of responsibility from 
my shoulders. A week later, Henrietta 
called me again by telephone. 
“Well, it has turned out as you pre¬ 
dicted,” she said. “We wrote to the 
chemists and sent a sample, though we 
didn’t need to, for they knew all about it. 
The answer came yesterday. The pre¬ 
paration is mostly boi'ic acid. I’ve just 
made a clean sweep, and dumped all that 
corn in the pig-trough. I guess uiw I’ll 
stick to the good old way.” 
“Never mind.” I consoled her, “it’s 
better than poisoning John and the chil¬ 
dren. I’ll come over any day you say, 
and help you can another lot.” 
Then I hung up the receiver with a 
sigh of relief, for it was plain that my 
neighbor was a wiser, if also a sadder 
woman. >r. e. colegrove. 
T HE following is a tested recipe for 
preparing tomato figs: Select six 
pounds of small pear yellow and red to¬ 
matoes that are fully ripe, or use the 
little peach tomatoes. Put them in a bas¬ 
ket, plunge them into boiling water for a 
moment and remove the skim; do not 
break the tomatoes. Cover the bottom 
of a porcelain-lined kettle with a portion 
of three pounds of sugar; put over a layer 
of tomatoes and the remainder of the 
sugar. D» not have more than two lay¬ 
ers of tomatoes; in fact, it is better to do 
one layer at si time. Cook over a moder¬ 
ate fire slowly until the sugar penetrates 
to the very center. Dip tomatoes out 
with a skimmer; spread on platters and 
set in the hot sun for one or two days. 
Take in at night before the dew. While 
they are drying sprinkle several times 
with granulated sugar. When perfectly 
dry put between layers of waxed paper 
in tin boxes. They keep well, and are 
very dainty. 
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