My well known love of fast progress made me decide to start the “Sew 17th century challenge” with one of the faster pieces – the skirt.

Close-up of the skirt.

Staying true to my promise to avoid new fabric purchases, I choose a golden/beige satin from my stash. I’m not sure of the fabrics content but I would guess on a cotton/polyester blend. The fabric was gifted to me a few years ago and I saved it for something special – and I think this outfit more then qualify. I even got enough left (after the skirt) to piece out a 17th century bodice at a later date.

Without pattern, and with no particular help from the painting, I decided to copie the look of an extant 17th century skirt I’ve studied pictures of.

I started by cutting two skirt lengths of the fabric and stitched them together.

Then I hand basted three rows of spaced running stitch through the top edge, and pulled to create nice cartrige pleats.

Then I cut a piece of bias tape and stitched it on over the gathers to create a waist band.

I also made sure to secure the gathers by stitching the pleats to the next one the inside.the cartrige pleats from the outside…..and from the inside

I had some debate on how to make the waistband and thous treat the bias tape. my first thought was to simply fold it over and tack it down to create a regular waistband. But then I started thinking – a visible waistband would work for this outfit since he bodice sits on the outside, but if I ever wanted to make a matching beige evening bodice the tabs needed to be tucked inside and thous show the waistband. Not so good.

So instead I decided to fold the bias tape all the way over and tack it down to the pleats on the inside. This technique created a nice and smooth look. From the outside

Then I added hooks and bars at the waist, and hemmed the skirt after measuring and folding the bottom edge. Back view on hanger 

The finished skirt:

Facts:

What: A 17th century skirt

Pattern: None – just two rectangles gathered a the waist.

Fabric & Notions: 2,5 m of cream polyester satin, thread, 1 m bias tape, hook and eye.

Time: about 4 hours

Cost: Free – the fabric was gifted to me

Final thoughts: I’m not sure the bias-tape waistband was such a good idea – the waist seems to be growing for each try on.