All posts tagged: petticoat

A super-full 1916 petticoat thedreamstress.com, 1910s petticoat, starched petticoat

The super-full 1916 petticoat: or, the wonder & magic of starch

Remember my cheater 1916 petticoat? I’m sure a lot of you looked at it and thought: “It’s so limp!”   And “There is no way that is going to support a skirt as big as her inspiration image!” Behold the wonders of starch: The photograph above was taken after I starched my 1916 petticoat, let it sit around the house for a week in the Wellington damp, handled it a lot threading the ribbon through, shoved it in a suitcase, took it to LA, wore it, let it live in the hot humidity there* for 10 days, shoved it in a suitcase again, let it sit in damp, cold, humid Wellington for another 10 days, and then pressed and photographed it.** Plus, at some point in this process Felicity managed to conscript it as a bed for a luxurious nap… And it’s still poofy! A reminder of how poofy my 1916 ‘Gather Ye Rosebuds’ dress was on the night: So much poof! So how did I do it? Lots & lots of starch! How to …

Crewel Work petticoat

I just love this petticoat.  I love the crewel work: how bright and colourful it is, the combination of flowers, the mix of realism and stylization. I also love the idea of recreating the aesthetic of this petticoat with just a thin strip of exciting fabric on a less interesting top.  Not entirely historical, but charming and effective.  

Tutorial: How to make a drawstring petticoat to go over a crinoline

My hoopskirt tutorial has been getting a lot of use, and I have had a request to do a tutorial on making the petticoat that goes over the hoopskirt, so here goes. This tutorial will make a full petticoat gathered to a 45″ drawstring waistband with two layers of 6″ ruffles at the hem.   The petticoat has a circumference of approximately 150″ at the hem, and is up to 45″ long. For your petticoat you will need: 7 yards (6.25m)  of 45″ wide fabric (60″ if you want your petticoat to be longer or can be bothered hemming) 2.5 yards of 3/4″ wide  cotton waist tape 10 yards of cotton cord for cord gathering Apologies in advance for the quality of the photographs with this tutorial – I guessed at what I would need as I made the petticoat, and then wrote the tutorial, and my guesses were hopelessly off, so I need to go back and make another petticoat and photo-document the process properly. Step 1: The Hem Ruffles Cut 14 7″ wide …