Nov 27, 2016

All the Fluff | 1840's Petticoats

There are a lot of reasons why I really like my 1840's dress, but one of my absolute favorite parts is the petticoats. The fashions of the time were to have a large, full skirt but this was before the invention of the crinoline hoop skirt (which came in the 1850's), which meant lots and lots of petticoats.

I ended up using 10 yards of 60" wide cotton that I purchased at the LA Garment District while I was at Costume College in July. 10 yards was enough for 1 corded petticoat, 2 petticoats and just enough scraps left over to make the mock up of the bodice for the dress.

The patterns for my petticoats were really simple; just two square pieces 60" x 43". I wanted the end circumference of the petticoats to be approximately 120" and I cut the length at 43" to have plenty of room for a nice wide hem (I think I ended up with 5") and several rows of 1/2" pin tucks.

Underneath all of the petticoats I made a small bustle pad as well (which was popular for the era). Pretty simple, but it took me a few tries to get just the right size I wanted.



My corded petticoat. I had originally planned to do several more rows closer to the top, but I decided I didn't need to but it was still a little too long, which is why there's a random pin tuck at the top.

For the cording, I used white cotton yarn that I picked up at Joann's. I ended up buying more than I actually needed, but in the future I would try to get a thicker cording. Since this was my first time making (or wearing) a corded petticoat I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it really adds a lot of shape/volume.


Petticoat #2. Pretty simple, with lots of gathers, 3 rows of pin tucks, and a drawstring waistband.

You can still see some of my pen markings, as I hadn't washed them out at the time of taking these pictures.


And petticoat #3. This one is a few inches longer then the one beneath. I opted out of any pin tucks on this one, mostly because I was getting too lazy to add them.





On a side note, I still have to starch these petticoats. I haven't gotten around to it yet since they need to hang dry and the weather has been rainy lately.

1 comment:

  1. Ha! Just catching up on some of these posts I've never read. I'm totally with you on the tucks, it's pretty often that I'll plan for 3 or 4, then get tired and only do 2 or 3 and cut the extra length off.

    On the starching, I actually hung my petticoats on our shower bar. There was an awful lot of dripping that happened, and it made our patio really slippery. Then again...it made the bathroom slippery too.

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