painters is austere, almost Gothic, in character. It falls in simple, rich folds, is barely affected by accidents of light and wind, nor yet assumes, on its own account from sheer exuberance, the swirls and eddies that satin and brocades sometimes do. It is more affected by the shape beneath it than other fabrics, many of which, either from their lightness or their stiffness, are inclined to stand away from the forms they cover. In consequence of this you will always find, in velvet, a beautiful sense of contrast between those parts of the stuff that are supported by what lies beneath, and those parts that hang freely.
A splendid example of a simple treatment of velvet, in this case ring velvet, can be found in the drawing done for Debenham and Freebody (pi. 22b), and is ample proof that velvet can be expressed in two tones. Other examples are the left-hand figure of the pair by Erickson (pi. 43, this is corduroy velvet), the full length by Rhys (pi. 35) and the skirt of the figure by Benigni (pi. 39).
There is a very easy way of doing broadtail cloth, which is equally good for doing any of the caracul, baby lamb, astrakhan furs. Lay on a rich wet wash of Process Black (or whatever black you use, but not Indian ink) and then, before it can dry, press on it a piece of highly glazed paper, and pat it here and there with your finger tips. This will give it a disturbed mottled effect. Varied effects can be got by using a bath towel, a piece of blotting paper or any grained surface, provided it is even ; and these in their turn can be varied by pressing hard all over instead of drumming lightly with the fingers here and there. Any effect that you obtain will be more violent if you do it while the wash is still very wet, but take care to remove any blob of paint that has run down to the edge or it will spread under the pressure. Of course, any of these results will want touching up when they are dry, shadows putting in, high-lights taking out, but with a little practice you will find that these are excellent methods of getting a good effect with little trouble. The only difficulty is to keep the whole wash at a fairly even dampness, a way to ensure this being to damp the required area first with a wet brush, so that the paper shall not be too absorbent.
Of the second group of fabrics, comprising those that have neither pile nor transparency, crepes and marocains are the simplest to express. Unless of very poor quality, they fall into rather the same folds, when draped, as a thin velvet, but compared with it they have a tameness and insufficiency that make them the most admirable medium for a dress that relies on enterprising and complicated cut. Crepe-de-chine has more lustre than marocain, but neither of these fabrics should be represented as having very much, as all your resources in this direction should be reserved for satin. Quite enough high-light can be given to these comparatively dull stuffs by using your rubber, sharpened if need be, firmly but sparingly.
Satins can be very thick or very supple, very shiny or very dull. No. 3 (pi. 21) is a heavy shiny satin of the kind for which it is usually claimed that it
could stand alone. The high-lights here are left, reflected lights in the shadows being got with an eraser. Satin at its most lustrous and typical has a fluid oily appearance. It differs from velvet in that all its luminosity is on the surface, that it gives you the feeling that breathing on it would almost certainly dull its brilliance, and that its lights and shadows change instantly, not only with the movement of the stuff itself, but with the least alteration of the light that plays upon it. There are, of course, satins as dull as a crepe, but it is, at its most characteristic, the embodiment of lustre. Owing to the combination of weight and suppleness, its folds are fluid and rich. There is a very beautiful example of satin in the charcoal drawing by Grenet on pi. i, and of a rather stiffer satin on the right hand figure on pi. 23 by Grafstrom.
Weight is a quality that satin does not share with those other shiny materials, taffeta and faille. They have a peculiarly papery nature. Faille somewhat resembles taffeta but has a very faintly ribbed surface and altogether more body. Each of these stuffs, and such others as derive from them, give the impression that any curves that occur are composed of a succession of straight lines. No. 4 is a shiny taffeta and shows this crumpled paper effect. Had it been velvet, crepe or even a supple satin, the material would have come in contact with the crossed legs in several places, while here it is supported entirely by the one contact with the upper knee. The edges of the various tones should be kept sharp, with taffeta, and not slurred, as with satin. You cannot go far wrong if, when doing taffeta you think of glazed paper. Moire has much the same character as faille, with the addition of the beautiful watered pattern. As this is woven and not printed, you must not render all the watered pattern as lighter, or all of it as being darker, than the background ; it must be now lighter, now darker, as the light catches it. An example of printed taffeta can be found in the drawing by Luza on pi. 34. Note also the beautiful simple heavy folds of the background probably velvet.
Brocade has, to some extent, the same character as a heavy stiff satin, save that the design is woven into it, and its sheen is less brilliant than that of satin, being interrupted by the threads that form the design. It must be distinguished in your drawing from a printed satin, in which, of course, the sheen is not affected by the pattern on the stuff, but is taken out after the pattern has been put in. When doing brocade, or any fabric that consists of a comparatively mat design on a shiny base, you must take out the high-lights before putting in the design.
Lame is often made so thin and fine nowadays that it has more the character of a chiffon into which a few metal threads have been woven ; but a rich metal lame usually looks something like No. 6. Lame has a very springy quality which prevents it, as its papery nature does taffeta, from falling into beautiful simple folds. Its high-lights can be as brilliant as those of satin, but it reflects far less and its shadows, though full of rich colour, are dull in tone. The light on lame has neither the incandescence of velvet nor the glassy sheen of satin, but appears
more like thickly sprinkled frost. When doing lame, it is best to drag the highlights on with a rather dry brush coated with Process White, or, in order to express a different kind of lame, to dot the white on with a small brush dipped in Process White which has been made a creamy consistency. As satin seems supple and wet, lame seems in comparison thick and dry. Another example is the left-hand figure (pi. 23).
Tweeds and woollen fabrics, unless specially thin, do not fall into very small complicated folds and should never be given much, if any, high-light. The small folds and creases, that do occur to some extent even on tweeds, you had better mitigate rather than exaggerate, not only because they do not express its character, but because tweeds seem to suggest the work of a tailor rather than of a dressmaker, and small creases imply either that his work was not well done, or that the garment is far from new. It must depend entirely on what each particular client wants, but you will sometimes have to be very meticulous about the pattern of a tweed, while at other times quite a rough indication will do, or none at all. But if you start at the top expressing the tweed in one way, do take the greatest care that your representation does not tail off as you get further down ; and when you get to the hem of the skirt or coat, make sure that the horizontal lines of the pattern are strictly parallel to the hem line. The drawing for Jaeger (pi. 2), the right-hand figure on pi. 43, the woman on pi. 42, and the figures on pi. 24 by Pages all wear costumes of wool or tweed, and have been treated simply in accordance with the nature of the material. The device, in the last-mentioned drawing, of allowing the cross-hatching to overlap the outline gives a splendidly woolly appearance to the stuff. In the picture by Erickson of a lady sitting at the bar, note how the pattern of the tweed has been allowed to lapse in the folds, which admirably suggests the non-reflective nature of the material.
Of the leathers which, unlike those that are encouraged to retain their animal characteristics, have been treated to resemble some material, patent leather resembles cire satin, suede velvet, while the much used nappa leather has a surface like dull thick satin.
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