An anecdote illustrative of the absolute necessity of learning how to make a pattern suitable to the intended wearer of the garment may not be out of place here. A young girl wishing to do something for her mother decided to make a house-jacket for her in violet cachemire; she had already made one for herself, which had not answered very badly as she had procured a pattern which happened to be nearly her size. This she still had by her, and pinning it upon the cachemire she thought that by cutting it a little larger in every direction it could not fail to answer. After having joined the different parts of the jacket the young lady went in haste to try it on her mother. Judge of her confusion when she saw her mother overwhelmed in a garment to which no name could be given; it was much too large in the neck, too narrow in the shoulders, too wide in the back, too large in the waist, and considerably too tight across the chest and the hips. The young lady sadly contemplated her work, and thought there must be some secret in knowing how to cut out a garment unerringly. The "secret" consisted simply in knowing what measurements to take and how to take them. The "secret" learnt, any one may at once feel herself equal to cutting out any article of dress after any prevailing fashion. If in well-to-do families this knowledge is appreciated, how much more useful it ought to be in those of working men, out of whose circles some may take to the lucrative profession of a dressmaker, and who will then be able to carry into the workroom the skill gained by practice.