Historical Sew Forthnightly: No Buy July

July 17, 2020

Historical Sew Fortnightly No buy July: Making a Petticoat from an old sheet

What the item is: An 1860's style cotton over hoop petticoat

The Challenge: No buy

Fabric: 100% cotton

Pattern: Self made

Year: Early 1860's but it also works for most of the crinoline era

Notions: one bone button, cotton thread.

How historically accurate is it? about 5/10, the shape and the tucks are accurate, but it is machine sewn and a cotton petticoat would normally be pure white rather than a pattern such as this.

Hours to complete: About two. 1 hour to sew the main body, 45 minutes to do the tucks, and 15 minutes to do the handsewing and making the button/ buttonhole

First worn: Dancing and spinning around the house singing 'Once Upon a December" while the animals ran in terror

Total cost: no cost, the sheet was given to me, and the button was reclaimed from another outfit

This sheet came with a ruffle and unfortunately before cutting or measuring it had to go.

To really make the item correctly, it has to be done in panels rather than a continuous length. I decided to do three panels 44" by 50". I wanted a petticoat 38" long so left the 2" for seam allowance and for tucks.

Now sew the panels together on the side that is 44" long. except for the side that has the opening

For the opening side, I measured 10" from the top and put a pin there to mark the spot.

Sew the opening side from the bottom to the pin, making sure to tack stitch a few times. The stitching in the area right below the pin will be high stress and needs to hold well.

Do a rolled over hem on either side of the 12" opening.

Grab some button thread and be ready to do a gather to waist measurements. Remember to leave 1/2 to 3/4 and inch for overlap at the buttonhole

gather and sew into the waistband. Hand sew a buttonhole and choose a button to use as your closure.

In the end you should have something similar to this. This is over my flounced petticoat which really filled out the space beneath. I added four pintucks to it later on, giving it just a little extra prettiness