Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 May 1894 — TAILOB-CLAD WOMEN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TAILOB-CLAD WOMEN.

HOSTS OF THEM APPEAR WITH THE EARLY SPRING. *he Coctumes Dtoplay Many a Masoullne Touch and the Vtmoat Severity of Flntoh Throughout—Draped Ulp* and Extended Shoulder*—Blonde* In Blue. Gotham Fa*hlon Goastp. Naw York correspondence-

HOSTS of tailor-clad women appeared with the early warm days of spring, and their costumes displayed i many a masculine ’j\ touch and the utmost severity o f finish throughout * Waistcoats abounded which differed \ little from those id worn by men, but Nu as warm weather wX comes their seVI verity will relax. Then we shall see

the soft, loose silk ones, with insertions of lace set in horizontal rows across the breast These waistcoats or shirt fronts, as they are more correctly called, can be' bought ready made, and they open at the side or In the back. The back is “sham, " a high stiff collar goes all around, and there is a wide, stiff belt, but the rest of the back is of lining stuff. Some of the better made fronts are like a sleeveless bodice of lining fastening in front, the silk front without dart crossing over the foundation and fastening down the side seam. Light blue silk, with horizontal insertions of black lace, the collar having its row, and the belt, too, is a favorite design. White with black lace and black with cream lace are still to be stylish; so, too, are scarlet and black lace and purple and black or white. These fronts will be worn with the tailor-made style of dress late into the summer. The wide belt passing entirely about the figure admits of use with the always pretty bobbed eton. The tailor-made gowns, of course, show no signs of overskirt or pannier

effects, but an occasional costume is seen which combines considerable severity of cut with drapery effects, as a compromise between the out-and-out tailor rig and the elaborated gown of the other sort. Such a one is depicted in the initial. Made of a small check cheviot with little adornment, it has a polonaise which fastens with large velvet buttons at the side, and the skirt is pleated at the side. The draped bodice has pockets at each side, and opens over a plain silk plastron. The balloon sleeves are finished with pique cuffs. It is noticeable that all skirts for the street clear the ground, and they appear to be carefully hooked to the * waist line of the bodice both at the back and at the sides, for there is no sagging to be seen.. It is pleasant to report a great gain in the general shipshape trimness of effect in the dressing of the average woman this season. English severity and French care of detail seem to have combined with American dash and individuality, and the result is the best dressed woman the sun ever shone upon, ae you will see over and over again on the street. The rule for stripes now is that they shall be horizontal, and though it is not long since perpendicular ones were permitted, the new style seems at once pretty and correct. In the dress of the second sketch, which is made of skyblue satin liberty, and trimmed with black satin, the ample skirt is laid in pleats in front, through which pass three bias folds of the satin. In back the fullness is simply box-pleated. The bodice goes inside the skirt and opens

over a plain plastron, garnished at the top to correspond with the skirt's trimming. The sleeve cuffs, collar and belt are made of the black satin. Moire continues in popularity, notwithstanding that in the silk ft is as unreliable as patent leather. In the ribbon it can be depended on a little better, so when you decide to have one of those little moire shoulder capes, make it of piece moire, if you have already a skirt of the piece silk which you can make over. But if you are going to buy the material for the cape, then select extra wide sash moire. There will be no wrong side, which will be one advantage, and it will probably wear as long as it ought to without cracking. The cape should be cut on the circle plan, and be made either with no seam or with only one. It may be single or double, and it will be quite a job to turn it out a little cape and not a little botch. On the other hand. the ribbon moire will go full on to the edge of a yoke, and that is all there is to it, but there are a few necessary directions. You cannot gel real thick sash moire on full

enough to the yoke to hang really well. If you try having three rows or bo of shirring, the silk will hang full, to be sure, but it will be stiff, cocxy and illtempered, and do your best you can only get rid of a little more than the usual ‘once and a half round,* no matter how you try to full it more to the edge of the yoke. But if you attach the edge of the ribbon to a double strip of net. a strip that comes above the edges of the ribbon only a half inch or so and that Is turned in firmly bo it won't pull loose, then you may allow even as much as four times around the edge of the yoke. The net is much less heavy to “full" than the edge of the moire itself, and no matter how deep and heavy you make the fullness of the cape, it will hang soft from its heading of net and no one be the wiser. This same trick will make the fulling on of stiff satin and moire about the shoulders of elaborate gowns an

easy matter, and heading is secured as well if you make your strip of net an insertion and sew along it. After all is done, only the ribbon on either side of the net will show, and your best friend will wonder how you ever got that stiff silk to set so full. The artist's third offering is a princess costume for a young woman, made of Scotch tweed. The bodice 1b draped and fastens along the shoulder and under the arm. It is accompanied by an Independent bolero of moire antique. The sleeves have cuffs of the moire antique, and the moderately wide skirt opens at the side to show a pleated panel of the same. Any desirable suiting may be used for the gown of picture No. 4. Its bolero has a ripplea collar in back and simulates a large bow in front. The bodice is perfectly plain, has point in front and back and fastens at the side, and its sleeves are trimmed with chiffon frills. At the top of the skirt basques are attached and it further has a panel front and pleated sides. Beneatn the fullness produced by the basques at the back there is a double boxpleat of the stuff. In the free use of horizontal stripes it is seen that the method of diminishing the apparent size of the waist is combined now with attempt to make the shoulders broader. Tne slender line, formerly much prized, of the upward curve from waist to bust and from waist to under the arms is ignored. One of the prettiest effects shown among many notions in fancy waists is one furnished with bretelles," that start well out on the top of the arm and slant from there to the center of the waist line, concealing entirely the curve of the figure, and in full front view making the figure as nearly a tri-

angle as possible. The apex is the point made at the belt line by the converging of the sides of the bretelles, the base line is across and upon the almost squarely extended shoulders to the tips of the bretelles, and the sides are represented by the bretelles. The latter are so planned that on their inside edge they melt without an intervening line into the loose front of the waist. Thus all curve of the figure across the bust to the sides and under the army is disguised, breadth and upward curve from waist to throat being correspondingly emphasized. A toilet of ailk crepon is the last one shown. The short bodice is garnished in back and front with wide guipure insertion, and by a satin fichu whose ends hang down to the bottom of the skirt and from double pleats at the shoulders. Deep guipure cuffs accompany the large ample sleeves. The skirt is draped in pannier folds about the hips. Fancy waists are very abundant, and their most satisfactory adaptation to theater use is one element of their popularity, for every woman knows how trying it is on a handsome skirt to crush through crowded aisles. After all, the skirt hardly shows, yet, before waists became the fashion we had felt it undignified to only half dress, as it were, and so nobly and uncomfortably sacrificed our skirt. Charming bodices of the fancy waist kind are made of Dresden figured India silks of delicately tinted ground, s’eeves being provided with bishop tops to the elbow of accordion-pleated chiffon of a shade to match either the ground or the figure of the silk. There is also a fancy for employing black chiffon for this part of the waist, though black may not apjpear elsewhere in the waist. This, of course, makes the use of a black skirt entirely harmonious, and further simplifies the question Of suitable and convenient theater party rig. Moir© is to be used on linen dresses for summer use. It is already used on wash materials, but it seems out of place. The beauty of a wash gown is that it looks as if it can go to the tub and be a? good as ever. Accessories in the way of bows and so on are all right, but moire made permanently a part of a wash gown is not really pretty. However, if you want to do it, there is precedent. Copyright, 1894.

Total number of books in the Bible, 66; chapters, 1,189; verses, 31,173; words, 773,746; letters. 3,566,480.

A BLONDE IN SKY-BLUE

BOLERO OF MOIRE ANTIQUE.

HERE'S WIDTH FOR YOU

DRAPED HIPS, EXTENDED SHOULDERS