THE MILLINER, AND THE LADY'S DRESS-MAKER.

THE MILLINER.

1. The milliner is one who manufactures and repairs bonnets and hats for ladies and children. Her business requires the use of pasteboard, wire, buckram, silks, satins, muslins, ribands, artificial flowers, spangles, and other materials too numerous to be mentioned.

2. The first part of the process of making a hat, or bonnet, consists in forming a crown of buckram; which operation is performed on a block of suitable size and shape; and to this is applied pasteboard, or buckram, edged with wire, to form the front part. The foundation having been thus laid, it is usually covered and lined with some of the materials just enumerated, and finished by applying to it the trimmings required by the fashion, or by the individual customer.

3. Ladies' hats are also made of rye straw, and a kind of grass, which grows in Italy; those made of the latter material are called Leghorns, from the name of the city, in or near which they are principally made. A few years since, these had almost superseded those made of straw; but the latter, of late, have nearly regained their former ascendency.

4. In the United States, and likewise in various parts of Europe, there are several establishments for making straw hats, in which the proprietors employ females to perform the whole labor. The straw is first cut into several pieces, so as to leave out the joints, and then whitened by smoking them with the fumes of brimstone. They are next split longitudinally into several pieces by a simple machine, and afterwards plaited with the fingers and thumbs. The braid, or plait, thus produced, is sewn together to form hats adapted to the prevailing fashion.

5. Great quantities of straw are, also, plaited in families, especially in the New-England states, and sold to neighboring merchants, who, in turn, dispose of it to those who form it into hats. The milliners usually keep a supply of Leghorn and straw hats, which they line and trim according to the fancy of their customers.

6. Head-dresses were probably used nearly as early as any other part of dress; and their form and material have likewise been equally variable. In the early days of Rome, the head-dress of the women of that city was very simple; and, when they went abroad, which was seldom, they covered their faces with a veil; but, when riches and luxury had increased, dress became, with many, the principal object of attention; hence, a woman's toilet and ornaments were called her world.

7. The head-dresses of the ladies, in various parts of Europe, especially in the eighteenth century, were particularly extravagant, being sometimes so high, that the face seemed to be nearly in the centre of the body. In 1714, this fashion was at its height in France; but two English ladies visiting the court of Versailles, introduced the low head-dresses of their own country.

8. The high head-dresses had no sooner fallen into disuse in France, than they were adopted in England, and even carried to a greater degree of extravagance. To build one of these elevated structures in the fashionable style, both the barber and milliner were necessary. The head-dresses of the ladies of the present age, are characterized by great simplicity, when compared with those of several periods in preceding ages.

THE LADY'S DRESS-MAKER.

1. This business is nearly allied to the foregoing, and is, therefore, often carried on in conjunction with it. This is especially the case in villages and small towns, where sufficient business cannot be obtained in the exclusive pursuit of one branch.

2. The customers of the lady's dress-maker are not always easily pleased, as they frequently expect more from her skill than it is possible to accomplish. She, however, can do much towards concealing the defects of nature; and, by padding and other means, can sometimes render the person tolerably well proportioned, when, in its natural shape, it would be quite inelegant. It is to be regretted, however, that dress-makers are guided by fashion and whim in moulding the external form of females, rather than by the best specimens of the human figure, as exhibited by eminent painters and sculptors.

3. The dress-maker should have some acquaintance with the anatomy and functions of those parts to which pressure is usually applied; for, who that knows the structure, size, and office of the liver, and other internal organs of digestion and vitality, would venture to apply to them a compressive force calculated to interfere most seriously, if not dangerously, with their healthful action?

4. The fashions for ladies' dresses are chiefly procured from France, and the dress-makers from that country are, therefore, often preferred by fashionable ladies. Sometimes, however, a dress-maker, having a name with a French termination, will answer the purpose.

5. Corset-making is frequently a separate branch of business; but corsets have become less necessary; inasmuch as small waists are less admired by the gentlemen than formerly. On this account, also, the ladies have discovered that tight lacing is somewhat uncomfortable, especially in hot weather, and in crowded assemblies.