Petticoat – Fashion Through Herstory

1865s Kaki Walking suit (HSM 7/2017) Part 2 – accessorize

Published on July 11, 2017July 9, 2017 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

A dress does not make an outfit, and besides the skirt and jacket, my sister also needed some additional items
(part 1).
inspiration

I’ve made her basic undergarments earlier this spring:
Huge elliptical hoop crinoline
mid 19th century corset

But one thing I hadn’t had the time for was a proper petticoat
(one that actually was wide enough to fit over the huge hoops).
So that’s where I begun.
Using 2,5 white cotton sheets from IKEA I cut and pleated a whole afternoon and evening, before I could call it a day and consider myself done.

When the under-layers was done (I know, I know – She could easily have used her another petticoat, but this will have to do for now) it was time for the rest of the outfit.

On the same event 2 years ago, I made my sister a more basic version of this years outfit, so some of the pieces she needed was already waiting in the closet. We re-used the shirt and swiss-waist she’d worn last time.
Added a longer silk-ribbon to the neck and that was that 🙂

Well, actually she still needed something on her head…

I’d warned her beforehand, that I might not have the time to come up with something new, but when I came upon this perfectly cheap straw-hat (IKEA, once again) a few days before the event, I knew I needed to give it a try.
I Started by picking almost the whole hat apart.

I only left a few cm on the crown, before I (with the fashion plate as a guide)started to pin the braid back in a different shape. It took me several hours and multitude of re-pinning and starting all over again before I finally had a shape that was good.

after a first try at hand-stitching, I decided that if it couldn’t be done by machine it was not meant to happen this time (since this was the night before the event).
Turns out, it worked like a charm. It was a bit fiddly to turn the brim around inside my machine but with the right angle (and the use of free space ove r the table edge) the hat was stitched in no time.
Once the base was done I started adding decoration, using the same braid as on the jacket & skirt. Note the braid stitched both to the upper and under sides of the brim.

The final touch was to add some flowers and I opted for a nice pop of color with a few of these plastic flowers.

The finished hat:

Bonus pictures of my little helper, getting the hat to sitt exactly “right” on my mannequin head.

And the whole outfit completed

1890s winter Undress

Published on February 26, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory1 Comment

Here we go again, with a peek of my historic underwear:

1790s Winter LayersFully dressed in Redingote, petticoat, belt sash, gloves and hat.

Taking of the accessorizes we can ses the Redingote in full.

Without the Redingote we can see all the white layers beneath – The skirt in full view and the fichu tucked inside the skirt.

Removing the skirt we find the petticoat and the complete fichu.
I also wear a quilted petticoat (you can spot the green waistband above the petticoats).

And underneath there is a bumpad, worn over chemise, stays, stockings and shoes.

A Skirt is a Skirt

Published on January 27, 2015 by fashionthrougherstory4 Comments

A skirt is a skirt by any other name…

Petticoat or not to petticoat – that is the question…

Ok, enough silliness.
Last weekend I’ve made a 18th century petticoat/skirt.
Here in Sweden “Petticoat” means – “under skirt” or hoop-skirt if you’r talking wedding dresses, and a skirt is just a skirt – nothing else.
But in historic sentence these two seems to be interchangeable (at least to me, since I’d always had a bit trouble keeping the two apart in English).
But I then I read in “Cut of womens clothes” that after 1660s “the underskirt was always called a petticoat”.
Does that mean you can call the same garment “skirt” or “petticoat” deepening on the way it is worn at the moment?

Anyhow,
I’t was such an easy and quick project even though I made it by hand.
One day in front of the computer watching series, and it was done.

I bought this brown fabric for a steal from an online fabric sale – convinced it was a striped cotton twill (as the website claimed).
But once delivered it was more like a heavy polyester made for suits and pants. Darn it.
Well, the price of sending it back would be more then the fabric itself, so I decided to go ahead and make my skirt anyway.

It worked surprisingly well, if you don’t count the bump in my fingers from pressing the needle through, and the heaviness of the fabric gives the skirt and hem a nice drape.

The construction is really simple using two width of fabrics and cartridge-pleating them to a narrow waistband.

I also made sure to hem it quite short, to mimic the length of the fashion plate.

Finished:

Fabric: 2 m of brown polyester “twill”

Notions: thread, Hook and eye.

Cost: about 40Sek (6 Usd) all and all – I told you, a steal 🙂

Time: About 5 hours of hand stitching.

Final thought: I like the drape of the skirt and the pleating looks really nit, even though I would have wished for a thicker fabric.
I think the skirt will look great combined with the new bodice/jacket and accessories I’m working on, for the “peasant fiest” I’m hoping to attend in about two weeks.

A cheap 1850s petticoat

Published on July 4, 2014July 7, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory1 Comment

With the sewing steam already up and running there was no use to stop now. So I did a second entry to the HSF Challenge 13 – Under 10 Usd. I decided I needed a flounced pettiocat to wear over my new crinoline, and that was that.

I grabbed two cheap cotton/poyester blends sheets from the linnen cabit and got to work.

Using one as the base, and ripped the other one in four to create the flounce. I originaly planed to have three or at least two rows of flounces but I overestimated how much fabric whent into even one of those poppies.

Full speed ahead as I where I also forgot to take progress pics, but the construction was really simple. Just used straight pieces, sewed them togeter and gathered the waist. Popped on a hook and eye for clouser and that was that..

Pic from the photoshoot:

Just the facts:

Challenge: 13 – Under 10 Usd

What: a 1850s petticoat.

Pattern: None, just cut stripes and sewed.

Fabric: 2 cotton bed sheets.

Notions: Thread, 80 cm of twill tape, hook and eye.

How historical accurate: Exept for the use of sewing machine I think the accuracy is pretty good. The fabric, method and shape are all about right. 7/10

Time: 2 hours.

Cost: 65 Sek (10 Usd)

First worn: Around the house for photos.

Final thoughts: I wished I had had some more fabric to make two more rows of ruffels from, but then it would have been to exensive and wouldn’t have fitted the challenge. Anyhow I think it looks pretty good and works just fine.

To make-do a 1880s Petticoat

Published on January 15, 2014January 16, 2014 by fashionthrougherstory7 Comments

And so we start of the new sewing year with HSF14 Challenge nr 1: Make-do/Mend.

As I stated before, I’m determend to try to fit the challenges this year in to my list of items which needs to be made. So with a bit of bending the rules on this challenge, I got to use it for that 1880s ruffled petticoat I desperetly need for my up-coming balgown.

I’m thinking something along these line. (pic from Iza of http://adamselindisdress.wordpress.com/ you should check her out to.)

For this challenge I made a petticoat out of a bedsheet.

I started by ripping the sewn hems of it, and throw it into the washer.

I used no pattern – only some diagrams and pictures for reference. And cut the skirt pieces out of half the sheet.

And the ruffeling pieces from the rest, making them bigger and longer further down the skirt.

I sewed gathering thread on all the ruffels using a strong button-hole thread and sick sack stitch, hemming them at the same time.

This technique makes it very easy to gather the ruffels later on.

Then I hemmed and measured the spacings of all the ruffels.

Then I gathered all the fabric and stiched it down on the back piece of the skirt. And lastly I Sewed the front skirt to the back and stiched on a cotton twill tape as a waistband.

And then I tried it on – and I hated it.

It is way to narrow in the front (making me look huge) and the ruffels need to be at least twice as fluffy.

And I do think something is of in the lenght proportions of the ruffels.

Well here it is on the dressform looking a bit better but still way to slim in the pouf department.

With a night to sleep on it, I do think it will work for my purpose, but I know it will probably go straight into the re-make pile once the present event has past.

Just the Facts:

Challenge: 1 (2014) Re-Make.

What: A ruffeled bustled petticoat made out of a bedsheet.

Year: About 1870 – 1890s.

Pattern: None

Fabric: One white cotton bedsheet – 1,5 x 2 m.

Notions: Thread, strong thread (björntråd) and 2 m of 1 cm wide cotton twill tape.

Historical Accuracy: So so. The style and siluett is about right, but I’m sure the ladies of the day knew not to scrimp on the fabric in this kind of grmnent. Maybe 4/10.

Time: 4 hours.

Cost: 90 Sek (10 Usd).

First worn: Around the house for photos (and testing the toile for the gown…) But it will get a proper outing on january 25, for the gran bal at the opera.

Final Thoughts: I think this petticoat was to much of a rush job to begin with. I wish I had taken the time to make it proper and use enough fabric to get a nice ruffeled bustle. Instead I spread the ruffels to whide and gathered them to losely. It’s a good thing it will be hidden beneath the skirts.