CUTTING. When the material is ready, lay the pattern on it following the Deltor Layout for your size and width of material. If there is a nap, be sure to place the pieces so that the nap will run the same way in all the pieces. Otherwise if the nap runs up in some places and down in others, part of the coat will look darker than others and it will look almost as if it were another color. The Deltor gives layouts for both materials with a nap and without it when both are suitable for the design. For directions for cutting materials with a nap or pile and for cutting stripes and plaids read Chapter 6, "Materials, Sponging, Steaming, Cutting, etc.," pages 32–36. Follow the Deltor layout carefully in placing the pieces on your material, for if they are cut on the wrong grain of the material the garment will draw and stretch. Pin the pattern on the material very carefully, and with sufficient pins to hold it firmly, and cut it out with sharp dressmaking shears following the outline exactly. (Chapter 2, page 16.)
Mark all the perforations, except the ones that mark the grain line, with tailors' tacks. (Chapter 16. page 85.) The notches can either be marked with two or three stitches in basting cotton or they can be clipped. In many materials basting cotton makes a clearer mark and does not nick the edge of the material.
THE INTERLINING. The coat always requires more or less interlining. The kind of interlining material and the amount used varies with the type of the coat and with the current styles. The Deltor or Illustrated Instructions will tell you the right kind of interlining to use, how much to use and where to place it for each individual pattern. This interlining is not used for warmth, but to give the material sufficient body so that it will not break when the coat is on the figure, and make the material look poor and flimsy.
The interlining materials most generally used are soft pliable canvas, cotton serge or cambric for wool materials. In a linen coat use butchers' linen, cambric or muslin. For a silk coat the interlining should be cotton serge, sateen or cambric. All interlinings should be shrunken before they are used. (Chapter 6. page 32.) If the interlining is not shrunken beforehand it will shrink on the first damp day and will draw in and wrinkle the coat.
Ill. 100. Stitching on the Stand of the Collar
The interlining should be cut by the coat pattern following the instructions given in the Deltor or Illustrated Instructions.
Baste the interlining to the wrong side of the coat following the Deltor or Illustrated Instructions. Careful basting and plenty of it are essential to successful coat-making. The importance of basting can not be overestimated in this work. It is one of the vital points in tailoring.
PUTTING THE COAT TOGETHER. Baste the seams of the coat with the notches matching.
Ill. 101. Padding Stitches
The Deltor or Illustrated Instructions will show you exactly how to put the coat together.
Try the coat on and if any alterations are necessary make them before stitching the seams.
Stitch all the seams of the coat. If they are to be finished with stitched or lapped seams (Chapter 17. pages 88–90), press them before they are finished. (Chapter 32, page 154.)
Lap the edges of the interlining flatly over each other. They should be catch-stitched.
FOR THE STRICTLY TAILORED COLLAR cut an interlining of tailors' canvas. Use the collar pattern as a guide, but cut the canvas three-eighths of an inch smaller at all edges than the pattern. The canvas should be shrunken before it is used (Chapter 6 page 32). The "stand" of the collar—the part next the neck that stands up when the coat is worn—is marked by perforations. It is a crescent-shaped section which should be covered with parallel rows of machine stitching about a quarter of an inch apart. (Ill. 100.)
PADDING STITCHES. The canvas and cloth on the turnover part of the collar, and
