The arts of cooking and cleaning took the lead in order of experiment.
The results, as recorded, have proved their position to belong directly to the region of applied science, and to be worthy of a place in a specially arranged course of household science and economics for women, of university standard. We may confidently expect that this result only antic.i.p.ates a corresponding triumph, awaiting in its turn similar experimental work, which has been carried on for some years in respect of the teaching also of the art of needlework. These experimental efforts include the intelligent employment of the pencil, the scissors, and the needle in the production of garments, draperies, napery, and so forth. The lines along which at the present moment this development is proceeding have regard indeed not only to the practical worth of needlecraft, but to its intimate a.s.sociation with general education as well as to decorative and applied art.
When we inquire what have been the results of past methods of teaching needlework in our elementary schools, and find that they are in no way commensurate with the time, labour, and money spent upon them, it surely is wise to call a halt and examine into our aims and methods. The circular of "Suggestions for the Teaching of Needlework" issued by the Board of Education in August 1909 is not the first authoritative p.r.o.nouncement of the Board on this matter, but is the outcome of "the well-considered criticism" invited upon their "Suggestions" on the same subject issued in 1905, which teachers and others were asked to consider as a challenge to independent thought on the subjects of which it treated.
THE "PRINCIPLES" OF NEEDLEWORK
This challenge has resulted in the statement of certain important "principles" in the new circular and of the proper att.i.tude of the teacher towards them, viz.:--
I. _The duplex aspect of needlework._
1. As a separate branch of instruction, the aim of which is proficiency.
2. As a means to an end, other than (but not excluding) a certain proficiency, _i.e._ to develop the intelligence and even to form the character of the child.
II. _The subject must be made interesting_ if it is to be educational. The making of specimens is not interesting, and should be discouraged, excepting for the practice of new st.i.tches before they can be used on a complete garment or article, however small, for the child herself or for others.
III. _Correlation of needlework_ with drawing and arithmetic in the higher cla.s.ses.
1. To train the eye in form and proportion.
2. To ill.u.s.trate principles of arithmetic, by measuring and deciding upon quant.i.ties and by calculating cost, introducing incidentally ideas of economy and thrift.
IV. _Needlework lessons are ordinarily uninteresting_ and wearisome to body and mind. This need not and should not be; if the subject is taught with the why and wherefore of things, it should rather stimulate intelligence and capacity.
V. _Opportunity is afforded_ by the lesson for practically and tactfully inculcating the charm of neatness, cleanliness, and tidiness in person and in clothing, encouraging the child in self-respect and to regard as a matter of shame that any girl should reach woman"s estate without a practical knowledge of the use she can make of the needle.
Certain suggestions follow as a basis for a more detailed scheme, viz.:--
1. Cla.s.sification of scholars as to age and capacity.
2. Size of ill.u.s.trations and use of blackboard.
3. Instruction of weakly children, and care of eyesight.
4. Exercises in knitting and various forms of constructive handwork for very young children, in preparation for definite instruction in needlework at a later age.
5. Condemnation of habit of counting threads.
6. Order of teaching "processes" in needlework, from simple to complex.
7. Suitability of materials, needles, and threads to each other, and of the style of sewing to the garments which the children should wear.
8. Direction of attention to the fact that hands and eyes which have been sensibly trained to execute "plain work" will acquire "fancy work" quite readily later on if leisure can be found.
9. New methods and st.i.tches to be learned on waste material.
10. Importance of practice in mending at school and at home.
11. Importance of cutting-out and pattern-making.
12. Garments made to be worn, not kept at school.
13. Elaborate making-up of paper garments to be discouraged.
14. Rough sketches to train the eye to recognise the value to each other of different parts of a pattern.
15. Importance of recognition of difference between a well-cut and an ill-cut garment.
16. Calculation of kind, quant.i.ty, and cost of material to be worked out in an arithmetic lesson.
17. Note-books and records to be kept.
18. Fixing to be done by actual maker of garment--not a joint production.
19. Use of sewing machine permitted for long seams and hems.
20. No time to be wasted while waiting for teacher"s help.
Independent work to be encouraged. Knitting and other suitable work to be at hand.
This excellent and sensible paper of suggestions means an offer of freedom on the part of the Board; it remains, therefore, but to accept and adopt its conditions. A practical difficulty, however, at once arises from the fact that, after a long period of bondage to many "Regulations," it is difficult for the teaching profession in general to realise that independent judgment is now expected of them, indeed is required, though this is a phase temporary and evanescent, which will quickly adjust itself.
For lack of time and s.p.a.ce we must here pa.s.s over the important question of the relation of the domestic arts to the general school curriculum, as well as the proportion of time to be allotted as between needlework and the other domestic arts, and dwell for a moment on the relative qualifications of our teachers in different sections of the whole subject taken at its widest, for these qualifications reflect the existing demands of the public. Taking England, for example--how do we stand with other countries in this respect? Speaking generally, and as one who, though not professionally a teacher, has for many years had a hand in the training of teachers, and who has given much time and thought to the comparative study, both theoretical and practical, of needlework and dressmaking, it seems to me that, as to sewing, we are as good, if not in some ways better than our neighbours, though we have been apt to regard the perfection of our st.i.tches as an end in itself, which decidedly vitiates our conclusion. We also appear to have much to learn, or at least to practise, in respect of suitability of materials, needles, and threads to each other, and of the style of work to the purpose required. As to "cut" and "the hang of the thing," and the root difference between an "ill-cut" and a "well-cut" garment, I fear we make a bad third with France and Austria; but with our newly acquired freedom we can and we must change all that: the public begin to demand it.
In the first place, we must clear our minds of the indefinite cloud of detail in which they have been so long submerged; or, to change the metaphor, whereas. .h.i.therto we have too often not been able to see the wood for the trees, we must now learn clearly to distinguish between "principles" and "methods," which in practice are over frequently confused: then, quite easily and naturally, the teacher will derive resulting details from the few definite principles which are the "basis alike of the simplest garment and the most artistic handicraft," and "the principles once understood, in one instance, the pupils will be able to make wider applications for themselves."
It is important here to emphasise that some elementary knowledge of hygiene, physiology, and anatomy is necessary for the intelligent appreciation of the requirements of the body as to clothing, and of its alterations in shape when muscles are tense or relaxed. By a reliable system of drafting from direct measurement, such as one of those in use in the Ecoles Professionelles of Paris, a shaped bodice can be produced fitting the arms and figure easily and gracefully, and from this pattern can be deduced further patterns of other garments, whether tight, loose, or semi-fitting, which hang from the shoulder or the waist.
When the theory of drafting has been learned, and the shapes and proportions of a pattern and its derivatives are understood, "moulage"
or modelling on the figure in muslin, should be attempted; though, be it remembered, "moulage" should not be regarded as a subst.i.tute for drafting, but as its necessary accompaniment, for it affords opportunity for eye training, and for learning how and where at certain points the material should be stretched or held easily on the figure. The pupil is thus prepared to handle the pattern intelligently when cut out in material.
I have seen it objected that only awkward and wooden lines can be obtained from drafting on paper because of its rigidity, and because the pattern is built up upon a framework of straight lines at right angles to each other. The objector cannot have understood that the rectangular construction lines have no connection with the outlines of the pattern, except as affording _points d"appui_, which are found by direct measurement. These construction lines stand for the warp and woof, or "thread" of the material to be used for the garment. Stress must be also laid on the fact that the grace or angularity of the pattern outline actually depend upon the eye training and perception of curves derived from drawing lessons, which must, for this as well as other reasons, form a part of the scheme of instruction.
CONCLUSION
Limits of time and s.p.a.ce have only allowed me to touch the fringe of a fascinating and useful subject; but the frequent conferences of teachers now being held in different centres, and the new suggestions of the Board of Education are stimulating so much interest and discussion that I feel that the educational teaching of needlework in its broad sense in England has a cheerful future. There is already much excellent teaching and work done in some of the trade schools in London as well as in a few of its elementary schools, and others elsewhere, which leaves little to be desired from many points of view.
Apart from the modern educational treatment of needlecraft and dressmaking, though arising directly from it, are the unquestioned advantages which may result to any woman of whatever rank or social position who is willing to devote, in the first instance, a little time and intelligence to mastering a few elementary principles introductory to their practical application, either by herself or by any one in her employment, to the cutting and making of her own garments from direct measurement, modified by measurements of individual carriage or conformation.
When these modifications are clearly understood, the proving of the flat pattern on the table after drafting should produce a well-shaped and correct lining, without the misery of standing for hours in the ordinary way to be "fitted on." If finer touches are needed, they are of the nature of "moulage," or modelling; the different parts of the pattern retain their balance and relative proportions, and the length of the operation is much shortened.
The majority of women, especially when past youth, are not so happy as to possess the theoretically perfectly balanced and well-proportioned figure which has been so successfully adopted by the best business houses as the basis for cutting high-cla.s.s ready-made garments. Happy indeed is the woman who can "walk straight into them" without the offered "slight alteration" which so often spoils the cut and brings bitter disappointment to the wearer. There are few women who have not groaned under the waste of time and fatigue entailed by being "fitted on" under the hands of the "little dressmaker," or for that matter under hands of much greater pretension, with no idea of principles in cutting, who pinch and drag and smooth down by rule-of-thumb, producing garments without balance or ease, whose faults may be disguised by tr.i.m.m.i.n.g or drapery, but whose discomfort is always present to the wearer.
Women have in fact so long submitted to this tyranny of rule-of-thumb in dress-cutting, as inseparate from it, that, as is their nature, they continue to endure what they think cannot be cured. Nevertheless, the discomforts and uncertainties of this rule-of-thumb misery may be entirely eliminated, and it is for the modern woman to demand and insist upon its elimination.
Let me especially recommend to ladies possessing the invaluable qualities in this connection of taste and style in dress, who may be thinking of taking up dressmaking as a profession, that as an important preliminary step they should master the principles of a good method of cutting. Let them make sure that the method can lay claim to this description; that it is reliable and not altogether empirical. Thus they will render themselves to some extent independent of the possible vagaries and misfits of their cutters and workers. The excellent courses of instruction now carried on in the trade schools already referred to should ere long create a supply of well-trained young women who will do their best work under an instructed head, and will be able to carry out intelligently her ideas and directions. Under such conditions there should be no room for failure in a business of this kind. As a result, the arts of needlecraft and of dressmaking will be raised to the plane of scientific certainty and success which is their due, instead of remaining at the often low level of the unorganised, empirical and inartistic occupations--a frequent source of financial disaster to their exponents and of perennial vexation to the helpless victims of their products.