Book excerpt: A detailed guide to dressmaking, being a handbook of pattern drafting and design. Extensively illustrated with simple, useful diagrams and step-by-step instructions, this volume is ideal for those with little previous experience, and would make for a fantastic addition to the bookshelf of today's tailor and dressmaker. Contents include: “Pattern Drafting”, “Tools Necessary for Pattern Making”, “Chart of Measurements”, “Basic Pattern for Waist from Given Measurements”, “Construction of Pattern”, “Formula for Back of Plain Waist”, “Draft of Front of Waist from Chart Given”, “Measurements”, “Formula for Front of Plain Waist”, etc. Many vintage dressmaking books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on dressmaking and tailoring.