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From: betsy@dartvax.UUCP (Betsy Hanes Perry)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: Why are women's clothes more expensive and made poorly...
Message-ID: <1023@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 28-Mar-84 13:43:56 EST
Article-I.D.: dartvax.1023
Posted: Wed Mar 28 13:43:56 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 30-Mar-84 01:27:41 EST
References: <746@eosp1.UUCP>
Organization: Dartmouth College
Lines: 31

  "I rarely hear of a man, or woman making dress shirts, 
   suits, and sports jackets for men, or even
   slacks.  (Sweaters are another matter!)" 
                                        -- Tony Robison
 
This one has a pragmatic, non-sexist answer: Men's suits and
sport jackets require TAILORING.  I'm a serious seamstress,
and I wouldn't touch a man's suit with a ten-foot-pole.  Any
garment which wants to be closely fitted to the body, allow
easy movement, and fall in a rigidly-defined set of shapes, is
difficult to put together.  If you look at any 'ritzy' (Brooks
Brothers, say) clothing ad, you'll see that a typical man's
jacket is built up of several layers of different sorts of cloth
(underneath the wool exterior) in order to give the correct
shape and drape.  Not something to be lightly attempted by an
amateur. 
 
By contrast, most patterns you'll find in a Simplicity
catalog fit quite loosely, even by current fashion standards.
This ensures that cutting mistakes don't cost too much, and 
that any fool (my apologies to my fellow sewers) can put together
a wearable dress from the pattern.  In any case, most women
who sew sew dresses and shirts; very, very few of them 
go so far as to sew their own suits.
 
Yours, three-feet-deep in unfinished sewing projects,
-- 
Betsy Perry
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