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Show BI1AIXS Df MACHINES. INVENTIONS THAT SHOW AMAZING RESULTS OF GENIUS. A Visit to Cliicaco Factory-The Most Iu-trlcate Iu-trlcate and Delicate Bit of Embroidery, Made Few Tear. Abo Only by Hand, Turned Out-The Work of a Chlcasoau. to' 1385 all embroidered and braided braid-ed garments, the cloaks and reception cowns, capes, etc;, bad to be imported from Paris and Berlin," said Mr. Alexander, Alex-ander, of the Chicago Braiding company, "but they are now all made right here. To show vou the difference between then and now it is only necessary to say that the silk embroidery on a lady's jacket alone used to cost about $18 to $25, now it is made for S3. A fine embroidered silk robe, such as now can be turned out here for-510 or $j0, used to require an outlay of $150 to $200. With that it had to be i imported. It could not be made ' here. i Take another line of goods, such as em-i....iAaA em-i....iAaA tnl.lo fftcrs. scarfs, tidies, pil- Ul i - low shams, etc. They're all done by machinery ma-chinery now. All those delicately twisted flowers, those roses and viues and clusters of grapes mid pearl blossoms and sunflowers sun-flowers and pansies they're all wrought into the cloth by machinery. A DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK. "It is very curious to watch the machinesapparently ma-chinesapparently endowed with more than ordinary human intelligence at work. There are some ten different kinds of machines kept in operation in the establishment. The most curious of all is a machine whose special domain is the so called 'applique' work. It performs per-forms three tasks at one and the same time. When, properly adjusted a tiny knife cuts out, according to the pretty design intended, the figures from the upper layer of cloth, while simultaneously simultane-ously the machine, sews these figures on to the layer of cloth underneath the upper layer being generally of medium thickness, while the lower one is cloth of the thickest, ivarmest and most expensive expen-sive kind, such as is suitable for a lady's winter cloak. The stitch is pretty and artiBtic, and the thread runs through the double thickness of cloth, making the work as durable as it is possible to have it. "The effect thus obtained artistic arabesques, ara-besques, beautifully curving Hues, forming form-ing an intricate yet pleasing pattern, lying on the cloth underneath, is very pretty indeed. Generally two cloths of shades diifering so much as to form a fine contrast are chosen. The delicate mechanism of this machine is especially noticeable in the cutting out of the upper layer of cloth. For while the whole process pro-cess of cutting it and sewing it on tight i at the same time is done so quickly under the hands of a skillful operator that a yard of (jthis 'applique' work is made within about five minutes, tho knife must be so nicely adjusted that it will cut exactly through the thickness of the upper cloth and not the hundredth part of an inch deeper, or the whole material and the whole work would become a dead loss." MANY WONDERFUL MECHASISMS. "Wonderful!" said the reporter. "Yes," remarked Mr. Alexander, while a gratified smile spread over his face, "this is the only machine of its kind in the world. I've had it patented, and those in my establishment are the only ones made so far. They don't even have one in Paris." Another -machine, which is likewise the product of a very ingenious brain, is the so called ' "three spool" machine. Two threads of worsted and one thread of silk cording are manipulated by this ' machine in such a manner as to lay down tho worsted on the cloth and to spin the silk right over and all around it. The effect thus produced is that of very thick silk braid, the "whole being more durable than silk throughout, yet much less expensive. The beading machine, by means of which those most elegant, ornaments on a woman's dress, those glistening arabesques ara-besques of beading, are put on, is. another triumph of mechanical genius. The same may be said of the feather edge machine, which does the so called "sunbeam" "sun-beam" and "rainbow" work, embroidering embroider-ing the shades, which are gradually tonld down; of the cornelly machine, which does the cording, and still more so of the soutache machine, which does the simplest and yet one of the most effective ef-fective styles of embroidery. It is the latter sort of work, what ladies la-dies call soutache, of which State street is full on any crowded afternoon. Nearly every woman wears it on some piece of garment, on a cape, a cloak, on her dresses and even on her underwear. And it is of exactly the kind which, but a couple of years back, was very expensive, expens-ive, but which now, thanks to "this wonderful won-derful piece of mechanism, has come within the reach of all. And as there is a great variety in the style of work done by these different machines, so there is in, tho material, with which they work. There is silk braid of evury imaginable u:,.t-. ii ' ' , .. u nuv,o.iieti mere is colored spool silk of a hundred shades; there is gold thread and silver thread aud bronze thread, of which a great deal is especially used for what is known as "arrasene" work, i. e., embroidered flowers, leaves, vines and fruits on tables and other covers. cov-ers. Chicaeo Herald. |
