Fashion Design Drawing

MATERNITY DRESSES

GARMENTS for maternity wear are so designed that they may be adjusted comfortably to the changing figure and yet keep the trim appearance of a fitted gown. The clothing should be so skilfully planned and made that no undue pressure will rest upon any part of the body. If corsets are worn they must be very loose, and be laced with rubber lacings at the back and over the abdomen. Dresses and negligees may be made of attractive materials, preferably of soft wool or silk, and in plain, solid colors rather than figured effects. They may be prettily trimmed with lace, embroidery and ribbon.

The great trouble has always been with linings, for when they were once made and fitted there was no way of gradually enlarging them. This difficulty has been overcome by lacing the front seams or the darts. (Fig. 248.) Other necessary changes may be made by moving a few hooks and tapes. The waist lining should be basted and fitted in the usual way, making it fit neatly but not too snugly. Turn back the hem at the front of the lining and stitch it with the usual two rows of stitching, making the first row three-eighths of an inch, and the second three-quarters of an inch, from the edge. Work eyelets near the edge the entire length of the front of both sides, and run a very soft and pliable bone in the casing formed by the two rows of the stitching. Or, place the bone near the edge, as in an ordinary lining, and sew eyes, but not the hooks, along both edges, and lace through. them. It would be well to sew a fly or underlap about two inches wide underneath each front, and sew hooks and eyes on their front edges. Lace with a round elastic cord, such as is used for corset lacing.

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After the lining has been fitted, the under-arm scams should be pressed open and bound.. The correct basting line in the side-front and side-back seams should be marked with tailors' tacks or chalk.

Cut four strips of lining on the bias, making each strip three and a half inches wide and a bit longer than the side seams of the front and back. Baste a strip to the under side of the side-front seam with the raw edges together. Baste and stitch them three-eighths of an inch back of the edge. This forms a small plait under each seam. (Fig. 248.) In sewing on the bias strip, one must be particularly careful to ease it over the bust on the outer edges of the side seam. In sewing the strip to the second edge of the side seam the edge nearer the center front the bias band should be stretched at the bust to make it easy over the curve of the figure. Baste the second bias strip to the second side seam in the same way as the first. Take out the basting threads in the side seams and sew back three-eighths of an inch from the edges. This gives you a small fold on which to work the eyelets for the lacing of the fronts.

The other two bias strips are used to finish the side-back seams of the lining. They are handled just like the side-front seams and are also laced together instead of being stitched. The edges of the center-back seam are closed in an ordinary seam.

The eyelets should be placed an inch and a quarter apart and a quarter of an inch in from the edge of the fold. (Fig. 248.) They are made with a stiletto and worked with the ordinary buttonhole stitch.

In a lining made with a dart instead of a seam to the shoulder in the front, rip the darts open and mark the seams with a basting thread ; then make that thread the edge of a tuck, one-quarter inch deep, running not quite to the top of the dart. Work eyelets or sew eyes just back of the tucks of each edge of the dart seam, and slip a round bone into each tuck.

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The shortening in the front, which makes the ordinary skirt undesirable even when the belt is enlarged, is provided against in the maternity skirt by an extension at the top of the pattern as shown in Fig. 249. The crossline perforations indicate where a ribbon casing should be sewed on. A ribbon or tape can be run through it, coming out at a small buttonholed opening in the center

front. When fitting this skirt pin a piece of tape around the figure where the belt would naturally come. The tape will show whether the perforations are in the right place for the casing. The part of the skirt which extends above the casing should have its raw edge overcast or bound. As the skirt becomes short across the front and sides, the casing may be moved up toward the top to lengthen it.