DRESSMAKING AT HOME. 
It may be that a few suggestions in regard to making 
one’s own dresses will be of use to many readers of the 
Cabinet, as it costs nearly as much to get a dress made 
fashionably as it does to buy the material, and an in¬ 
genious lady who knows something of sewing can thus 
save herself much expense. 
In the first place, you need a good tape measure and 
■a tracing wheel, and I am sure any one who spends 2o 
or 30 cents for a tracing wheel will never regret it. for 
with it any pattern can be traced without injuring the 
fabric. 
Next, you need good patterns, one being required for 
the skirt, as well as one for waist and sleeves. A walk¬ 
ing-skirt pattern can be purchased of any of the dealei's 
in these articles for a small sum that will last a long 
while. Measure the length of your skirt from the waist 
line to the floor in the front, on the side, and at the 
back. Make it two inches less in front and at the side, 
and one inch less in the back. It is best to be partic¬ 
ular about taking the measure, as some skirts I have 
known to be two or three inches longer on the side than 
either front or back, and all must have noticed skirts 
that have hung some longer in front, some on the side, 
and in every way that would humiliate a lady who 
knew anything about putting dresses together. The 
reason of all this is because they cut out a skirt by their 
eye, or the side gores on the bias, thinking if they were 
only on the bias it was all right. As a friend once said 
tome, “Why, that skirt isn’t cut on the true bias.’’ 
After taking your skirt measure, lay the pattern on 
your linin g and make it correspond with your meas¬ 
ures, cutting one inch longer than the right measure to 
allow for seams, etc. If your measures are longer than 
the pattern, lengthen it equally at top and bottom, and 
if shorter, run your tracing wheel through the pattern 
corresponding with your measures, shortening only at 
the bottom. It never pays to make a good dress over 
an old lining. Undressed cambric of a slate color is the 
most satisfactory material for this purpose, using for 
•stiffening at the bottom a strip of corded crinoline six 
inches wide, and over this a four-inch facing of alpaca. 
Some people have boasted that they could make a 
dress in one day; but such rapidity loses in effect, for 
the dress would appear old in about the same length of 
time. Commence sewing up your skirt at the bottom, 
letting all the uneveness come out at the top,' so that 
when your braid is on (which must always be shrunk 
■by wetting and drying before putting on) you can 
measure your skirt, fold and baste it at the top to cor¬ 
respond with your measures. 
As to trimming : For a ruche, which is so fashionable 
now, you should take six times the width of the skirt 
plait it in quadruple box-plaits ; but it can be made 
with a little less material by leaving a space between 
the plaits. For a side-pleated or a single box-plaited 
ruffle, take three times the width of the skirt; a double 
box-plaited four times, and a gathered ruffle, one and a 
quarter times the width. It takes from four to five 
yards to make a plain skirt for a medium-sized person, 
and from fifteen to twenty yhrds single width for a 
dress aud trimmings, and as many more yards as your 
purse will allow to make your dress pretty. For double¬ 
width goods, of course, not as many yards aro needed— 
a little more, however, than half of the quantity re¬ 
quired for single width. 
A good way to arrange the draperies, if you have no 
one to stand as model, is to hang a hoop skirt in a door¬ 
way. and when you have finished your dress skirt, put 
it over the hoops, and then from a picture or dross you 
have seen you can, by experimenting a few times, make 
a drapery which will be a surprise to yourself. Pin the 
loopings fast to the skirt, so that when you tako it off 
you can fasten with a needle and thread. 
The waist is the most particular part of the dress. 
Unless that fits nicely the whole effect is spoiled, and 
countless dresses are ruined even by dressmakers who 
consider themselves competent. No two figures are 
exactly alike ; therefore it is useless to take some pat¬ 
tern you can borrow of a friend for economy’s sake, 
for should the bust and waist measure of two persons 
be the same, that does not prove that the length of 
waist, shoulder and arm size will also be. But taking 
for granted that you have a good waist pattern, the 
next most important thing is the lining. Some people 
think if the outside is only right it makes no difference 
what the lining may be—a piece of calico, muslin, or 
most anything will do, aud I have known of some that 
used paper cambric. The nicer the material the more 
particular one ought to be about the lining. Twilled 
silk (which is sold on purpose for linings) is the best for 
a nice dress. Next to that, double-faced silesia (which 
is black one side and gray the other) or English silesia ; 
but never use drilling or jean that is so commonly sold 
for this purpose, unless it may be for a calico dress, and 
then common silesia is better. It may cost one or two 
cents more per yard, but it is wider. The sleeves should 
be lined the same as the waist—they wear so much bet¬ 
ter—as the fashion now is to make them tight-fitting (or 
nearly so). Lay your lining out on a table, double fold, 
and pin your patterns on ; then take your tracing-wheel 
and run through the pattern on the lining where the 
seams are to be sewed. When you remove the pattern, 
pin the two pieces of the lining together, so they do not 
get out of place ; then fold your goods with either the 
right or the wrong sides together (and look well to see 
if there is an up or down to it either in the figure or 
nap), and pin on your lining just as you left it pinned 
together. Cut out the material just like the lining, and 
then you are ready for basting. Separate the pieces 
and take either the back or front of the material and 
lay on a lapboard or low table, with the wrong side up. 
Lay the corresponding piece of lining on the material 
and baste (following out your tracing marks) with 
stitches from a half inch to three-quarters in length. 
Much depends upon basting. Some dressmakers say 
more depends on good basting than anything else. 
From about three inches above the waist line commence 
to full tho lining, and full it three-quarters of an inch 
to the waist lino. This may seem sirange, but it p r& " 
vents small wrinkles around the waist. Baste your 
