Pretty, pretty petticoats...
I know I've said it a few times now, but I am not much of an historical accuratist (Yes, I just made that up). :-) I just really like pretty dresses! And pretty petticoats, as my blog will attest!
For a long time, I only really made 1880s late bustle style dresses, but in the last year or so I have made an "expansion", if you will, and have drifted backwards. Now, I've got the 1830s to the 1880s in my repertoire. Currently, I have the pink and white 1830s romantic style dress, the blue striped 1880s late bustle dress, the pink plaid and green 1870s natural form style dress, and a late 1850s hoop style dress with a day and evening bodice on my list. I have pieces of the 1850s, the 1870s, and the 1880s dresses all started. The only one that hasn't been officially "begun" is the 1830s dress, and only because I've run out of room to stack "in progress" projects!
All that said, I am two bone hoops and a waistband away from finishing my steel boned hoop dress crinoline (read: I have about 25 minutes of actual work left but I probably won't get it finished until February 2018), and I've already started stashing fabrics for fun (and most likely historically inaccurate) petticoats.
The hoop petticoats I plan on making (so far, at least), I found remnant pieces for months ago and they have just been sitting on my shelf, silently and patiently waiting to become beautiful petticoats. I don't have favorites, so in alphabetical order, I will start with the green embroidered gingham cotton.
I just thought it was super sweet, and it's so soft. As soon as I saw it, it made me think of the ridiculously silly dresses from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (if you don't know what I am talking about, google it - that musical is epic!). Of course I have to have a hoop petticoat made out of this, with that gorgeous scalloped embroidery at the bottom edge.
The second up in the stack of petticoats stash is a pink stripe cotton.
There's nothing special about this, and it didn't make me think of any 1950s musical costumes, but it's a nice color pink with a nice balance of stripes and it's soft and lightweight. I've only really become a "pink" kind of girl in the last year or so and this piece of fabric called to my floufy-girl side. I'm thinking about making this petticoat in panels with the stripes vertical instead of horizontal. I'm also considering a few tucks at the bottom edge, but this will be a smooth petticoat with no ruffles on it. I don't think it needs them, as the pink is sweet all by itself.
For a petticoat that has already been begun, I move on to this pinstriped cotton.
This is another cotton remnant I picked up months ago. It is currently being formed into an 1870s trained petticoat with ruffles. Lots of ruffles. Ruffles that are cut on the diagonal and are being backed by stiff cotton organdy to give them extra "oomph". It's maddening and I don't know what I was thinking! Regardless, when I am finished manhandling it, it's going to be perfect. I started with the Truly Victorian pattern TV225 - 1878 Fantail Skirt. The petticoat has the stripes running vertical and, as I said, a maddening bias cut diagonal lined with cotton organdy for the ruffles.
At the moment, those are the only petticoats on my list, other than a plain white cotton lawn hoop petticoat to go under the periwinkle blue linen (that I bought in NYC earlier this year) hoop dress. But I am always on the lookout, and there is perpetually an air of danger that I might pick up 4 yards of something else to make a petticoat out of!
