Mid 1870's Trained Petticoat 

So what is a girl to do when she needs both a balayeuse and a petticoat for a mid 1870's ensemble? Why the handy dandy trained petticoat! There is a great source on facebook called 19th century sewing patterns, and has over a thousand patterns and fashion plates from just the early bustle and early natural form years. Yesterday's thimble has a great post about balayeuse that you can read about here http://yesterdaysthimble.com/tutorials/balayeuse/

So this sweet little number is the best of both worlds of protecting the hem of my dress safe from dirt, especially that expensive silk that my heart yearned for for months. But, we have a problem... I am very, very, very American. Suckled on the teat of the standard system since I could hold a tape... on the original pattern is in centimeters. But have no fear, standard to metric conversion calculator is here. 

Boom, there ya go. One converted drawing and somewhat kinda the right shapes. There were a few different styles, but I really like the five panel instead of the seven panel skirts that were becoming more popular towards the transition into the bustle era, which led to the nine panels that rocked the belle opaque era after the second bustle era.

So i grabbed my trusty ruler and reminded myself that all that petticoats from this era are just squares and trapezoids sewn together.

Mark out the skirt at the appropriate places 

And mark out the other pieces. To be honest I used only four yards because I am poor and even though my brain says fabric, my stomach says food and the stomach won. So the side panel is even shorter than its supposed to be. Which is still quite long, and sufficient for my hem protection needs. 

boom, my pieces are ready to be stabbed by the needle repeatedly and thread pushed through the holes. My cloth genocided paid off though, and I decided to french seam the seams, even though that keeps it from being quite period accurate from that time.

I also have a confession to make, working at the sewing shop ruined me. I know sew over my pins and sew almost exclusively with a hem foot.

Okay me like, without the bustle it looks kinda funky but starting to come together.

Now for the 360 degree lookl. Apologies for the messy room, I've been procrastinating cleaning it for the last 25 years.

And now with the bustle

I only gathered the back panel to maximize the backwards poof. Skirt balance is so important.

Now on to a very pretty, lacy hem. I bought this from the lovely Randi Levy who can handle a mean scythe and has lovely lace and fabrics she sells. 

Is it accurate? probably not but it makes me happy and its my underwear so besides me and God hopefully noone will see it.