Below Fifth GradePer cent.Fifth GradePer cent.Sixth GradePer cent.Seventh GradePer cent.Eighth GradePer cent.GraduatePer cent.High SchoolPer cent.190281935262100190311181929615219046111525162521905715191917194190681620231713319077102523151821908415262013166
During 1908, 143 older women were admitted to a special workroom opened for the "unemployed."
III. Filing of working papers is required of girls under sixteen.
1. No girl under sixteen can work in New York unless she has an Employment Certificate issued by the Board of Health, and then only from 8A.M.to 5P.M., or for eight hours daily.
2. The public school last attended by the girl is responsible for her until she is sixteen, or has her working papers, or is dismissed to another school. If dismissed to Manhattan Trade School her attendance there cannot be made compulsory, and she may attend a few days and then leave and work illegally. Our facilities for following up such cases are limited. With her working papers on file we know she is not evading the law, and can dismiss her to work if she is not a success in trade lines of training.
3. Exceptions: Lack of proper birth record, on account of foreign birth or failure to make record of it by officials, may prevent the obtaining of an Employment Certificate. A special provision is made by the Board of Health in such cases, and, pending adjustment, the girl is admitted upon notice of date of future issuance.
IV. Reference: Some reliable person's name is required of each applying student, in order to have some one to communicate with in case of difficulty of any kind.
V. Application in person: Each girl fills out an application blank giving name, address, and birthplace of self, father, and mother, public school attendance,previous trade experience, if any, trade desired, reference. This must be written at the school, for the manner in which it is done is a large part of test for admission.
The school year begins in July, but a girl is admitted any Monday when there is a vacancy in the department she wishes to enter. The following table gives record of yearly admission:
Nov. 2,1902(first day)20Rest of1902931903139190419319052391906328190743319086891909517Total2,651
Some of these students did not remain long enough to take a thorough training, for home demands made even a small wage imperative, and the girl had to join the ranks of earners ill prepared. Some were not adapted to trade conditions, and soon fell out by the way. Many persisted until they took more than theaverage twelve months' course, and went into business at a proportionately higher wage.
I. Attendance: 1. Daily, Monday to Friday inclusive. The factory method of time cards punched by a clock upon entrance and leaving has been adopted as being most exact, businesslike, and time saving. It registers the exact time when rung, and so indicates tardiness as well as absence.
2. Weekly. A small filing card ruled for fifty-two weeks summarizes the daily record of time cards and requires the marking attendance only once a week. This file is subdivided into departments and again into classes, so that the statistics of enrollment are easily gathered.
II. Individual records: 1. Upon admission a record card is started for each girl, no matter how long she may attend. This contains (1) the data given upon the application blank copied in detail; (2) Student Aid, if given, amount, date, and remarks.
2. Upon leaving, entries are made on the same card of (1) date and cause of leaving; (2) record in different departments—Art, Academic, Trade, and Health; (3) certificate—kind, record, date. This is not granted until the pupil has proved satisfactory in her trade both in the school and in business; (4) Trade Record—upon the reverse side of the card is the "record in trade after leaving school," with columns for date, employer, kind of work, wages, remarks. This is kept up by the Placement Secretary by frequent visits and letters, and gives the basis for many valuable deductions as to the practical results of the training.
III. Other records kept in departments are (1) Student Aid: application and information; (2) Health: examinations upon entrance and future reëxaminations; (3) Department: records of each girl as she passes from class to class, such as "attitude," speed, and skill.
The school is in session forty-eight weeks each year, four weeks being given up to one-week vacations at Christmas, Easter, Fourth of July, and Labor Day. The summer session is the beginning of the regular work, and not a unit for summer training. No one is admitted for the summer only, as the time is too short for real trade standards to be approached.
The tuition is absolutely free. The Manhattan Trade School aims to reach the poorest girl who has little chance to advance rapidly unless some one gives her a lift. In order to do this most effectively it is sometimes necessary to assist her. (See the report of the Student Aid Work.)
A girl upon application can select the trade into which she wishes to go. If after a month's trial she proves competent, she is allowed to continue; if not, she is advised to change to another department or to seek employment in work not taught at the Trade School. If a girl has no choice of trade because of ignorance of possibilities, she is shown the kinds taught and givena chance to make a selection. If then she is undecided, she is advised to take what seems best adapted to the time she can spend and the type of girl she appears to be.
However simple a school is, some bookkeeping is necessary, and when with the running of the school is combined the management of trade order supplies and receipts the problem becomes very complicated. (See Trade Order Work.)
I. General: A system of up-to-date bookkeeping of General Ledger, Invoice Book, and Daily Exhibit, with details worked out in Petty Cash and Maintenance Books, has been adopted. These few simple books so distribute accounts of expense and receipts that one can soon see the standing of the whole school or of a single department. All bookkeeping is centralized in one office, except the taking of orders and the details of filling them, which must be in the hands of the department concerned.
II. Departmental: 1. Requisition blanks for purchases made. 2. Order blank and duplicate for order given by customer. 3. Time slips, wherever possible, to get exact record of time value of work done. 4. Material slips, to keep account of what has gone into any orders. 5. Final billing, to give data for bills sent out from main office and duplicate filed there for final records.
To train girls to work on sewing machines run by electric power and to put a thinker behind every machine as its operator. The department hopes by awakening intelligent interest in the tool,i. e., the machine, to kindle ambition in the workers. It is only through the intelligent use of the tool and consequent love of work which follows that we can look forward to supplying the skilled machine workers of the future. This training must be given while the girls are in the formative period, to develop habits of thought and action which will counteract the bad effects upon the worker that follow division and subdivision of work, with consequent subdivision of ability, which takes place in all factories today. When a pupil has been thoroughly trained in the intelligent use of her tool, when she has learned to construct complete garments, if she is then, through force of circumstances such as modern production entails, compelled to carry out one process on the machine indefinitely, or to make one part of a garment, she still holds the balance of power in being prepared to do something else when opportunity or necessity demands.
I. A pupil must be given a short time to adjust herself to the workshop environment, consequently she is put first at some simple work, such as ripping or cutting up old garments. This gives her freedom while using her hands to look about the workroom and to getaccustomed to the sight as well as to the sound of machines in action.
II. The pupil is taught to control the power by which the machine is run, and is then given an intelligent understanding of the mechanism of the machine or machines she is to operate.
III. The pupil then begins her regular course of work, and her feeling of responsibility of the value oftimeis awakened—that is, her seconds, minutes, and hours, days, weeks, and months are now important factors in her life, and they may be used for good or evil. In the language of the department, time may be spent wisely or foolishly, and, while studying at the Manhattan Trade School, seven hours out of every day of the girl's life is given over to productive work and should be accounted for. The department has developed its own plan of time payments, which is much like the piece-work system employed in trade. Through its rewards for time well spent it makes the fact real to the pupils, as no form of punishment could do, that wasted time is gone forever.
The department is divided into five classes, three of which must be taken to make an all-round operator, namely: Elementary, two months' course; Intermediate, four months' course; Advanced, six months' course. In trade, salaries for such positions range from $5 to $15. The other two classes train specialists on the electric machines, special machines of various kinds, straw-sewing machines. Special machine work requires from three months to one year in addition to the full course of all-round operating. Salaries range from $6to $30. An expert trade worker is in charge of each class.
Course of WorkRegular Operating Course:1. Control of power—learning names and uses of parts of machines. Making bags, clothes, and operator's equipment.2. Straight and bias stitching, equal distance apart.3. Spaced bias stitching from given measurements.4. Making and turning square corners, stitching heavy edge for tension practice.5. Machine table apron, using former principles. This is used to protect operator from shafting and oil.6. Seams: Plain seam, plain and band seam; French seam; bag seam on warp; bag seam, one warp and one bias; bag seam, two biases.7. Hemming: Different sized hems turned by hand for correct measurements; hems run through hemmer to learn use of attachment and give speed; seams through hemmer—bag seam, flat fell.8. Quilting: Following designs made by pupils in Art Department. Practice for control of power, starting and stopping machine at given point.9. Banding: Straight and bias bands placed by measurement from design made in Art Department. Practice for edge stitching, turning corners, accuracy of measurement.10. Advanced seams on cloth and silk: Flannel seam, slot seam, umbrella seam.11. Yokes made and put on: Round yokes—petticoats; round front and straight back—drawers and petticoats; bias yokes—waists; shaped yokes—aprons; round yokes—children's dresses; miter corner yoke—dresses.12. Tucking: Free hand tucking for accuracy in measuring and use of rule; special tucking on length and widths of different materials to give speed and skill in handling different fabrics.General Construction: Trade Stock and Order Work (See Order Work): Infants' slips, children's underwear; children's rompers; children's dresses; women's underwear; shirtwaists; aprons; house dresses; fancy negligees.Special Machine Work:Buttonholes; tucking; two-needle work; hemstitching; Bonnaz (Corneli) embroidery; machine hand embroidery, scalloping. Students of special ability only are fitted to take this course. One girl in fifteen has usually the requisite application and self-control to operate a special machine successfully. Each machine is specialized,i. e., does its own particular work and no other. Patient attention to little things is required on the part of the operator in order that good results may be produced. Such machines are supposed to need only a hand behind them to guide the work. Our experience has proved to us that good results are produced only when intelligence and patience are factors. In the factories, machinists keep the special machines in order, but the school aims to train the operator to keep her own machine in good condition, thus saving her valuable time.
Course of Work
Regular Operating Course:
1. Control of power—learning names and uses of parts of machines. Making bags, clothes, and operator's equipment.2. Straight and bias stitching, equal distance apart.3. Spaced bias stitching from given measurements.4. Making and turning square corners, stitching heavy edge for tension practice.5. Machine table apron, using former principles. This is used to protect operator from shafting and oil.6. Seams: Plain seam, plain and band seam; French seam; bag seam on warp; bag seam, one warp and one bias; bag seam, two biases.7. Hemming: Different sized hems turned by hand for correct measurements; hems run through hemmer to learn use of attachment and give speed; seams through hemmer—bag seam, flat fell.8. Quilting: Following designs made by pupils in Art Department. Practice for control of power, starting and stopping machine at given point.9. Banding: Straight and bias bands placed by measurement from design made in Art Department. Practice for edge stitching, turning corners, accuracy of measurement.10. Advanced seams on cloth and silk: Flannel seam, slot seam, umbrella seam.11. Yokes made and put on: Round yokes—petticoats; round front and straight back—drawers and petticoats; bias yokes—waists; shaped yokes—aprons; round yokes—children's dresses; miter corner yoke—dresses.12. Tucking: Free hand tucking for accuracy in measuring and use of rule; special tucking on length and widths of different materials to give speed and skill in handling different fabrics.General Construction: Trade Stock and Order Work (See Order Work): Infants' slips, children's underwear; children's rompers; children's dresses; women's underwear; shirtwaists; aprons; house dresses; fancy negligees.
1. Control of power—learning names and uses of parts of machines. Making bags, clothes, and operator's equipment.
2. Straight and bias stitching, equal distance apart.
3. Spaced bias stitching from given measurements.
4. Making and turning square corners, stitching heavy edge for tension practice.
5. Machine table apron, using former principles. This is used to protect operator from shafting and oil.
6. Seams: Plain seam, plain and band seam; French seam; bag seam on warp; bag seam, one warp and one bias; bag seam, two biases.
7. Hemming: Different sized hems turned by hand for correct measurements; hems run through hemmer to learn use of attachment and give speed; seams through hemmer—bag seam, flat fell.
8. Quilting: Following designs made by pupils in Art Department. Practice for control of power, starting and stopping machine at given point.
9. Banding: Straight and bias bands placed by measurement from design made in Art Department. Practice for edge stitching, turning corners, accuracy of measurement.
10. Advanced seams on cloth and silk: Flannel seam, slot seam, umbrella seam.
11. Yokes made and put on: Round yokes—petticoats; round front and straight back—drawers and petticoats; bias yokes—waists; shaped yokes—aprons; round yokes—children's dresses; miter corner yoke—dresses.
12. Tucking: Free hand tucking for accuracy in measuring and use of rule; special tucking on length and widths of different materials to give speed and skill in handling different fabrics.
General Construction: Trade Stock and Order Work (See Order Work): Infants' slips, children's underwear; children's rompers; children's dresses; women's underwear; shirtwaists; aprons; house dresses; fancy negligees.
Special Machine Work:
Buttonholes; tucking; two-needle work; hemstitching; Bonnaz (Corneli) embroidery; machine hand embroidery, scalloping. Students of special ability only are fitted to take this course. One girl in fifteen has usually the requisite application and self-control to operate a special machine successfully. Each machine is specialized,i. e., does its own particular work and no other. Patient attention to little things is required on the part of the operator in order that good results may be produced. Such machines are supposed to need only a hand behind them to guide the work. Our experience has proved to us that good results are produced only when intelligence and patience are factors. In the factories, machinists keep the special machines in order, but the school aims to train the operator to keep her own machine in good condition, thus saving her valuable time.
Bonnaz (Corneli) embroidery work offers excellent opportunities for correlation with the Art Department. Both Bonnaz (Corneli) and machine hand embroidery must be felt in the muscles before they can be carried out on the material, therefore the work with the pencil in making designs which are to be carried out on the machine is of first importance. Free-hand designs must be made first in large, free movements on the machineuntil the arm muscles are thoroughly familiar with the curve, sweep, and feeling to be executed. After mastery of movement and sweep are acquired, the same designs may be reduced in size ten or twenty times and the pupil will still work them out in perfect rhythm. After the mastery of movement is acquired, the cording, braiding, and three-thread attachment work are easily learned by a pupil who has the necessary mechanical sense. The course of Bonnaz (Corneli) work covers: chain stitch, lettering, appliqué work, cording, braiding, three-thread work.
Machine hand embroidery should be given as a supplementary course to Bonnaz (Corneli) embroidery. It gives excellent training in design and color work.
Special trade machine straw sewing should also be taken up after the regular course in operating. It gives splendid exercise for quick handling of material, but makes a poor foundation of itself on which to build a painstaking, expert, all-round operator. Speed is the first requisite in getting a hat properly shaped, as the straw braid is flying through the machine at the rate of four thousand stitches a minute; hence the general operating is given first to the pupil to train her in the requisite neatness. As straw-sewing has long slack seasons, the operator can during such times return to the regular operating.
The aim of the Dressmaking Department is to train girls in the elements of the dressmaking trade, in orderto enable them to immediately secure employment as improvers and finishers or as assistants on skirts, waists, and sleeves, and to give them a preparation which will help them eventually to rise to positions of skill and responsibility. The training eliminates the errand girl and apprenticeship stages, and makes possible a living wage at the start. The result is accomplished in from nine to seventeen months, the time depending entirely upon the capability of the girl, her physical condition, her application to her work, her regularity of attendance, and her previous training.
The department is divided into three sections: (1) The Elementary, which consists of two classes for the teaching of simple sewing and machine work. This section is rendered necessary by the poor preparation of the students at the entrance. It would be not only practical but desirable for elementary public and industrial schools so to train their students that they could omit this part of the Manhattan Trade School course. (2) The Vocational. This section also includes two classes. The work is tradelike in character, but much time has to be given to developing right habits of work as well as to learning specific kinds of handwork. The public secondary schools could offer this section to advantage, and through it train pupils for a better knowledge of the home or for future livelihood. (3) The Trade Section. This is a business shop, which reproduces trade conditions as nearly as possible and is subdivided into the same progressive divisions.Although the object is to work as trade does, the educational aim is also prominent, and the course of training has been planned with both ends in view. Order work plays an important part in this section, for it makes possible the quantity and variety of material necessary to supply the many repetitions of important phases of dressmaking, the new views of old principles, and the elaborate costume manufacturing which are needed in the training. It would be impossible for a school to adequately deal with the many varieties of garments in this trade without some equivalent for the order work. The use of models or of practice material is not satisfactory on account of the great difference between theoretical and practical knowledge in handling valuable materials. A girl may learn to run fine tucks on cheesecloth, but this will not enable her to do satisfactory hand-tucking on chiffon. Neither is it a correct educational or economic principle to cut up quantities of good material, which the students will look upon as "rags," and then, after working on them, to throw them into a receptacle for waste or sell them simply to get rid of them. To secure the best results in any line of instruction there must be interest and enthusiasm. The aim, therefore, must be definite and the results vital. The work is planned to foster these higher qualities. The students produce articles for a definite use; they are given a required time in which the work should be completed; trade itself sets the standard of judgment, and a definite relation exists between the work of all the classes, so that old principles may be recognized when presented in new forms.
I. Elementary Section. (1) Beginners' Class. First, a test is given each girl when she enters which enables her instructor to judge of her ability in sewing. It has been found necessary, in the majority of cases, to teach all or the greater part of the following principles: the use of sewing utensils, the making of the stitches, their application in articles, and the running of the sewing machine. Hence the second step has been a course of work covering the use of these needed principles, each girl beginning at the point where she needs training. Third, the final test. On the satisfactory completion of this very elementary training a test is given to show a girl's ability to work, to think, and to utilize ideas. If she is not yet fully prepared, further time is spent in emphasizing the points she still requires.
The work in the Beginners' Class is done upon articles which have a trade value and which are sold to customers or to the students for about the cost of the materials. The school furnishes the materials for all elementary work, but the students must provide their own tools and keep them in good condition. These include a thimble, needles, scissors, a tape measure, an emery, and a white apron.
Class instruction followed by individual criticism is the method of teaching in the Elementary Section. Emphasis is placed upon the proper use of the utensils, the position of the body, and the handling of the work. Individual records are kept of the grade of work and of the time taken to finish a problem. The course takesfrom two to three months to complete, and the students are at work four and one-half hours per day.
Outline of Work in Beginners' Class1. Stitches and special forms of sewing: Basting, running, overhanding, overcasting, hemming, blind stitching, sewing on buttons (two hole, four hole), buttonholes, featherstitching.2. Seams: Plain; selvage and raw edges; French; felled; straight and bias edges; overhanded.3. Machine stitching: Straight seams and rows; hems; facings—points; use of tucker.4. Principles: Measuring, seams, hems, tucks, cutting by a thread; matching stripes; turning and basting hems; making casing for drawstrings; putting on band—by hand, by machine—one and two pieces; setting strings into bands; finishing ends of hems; putting on pockets—straight and shaped; plain placket; cutting bias strips; piecing bias strips; facing curved and straight edges (armholes, neck, waist, points); joining waist and skirt with bias facing; making straight tucked ruffle; inserting ruffle under tuck on skirt; ripping.5. Articles used in the work (this list is changed at will and is merely representative): Handwork—Pin cushion, bag, towel, white apron with ruffle. Machine work—Belt, gingham apron oversleeves, child's dress with waist, uniform apron.6. Supplementary work: Shoe bags, silver cases, holders, bibs, silk bags, darning bags, needle books, traveling cases, baby caps and work of a similar character.7. Materials used: Cotton, linen, silk.
Outline of Work in Beginners' Class
1. Stitches and special forms of sewing: Basting, running, overhanding, overcasting, hemming, blind stitching, sewing on buttons (two hole, four hole), buttonholes, featherstitching.2. Seams: Plain; selvage and raw edges; French; felled; straight and bias edges; overhanded.3. Machine stitching: Straight seams and rows; hems; facings—points; use of tucker.4. Principles: Measuring, seams, hems, tucks, cutting by a thread; matching stripes; turning and basting hems; making casing for drawstrings; putting on band—by hand, by machine—one and two pieces; setting strings into bands; finishing ends of hems; putting on pockets—straight and shaped; plain placket; cutting bias strips; piecing bias strips; facing curved and straight edges (armholes, neck, waist, points); joining waist and skirt with bias facing; making straight tucked ruffle; inserting ruffle under tuck on skirt; ripping.5. Articles used in the work (this list is changed at will and is merely representative): Handwork—Pin cushion, bag, towel, white apron with ruffle. Machine work—Belt, gingham apron oversleeves, child's dress with waist, uniform apron.6. Supplementary work: Shoe bags, silver cases, holders, bibs, silk bags, darning bags, needle books, traveling cases, baby caps and work of a similar character.7. Materials used: Cotton, linen, silk.
1. Stitches and special forms of sewing: Basting, running, overhanding, overcasting, hemming, blind stitching, sewing on buttons (two hole, four hole), buttonholes, featherstitching.
2. Seams: Plain; selvage and raw edges; French; felled; straight and bias edges; overhanded.
3. Machine stitching: Straight seams and rows; hems; facings—points; use of tucker.
4. Principles: Measuring, seams, hems, tucks, cutting by a thread; matching stripes; turning and basting hems; making casing for drawstrings; putting on band—by hand, by machine—one and two pieces; setting strings into bands; finishing ends of hems; putting on pockets—straight and shaped; plain placket; cutting bias strips; piecing bias strips; facing curved and straight edges (armholes, neck, waist, points); joining waist and skirt with bias facing; making straight tucked ruffle; inserting ruffle under tuck on skirt; ripping.
5. Articles used in the work (this list is changed at will and is merely representative): Handwork—Pin cushion, bag, towel, white apron with ruffle. Machine work—Belt, gingham apron oversleeves, child's dress with waist, uniform apron.
6. Supplementary work: Shoe bags, silver cases, holders, bibs, silk bags, darning bags, needle books, traveling cases, baby caps and work of a similar character.
7. Materials used: Cotton, linen, silk.
(2) Intermediate Class. The Beginners' Class gives most of its time to hand sewing, the Intermediate Classemphasizes machine sewing. The work is a repetition of the principles taught in the Beginners' Class, but is presented in a different manner, with new applications. Orders are taken from individuals or business houses for the garments which are made in this course. The price is that of the trade. These orders furnish a market for the entire output of the class. A certain amount of class instruction is given, but the girls are expected to do independent work under supervision.
Outline of Work in Intermediate Class1. Review of former principles on new garments: (1) French seam—straight edges, baby slips and nightgowns. (2) Hems, (a) straight, (b) turned by hand, on princess aprons, bloomers, sleeves, etc., (c) turned by machine—hemmer on ruffles, for drawers and petticoats. (3) Overcasting—seams of skirts. (4) Buttonholes—all garments. (5) Plackets—plain hemmed, on skirts, baby slips. (6) Bias bands—joining and applying to straight and curved edges, on princess aprons, drawers, top of petticoat. (7) Ruffle—joining, measuring, and applying under tuck, on skirt and drawers. (8) Machine instruction—threading, setting needles, winding bobbin, scale of thread, needle, and stitch.2. New principles: (1) Flat fell—shaped and bias edges on princess aprons and drawers. (2) French seam—shaped edges in petticoat seams. (3) Loops—on petticoats and dressing sacques. (4) Hems—shaped edges in gored skirts, princess aprons and nightgowns, baby slips and children's dresses. (5) Overhanding—pieces on nightgowns, piecing ruffles and lace on underwear. (6) Plackets—faced in drawers, petticoats, bloomers, and dress skirts. (7) Bias band—applying to top of ruffle in petticoats and drawers. (8) Bias binding—corsetcover and nightgown. (9) Ruffle—finishing with bias bands on petticoat and drawers. (10) Cuffs—making and applying to nightgowns, baby slips, rompers, and house dresses. (11) Sleeves—gathering on wrong side and putting into baby slips, nightgowns, dressing sacques, etc. (12) Pressing. (13) Sewing hooks and eyes on petticoats. (14) Machine instruction in cleaning, oiling, and attachments.3. List of articles made for stock and order: Aprons—princess, maids', fancy. Women's clothes—dressing sacques, nightgowns, kimonos, lounging robes, house dresses, chemises, drawers, skirts (washable, mohair, silk), collars, and corset covers. Children's clothes—nightdresses, night drawers, drawers, skirts, rompers, dresses, and aprons.4. Materials used: Cotton, silk, woolen, and worsted.
Outline of Work in Intermediate Class
1. Review of former principles on new garments: (1) French seam—straight edges, baby slips and nightgowns. (2) Hems, (a) straight, (b) turned by hand, on princess aprons, bloomers, sleeves, etc., (c) turned by machine—hemmer on ruffles, for drawers and petticoats. (3) Overcasting—seams of skirts. (4) Buttonholes—all garments. (5) Plackets—plain hemmed, on skirts, baby slips. (6) Bias bands—joining and applying to straight and curved edges, on princess aprons, drawers, top of petticoat. (7) Ruffle—joining, measuring, and applying under tuck, on skirt and drawers. (8) Machine instruction—threading, setting needles, winding bobbin, scale of thread, needle, and stitch.2. New principles: (1) Flat fell—shaped and bias edges on princess aprons and drawers. (2) French seam—shaped edges in petticoat seams. (3) Loops—on petticoats and dressing sacques. (4) Hems—shaped edges in gored skirts, princess aprons and nightgowns, baby slips and children's dresses. (5) Overhanding—pieces on nightgowns, piecing ruffles and lace on underwear. (6) Plackets—faced in drawers, petticoats, bloomers, and dress skirts. (7) Bias band—applying to top of ruffle in petticoats and drawers. (8) Bias binding—corsetcover and nightgown. (9) Ruffle—finishing with bias bands on petticoat and drawers. (10) Cuffs—making and applying to nightgowns, baby slips, rompers, and house dresses. (11) Sleeves—gathering on wrong side and putting into baby slips, nightgowns, dressing sacques, etc. (12) Pressing. (13) Sewing hooks and eyes on petticoats. (14) Machine instruction in cleaning, oiling, and attachments.3. List of articles made for stock and order: Aprons—princess, maids', fancy. Women's clothes—dressing sacques, nightgowns, kimonos, lounging robes, house dresses, chemises, drawers, skirts (washable, mohair, silk), collars, and corset covers. Children's clothes—nightdresses, night drawers, drawers, skirts, rompers, dresses, and aprons.4. Materials used: Cotton, silk, woolen, and worsted.
1. Review of former principles on new garments: (1) French seam—straight edges, baby slips and nightgowns. (2) Hems, (a) straight, (b) turned by hand, on princess aprons, bloomers, sleeves, etc., (c) turned by machine—hemmer on ruffles, for drawers and petticoats. (3) Overcasting—seams of skirts. (4) Buttonholes—all garments. (5) Plackets—plain hemmed, on skirts, baby slips. (6) Bias bands—joining and applying to straight and curved edges, on princess aprons, drawers, top of petticoat. (7) Ruffle—joining, measuring, and applying under tuck, on skirt and drawers. (8) Machine instruction—threading, setting needles, winding bobbin, scale of thread, needle, and stitch.
2. New principles: (1) Flat fell—shaped and bias edges on princess aprons and drawers. (2) French seam—shaped edges in petticoat seams. (3) Loops—on petticoats and dressing sacques. (4) Hems—shaped edges in gored skirts, princess aprons and nightgowns, baby slips and children's dresses. (5) Overhanding—pieces on nightgowns, piecing ruffles and lace on underwear. (6) Plackets—faced in drawers, petticoats, bloomers, and dress skirts. (7) Bias band—applying to top of ruffle in petticoats and drawers. (8) Bias binding—corsetcover and nightgown. (9) Ruffle—finishing with bias bands on petticoat and drawers. (10) Cuffs—making and applying to nightgowns, baby slips, rompers, and house dresses. (11) Sleeves—gathering on wrong side and putting into baby slips, nightgowns, dressing sacques, etc. (12) Pressing. (13) Sewing hooks and eyes on petticoats. (14) Machine instruction in cleaning, oiling, and attachments.
3. List of articles made for stock and order: Aprons—princess, maids', fancy. Women's clothes—dressing sacques, nightgowns, kimonos, lounging robes, house dresses, chemises, drawers, skirts (washable, mohair, silk), collars, and corset covers. Children's clothes—nightdresses, night drawers, drawers, skirts, rompers, dresses, and aprons.
4. Materials used: Cotton, silk, woolen, and worsted.
II. Vocational Section. The increasing demand for ready-made clothing has opened a new field for girls obliged to enter the business world as soon as the law will permit them to leave school. This requires hand finishing on fancy waists and plain and fancy gowns, which are made by the dozens on machines run by electric power. It is not necessary to have a knowledge of actual dressmaking to be able to do this work. The ability to do good handwork rapidly is the prerequisite. In some establishments there are opportunities for girls of ability to rise from finisher to draper, which latter position commands a high wage.
The producing of fine, handmade underwear, waists, and dresses is another opportunity for girls who can take but a short time in which to prepare to earn their living. Work of this character is of a much higher gradethan that of the wholesale finishing, and demands the ability to do extremely good hand and machine work. The worker must be able to handle the finest kind of materials and to do the most intricate work, such as hand tucking, setting in lace, and trimmings.
Although the course in the Vocational Section trains for specific branches, it is very necessary that all dressmaking students should have experience in these lines in order to be better prepared for the actual dressmaking. If, however, a girl has the ability to do the work of these classes, she is allowed to skip either one or both of them.
Course of work in the Shop for Gymnasium and Swimming Suits: The students are drilled for one or two months in putting garments together, stitching, and finishing. As but two kinds of garments are made, speed is acquired and a certain amount of accuracy is gained through much repetition. Definite arrangements have been made through wholesale houses for the disposition of the product. The materials are furnished by the school. The price is that of trade.
(1) Articles: Swimming suits (patented), bathing suits, and gymnasium suits. (2) Materials used: Cotton, wool, worsted.
Course of work in White Work Class: The previous training having been a general one for accuracy, speed, and the mastery over mind and hand, attention is now given for two and one-half or three months to fine detail work and the handling and keeping fresh and clean of the daintiest of cotton goods. The materials are furnished by the school and the work is sold to customers at trade prices.
(1) Principles: Hand-tucking, rolling and whipping, mitering corners, overhanding trimming, inserting lace and embroidery by hand and machine, fine featherstitching, and white hand embroidery. (2) Garments for stock and order; fine underwear, waists, and baby clothes. (3) Material used: cotton.
III. Trade Section—The Business Shop. Trade demands skilled workers, and preference is given to those who have had practical training. The trade section aims to add experience to skill by offering the students the actual work and conditions demanded in the outside market. The general scheme is the one in use in moderate-sized dressmaking establishments.
The workroom has its tables devoted to separate kinds of work, the students obtain a definite amount of knowledge from each experience, and pass from one to the other as rapidly as their ability to grasp the principles will permit. Each division is in charge of an instructor with practical trade experience, who prepares and supervises the work and also does the skilled parts which the students, on account of their lack of experience, are unable to do.
The girls are not taught cutting, fitting, and draping, as trade would not permit a sixteen-year-old girl to attempt this work on account of her lack of judgment and experience; but they have the opportunity to see and assist in the preparation of work. No girl in the trade shop will make a complete garment, but she will have worked upon all parts many times.
Custom orders supply the shop with work. The customers are interviewed, measurements are taken, estimatesare given, and dates for fittings are planned. The information obtained is recorded upon blanks prepared for the purpose. The materials are purchased, the garments cut, and the different parts (skirts, waists, sleeves) are delivered to the tables where such work is done. Blanks are provided for the recording of all materials used for customers' work, and from these the bills are made out in the main office. Stock is obtained from the storerooms on signed requisitions only. The stock clerk measures and delivers the materials and notes the amount withdrawn on each package.
Course in Dressmaking Shop:1. Linings: Waist (practice materials): basting, stitching, pressing, binding, boning (whalebone, featherbone); hooks and eyes; facing; overcasting.2. Shirtwaists and nurses' uniforms: Covering rings; making shirtwaist cuff; making shirtwaist placket; putting on neckbands.3. Skirts: Petticoats or drop skirts for; basting, stitching, pressing; seams, bands, plackets; trimming, pinning, putting on band.4. Trimmed skirts: Slip stitching; milliner's and flat folds; covering buttonholes; binding, shirring, cording, tucking, piping, facing, braiding.5. Trimmed waists: Application of principles; experience in making and applying trimming and handling delicate or perishable materials.6. Trimmed sleeves: Application in general knowledge and experience in applying trimmings.7. Garments made in the shop: Shirtwaists, fancy dressing sacques and wrappers; nurses' and maids' uniforms; dancing dresses; elaborate waists; street, afternoon, and evening gowns; tailored suits.8. Materials used: All varieties of cotton, linen, silk, woolen, and worsted dress fabrics; chiffon, mousseline, and trimmings of all kinds.
Course in Dressmaking Shop:1. Linings: Waist (practice materials): basting, stitching, pressing, binding, boning (whalebone, featherbone); hooks and eyes; facing; overcasting.2. Shirtwaists and nurses' uniforms: Covering rings; making shirtwaist cuff; making shirtwaist placket; putting on neckbands.3. Skirts: Petticoats or drop skirts for; basting, stitching, pressing; seams, bands, plackets; trimming, pinning, putting on band.4. Trimmed skirts: Slip stitching; milliner's and flat folds; covering buttonholes; binding, shirring, cording, tucking, piping, facing, braiding.5. Trimmed waists: Application of principles; experience in making and applying trimming and handling delicate or perishable materials.6. Trimmed sleeves: Application in general knowledge and experience in applying trimmings.7. Garments made in the shop: Shirtwaists, fancy dressing sacques and wrappers; nurses' and maids' uniforms; dancing dresses; elaborate waists; street, afternoon, and evening gowns; tailored suits.8. Materials used: All varieties of cotton, linen, silk, woolen, and worsted dress fabrics; chiffon, mousseline, and trimmings of all kinds.
Course in Dressmaking Shop:
1. Linings: Waist (practice materials): basting, stitching, pressing, binding, boning (whalebone, featherbone); hooks and eyes; facing; overcasting.
2. Shirtwaists and nurses' uniforms: Covering rings; making shirtwaist cuff; making shirtwaist placket; putting on neckbands.
3. Skirts: Petticoats or drop skirts for; basting, stitching, pressing; seams, bands, plackets; trimming, pinning, putting on band.
4. Trimmed skirts: Slip stitching; milliner's and flat folds; covering buttonholes; binding, shirring, cording, tucking, piping, facing, braiding.
5. Trimmed waists: Application of principles; experience in making and applying trimming and handling delicate or perishable materials.
6. Trimmed sleeves: Application in general knowledge and experience in applying trimmings.
7. Garments made in the shop: Shirtwaists, fancy dressing sacques and wrappers; nurses' and maids' uniforms; dancing dresses; elaborate waists; street, afternoon, and evening gowns; tailored suits.
8. Materials used: All varieties of cotton, linen, silk, woolen, and worsted dress fabrics; chiffon, mousseline, and trimmings of all kinds.
IV. Results of training. A change in the general appearance of the girls is soon apparent, for which ability to make their own clothes and the refining influence of the doing of good work on good materials is probably responsible. The elements of good order, obedience, thoughtfulness, judgment, self-control, industry, and thrift are fostered, and every effort is put forth to make intelligent workers.
The fact that on entering trade the girls from the Trade School receive nearly double the salary given untrained girls indicates that they are fitted for the outside workrooms.
V. Departmental relations. The emphasis which the Academic and Art Departments have laid upon accuracy, careful work, appreciation of measurements, distances, color, and form has been of great value to the students in the Dressmaking Department. The Operating Department has also been of service in training some of the students to work on special machines, thus enabling them to make dress decoration. The use of the electric power machine in custom dressmaking establishments is on the increase.
VI. Trade relation. The department is kept in close touch with trade conditions through personal visits, through the houses which purchase its output, and through those from whom the stock is bought. Many opportunities to purchase materials at reduced rates have been secured through the kindly interest of the trade.
An advisory board, composed of business men and women, has been appointed to pass judgment upon the scheme of work, the standard and quality of work, and the cost and market value of the products.
The aim of the Millinery Department is to train assistants, improvers, frame makers, and preparers for wholesale and custom workrooms.
When this department was first opened the scope of the work for the day classes was much more extended and included training for copyists, designers, and milliners. The curtailing of the course to more elementary preparation was brought about by a feeling of dissatisfaction with this trade for the young, untrained, or partly skilled workers. Close and continued contact with millinery shops showed that for young wage-earners a small, initial wage and a not very rapid rise are usual; that a short, irregular, seasonal engagement is almost inevitable; that a long experience is needed before even the trained girl can rise to the higher positions; that young workers become discouraged and are apt to drop the trade altogether, even for lower wages, if they can obtain steady work in another occupation. As it was the fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl who came for the instruction, it was better for her to be well trained as an assistant than to detain her at the school for a more advanced position which she would probably not beallowed to take on account of her youth and inexperience. Students in this department need to be watched with especial care to determine whether they are well adapted for their occupation, and the mediocre worker would better enter some other field where the opportunities for her are more encouraging. As the advance is slow the girl also whose poverty is hurrying her into wage-earning would better not elect this work.
The night classes which have been offered at the school gave training in the more advanced lines of millinery. The day classes are also prepared to do so whenever older workers feel they can give time for the instruction.
Course of InstructionLength of course: Six months.1. Practice: Shirring, tucking, cording, rolled hem, plain fold, milliner's fold, and cutting and joining bias pieces.2. Making and covering buckles and buttons; wiring ribbons and laces; making hat linings and wiring hats.3. Bandeaux: Wire, capenet, and buckram.4. Wire frame construction from dimensions and models; making frames of buckram, capenet, and stiff willow.5. Covering frames with crinoline, capenet, mull, maline, and soft willow.6. Facings: Plain, shirred, and in folds.7. Bindings: Stretch, puff, and rolled.8. Plateaux: Plain and fancy.9. Making hats of straw, silk, chiffon, maline, and velvet.10. Sewing trimmings on hats and sewing linings in hats.11. Renovating: Ribbon, velvet, lace, feathers, flowers.12. Machine work: Plain stitching, tucking, shirring, bias strips stitched on material.
Course of Instruction
Length of course: Six months.1. Practice: Shirring, tucking, cording, rolled hem, plain fold, milliner's fold, and cutting and joining bias pieces.2. Making and covering buckles and buttons; wiring ribbons and laces; making hat linings and wiring hats.3. Bandeaux: Wire, capenet, and buckram.4. Wire frame construction from dimensions and models; making frames of buckram, capenet, and stiff willow.5. Covering frames with crinoline, capenet, mull, maline, and soft willow.6. Facings: Plain, shirred, and in folds.7. Bindings: Stretch, puff, and rolled.8. Plateaux: Plain and fancy.9. Making hats of straw, silk, chiffon, maline, and velvet.10. Sewing trimmings on hats and sewing linings in hats.11. Renovating: Ribbon, velvet, lace, feathers, flowers.12. Machine work: Plain stitching, tucking, shirring, bias strips stitched on material.
Length of course: Six months.
1. Practice: Shirring, tucking, cording, rolled hem, plain fold, milliner's fold, and cutting and joining bias pieces.
2. Making and covering buckles and buttons; wiring ribbons and laces; making hat linings and wiring hats.
3. Bandeaux: Wire, capenet, and buckram.
4. Wire frame construction from dimensions and models; making frames of buckram, capenet, and stiff willow.
5. Covering frames with crinoline, capenet, mull, maline, and soft willow.
6. Facings: Plain, shirred, and in folds.
7. Bindings: Stretch, puff, and rolled.
8. Plateaux: Plain and fancy.
9. Making hats of straw, silk, chiffon, maline, and velvet.
10. Sewing trimmings on hats and sewing linings in hats.
11. Renovating: Ribbon, velvet, lace, feathers, flowers.
12. Machine work: Plain stitching, tucking, shirring, bias strips stitched on material.
Orders are taken for a limited amount of trimmed hats in order to provide the students with experience in preparing, sewing on the trimming, and in finishing the hat.
As millinery is a seasonal trade, students are advised to take, in addition, lamp and candle shade making in the Novelty Department, or straw sewing in the Operating Department. They are thus provided with good trades during the months when their own trade is dull.
(1) To teach the use of paste and glue in several good trades. (2) A short course in lampshade and candleshade making for girls who have a dull season in their regular trade during November, December, and January.
Sample mounting, novelty work, jewelry and silverware case making, lampshade and candleshade making.
Sample mounting is pasting or gluing samples of all kinds of material on cards or in books to be used by salesmen in selling goods. New York is a center for thisclass of work. It gives year-round employment to many girls, and offers wages from $5 to $15 a week. The simpler lines of sample mounting can be learned by almost any girl. A bright student can learn this trade in six months.
Novelty work is the covering and lining of cases and boxes with different materials. Girls can earn from $5 to $18 a week, and can learn the trade in from eight months to a year.
In jewelry and silverware case making the girls are taught both to cover and line up the cases; they earn from $5 to $15 a week. It takes from eight months to a year to learn this trade.
Lampshade and candleshade making: A short course is offered to good sewers who wish to learn a line of work that will give them employment during November, December, and January, which is the busy season in this occupation. Girls can earn from $1 to $2 a day. It is a very good course for millinery workers, as the work is similar and therefore easily learned, and the slack time in millinery is the busy time in this trade.
All pupils entering the Novelty Department take a short course in sample mounting to learn the use of paste and glue. Some are advanced soon to the novelty work, while others continue in sample mounting, taking up a greater variety of work along that line. Those entering for lamp and candle shade making do not take the sample mounting, but come from the millinery or sewing classes, where they have had some training with the needle.
In the academic classes the girls are drilled in measurements and have problems estimating the cost of materials and labor. Their discussions pertain to actual processes and materials used in the classes of the Novelty Department.
In the art classes the girls are trained to draw straight lines and square corners, to miter corners, to fold on a line, to make good letters and figures, and to appreciate good proportions and balance. This work enables the student to arrange her samples in straight lines on the card, with proper margins, and to print neatly on the card the name of the materials and stock numbers. The discussion of materials helps her to cut and place her materials on the cases so that the design will appear to the best advantage. The color work aids her in choosing the best hues of ribbons or linings to use with the figured coverings.
Where trade orders can be used without keeping the girls too long on the one problem, they prove a great incentive and also help them to acquire speed. Private orders give more variety in the work, and thus enable the girls to adjust themselves more easily to each season's new styles. The private orders, however, being smaller in number, do not help the students to acquire the speed that the repetition does in the large trade orders. Each kind of order work is used, as it can be of advantage to the development of the student.
The courses of work in the Art Department are shaped according to the needs of each trade department. Various phases of work in dressmaking, electric power operating, novelty, and millinery are made "centers of interest." Each girl thus finds her art aiding her to be more valuable in her trade. Her enthusiasm is awakened and she is stimulated to self-expression directly along the line of her chosen work. The entering students lack in the technical skill which can be used in their trades. The first step, therefore, is to give the elementary exercises needed in their departments. This is followed by more difficult and more artistic work as the student shows ability.
To help the work of the trade departments, to improve the trade selected by each student, to give ideals.
Time of average student in art, seven months, three hours per week. Previous art training little or none.
The students do not see or estimate correctly; they are not exact, and they lack ideals.
I.Generalcourse forallstudents, connecting Art Department with Trade Courses. Approximate time, three months, three times a week.
1. Principles of Proportion: Measurements by ruler and free-hand. Related lines and sizes, as in hems and margins.2. General Use of Principles: (1) Horizontal, vertical, oblique lines for machine practice. (2) Related margins and spots as used in the writing of letters, the orderly placing of subject on a page.3. Specific Department Work: Departments express their needs to Art Department. (1) Machine operating: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for machine practice. (b) Quilting, banding, practice for curves and square corners.(2) Sewing: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for machine and hand practice and tailor basting. (b) Hems, tucks as prescribed by department and proportioned to garment. (c) Constructive drawing—giving different angles and figures with a view toward an intelligent use of patterns for waists and skirts. (d) Piecing bias and mitering corners.(3) Novelty: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for sample mounting. (b) Spacings for sample mounting. (c) Letterings and figures for sample mounting. (d) Margins for pasting different shaped labels and samples. (e) Paper folding, mitering corners.(4) Millinery: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for hand sewing practice. (b) Problems for proportions for the wire frames. (c) Bias facings and mitered and square corners. (d) Color.
1. Principles of Proportion: Measurements by ruler and free-hand. Related lines and sizes, as in hems and margins.2. General Use of Principles: (1) Horizontal, vertical, oblique lines for machine practice. (2) Related margins and spots as used in the writing of letters, the orderly placing of subject on a page.3. Specific Department Work: Departments express their needs to Art Department. (1) Machine operating: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for machine practice. (b) Quilting, banding, practice for curves and square corners.(2) Sewing: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for machine and hand practice and tailor basting. (b) Hems, tucks as prescribed by department and proportioned to garment. (c) Constructive drawing—giving different angles and figures with a view toward an intelligent use of patterns for waists and skirts. (d) Piecing bias and mitering corners.(3) Novelty: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for sample mounting. (b) Spacings for sample mounting. (c) Letterings and figures for sample mounting. (d) Margins for pasting different shaped labels and samples. (e) Paper folding, mitering corners.(4) Millinery: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for hand sewing practice. (b) Problems for proportions for the wire frames. (c) Bias facings and mitered and square corners. (d) Color.
1. Principles of Proportion: Measurements by ruler and free-hand. Related lines and sizes, as in hems and margins.
2. General Use of Principles: (1) Horizontal, vertical, oblique lines for machine practice. (2) Related margins and spots as used in the writing of letters, the orderly placing of subject on a page.
3. Specific Department Work: Departments express their needs to Art Department. (1) Machine operating: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for machine practice. (b) Quilting, banding, practice for curves and square corners.
(2) Sewing: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for machine and hand practice and tailor basting. (b) Hems, tucks as prescribed by department and proportioned to garment. (c) Constructive drawing—giving different angles and figures with a view toward an intelligent use of patterns for waists and skirts. (d) Piecing bias and mitering corners.
(3) Novelty: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for sample mounting. (b) Spacings for sample mounting. (c) Letterings and figures for sample mounting. (d) Margins for pasting different shaped labels and samples. (e) Paper folding, mitering corners.
(4) Millinery: (a) Lines—horizontal, vertical, oblique, for hand sewing practice. (b) Problems for proportions for the wire frames. (c) Bias facings and mitered and square corners. (d) Color.
Students unable to benefit further by the Art Work are dropped from course and devote this time to their trade.
II.Supplementarycourse for students showing ability who have finished the prescribed departmental course. Approximate time, seven to nine months.