C18th Petticoat

The next thing I have made, although it isn't yet complete, is the petticoat. I managed to some some 'champagne' coloured silk in a sale at £5 p/m so I was pretty chuffed and bought 4m as I wanted to make a flounce.

As I wanted a flounce, it had to be 3 times the length of the petticoat hem which would be 3m - so 9m was needed for a flounce. I cut out 2 x 4m lengths about 8" wide and another metre the same width from the left over silk. I then cut out 2 x 1.5m panels for the actual petticoat and then a strip for the waistband.

I sewed up the side seams on the petticoat leaving a 10" gap (starting from an inch from the waist) for pocket access and neatend the seams. Then I started on the flounce. I sewed the 3 strips of silk together and neatened the seams before marking every inch along the length on both sides (it may be easier to do it a metre at a time). I got out the pinking shears and cut triangles at the inch markings before pleating and pinning it.

Once the flounce was completely pleated and pinned I ironed both sides several times to make sure they were pressed well. After this I sewed the pleats down along one length at about 1.5" from the edge and ironed it all again. I then pinned the flounce to the petticoat - the bottom edge of the flounce actually meets at the bottom edge of the petticoat.

After this I decided to attach the waistband. First I had to pleat up the petticoat - as the petticoat is made from 2 panels, the waist measurement was halved to get the final length for each panel (does that make sense?!), the pleats worked out to be about 1/2". The CB has an inverted box pleat and the CF has about a 2" box pleat. I then attached the wasitband pressed it and sewed on a couple of eyelets to fasten it (NB. the petticoat has a side fastening where the pocket slit is).

When this was done, I tried it all on with my stays and petal pad to check the length. The petticoat was a little high at the back, as expected and so the flounce was lowered a bit. This is as far as I have got at the moment, but all I have to do now is sew on the flounce and then it's complete!

C18th Mitts

This is a continuation from my first post on mitts back in May which can be found here.

Once I had cut out all the pattern pieces in silk and wool for the lining, I sewed the thumb pieces to both the silk and then did the same for the wool. After this I placed a wool piece and a silk piece together with right sides facing and sewed around the edge (leaving the bottom part free) with a 1/2" seam allowance.

Having come to a problem of the mitts not fitting I stopped sewing them until yesterday. When I pinned along the seam line I found that they did fit and that they were a little bit tight around the wrist area when I tried to put my hand through, I resolved this by sewing a another seam a couple of millimetres closer to the edge of the fabric along the wrist area on one side.

Once this was done, I turned the mitts the right way round and ironed the seams flat (placing a handkerchief between the wool and iron to protect it). I then sewed up the bottom seam of the mitts and then the thumb piece at the top - this was quite fiddly as it's a small hole so some patience is required!

After that, it was time to sew up the main seam. I used a ladder stitch for this and doubled up the thread for extra strength. I sewed the lining seam and then the silk seam, but either way would be fine.

Hennin, a C15th headress

(This following post is curtesy to Lidi [pictured bottom right], with some slight editing by myself [pictured left], as I pretty much followed her method)

The most important measurement for the hennin is the circumference of your head, from the highest point of the forehead to the nape of your neck. Using this measurement, trace out a pattern for a headband/fillet. This can either be rectangular in shape or with a slight curve for a better fit. It needs to be tightly fitted as it is the main anchor point, so designing it not to quite fasten when tied together at the back a small gap should allow for any stretch. Making it up in velvet with an interlining of canvas creates a sturdy support as well as a rough texture for other fabrics to grip onto.

The black loop, which can be represented in paintings in various ways, can be created using millinery wire wrapped in silk ribbon, though it is difficult to ascertain exactly how it is constructed so other interpretations are worth considering! It can be sewn between the layers of the fillet fabric and sewn tight, and should be placed as high on the forehead as possible.

The measurement of the hennin's base will need to allow for the headband so it is worth measuring again. Using this measurement, a curved edge can be sketched out for the pattern. The sides and top of the hennincan then be drawn in after considering how long/tapering the hennin needs to be depending whether it's full length (approx. 50cm) or truncated (approx. 20-25cm). It is advised to make a mock up in cardboard (e.g. cereal box) beforehand.

The pattern is traced onto a sturdy buckram or equivilent and cut without seam allowance and onto a lining and out fabric with seam allowances. The seam edges of the hennin need to be finished before assembly in order to whip together the edges with all the raw fabric concealed. The outer fabric needs to be a bit longer than the hennin so that the fabric can be sewn to cover the hole in the top when later constructed. The seam can then be worked up the length of the hennin and the base optionally bound in velvet to grip to the headband if the hennin is particularly long or heavy.

The next thing to make is the veil. This can be made from a hemmed piece of silk organza or a very fine linen measuring from 1-2 metres (depending on how flamboyant one wishes to be) and the width would have to be measured accordingly depending on the length of the hennin.

The last piece to make is optional, but does appear in most paintings showing hennins: this is the frontlet, the long strip of velvet placed over where the hennin sits on the fillet. this is just a tube of velvet about 10cm wide and about 80-100cm long.

Frilly Fichu

The next item of clothing I have made for C18th is the fichu, or a neckerchief in its simplest terms.

To make this I used my fine linen and cut out a triangle (or a square) and sewed a tiny hem. I then cut out 4 strips of linen (about 3" wide) which when sewn together were twice the length of the two short sides of the triangular fichu, I hemmed this also (both sides). I then gathered half the length of the strip and once it was at the right length, I back stitched it onto the hem of one of the short sides of the triangle (I hope that makes sense!) and then I repeated the steps with the rest of the strip of linen so I ended up with a frilled edge.

Smocks and petal bums

This is just a quick post really on 2 items of C18th clothing.

Firstly the smock. I made this from cotton sheeting which is really wide and so when folded in half it can make a smock cut from one piece (with the fold along the sleeves) so it is like a T shape. As C18th smock sleeves only come to the elbow, I needed to adjust the pattern sleeves:

I then sewed and neatened both side seems. I cut a slit in the neck hole and when my stays were finished I tried it all on and put pins in to where I wanted the smock neckline to come and then hemmed it. I had actually made the back of the neckline far too low so I had to add in a piece of cotton to make it higher! Luckily this wont be seen as the gown will cover it.

After this I had to sort out the cuffs. As said before, the sleeves came to the elbow, so to make the cuffs I had to measure the crook of my elbow, which was 11" and make the cuffs accordingly. To do this I gathered the cuff, but left and inch either side of the sleeve seam and I then bound it with some leftover cotton fabric. Simple really.

Now, the petal bum. This is actually a bum pad that, obviously, goes over the bum and looks like petals. The pad makes the bum fuller and causes the gown to stick out at the back. The pattern was the middle piece of the paper pattern for a bum roll I made which was conveniently the right size and shape for a petal bum pad. It measures at the top 11" (the point on your torso where the hip bone is and is the measurement is from [about] kidney to kidney), at it's widest part 18.5" (width of bum) and is 7" long (from hip bone line to about half way down bum cheek!).

I cut the pattern from 2 pieces of cotton fabric, adding an inch seam allowance. With the right sides together, I sewed the sides and bottom seam, sewing in some cotton tape for ties. I turned the pad the right way round and drew on 2 curved lines (see picture) and then sewed along them using backstitch. I used some polyester stuffing for the padding (can be bought from haberdasheries) and then sewed up the top seam.

Stay pictures

Here are some pictures of the complete stays (my pillows made a good temporary model!)

Stays (part the 3rd and FINAL)

So yes, this is the last post about my stays as today, after 2 months, 2 weeks and 1 day, I've completed my entirely hand sewn stays! I am soooooooo very happy!

To continue from my last post, once all the channels were sewn, it was time to insert the boning. I used synthetic whalebone for this apart from the channels either side of where the eyelets were to go on the back panel, I used steel for these as it would require strength when laced.

When the bones were all inserted, it was time to bind the edges, which took some time and was quite tedious when going round the tabs (which I had cut at this point) so it took me a while to get this part done.

After that I decided to make the straps. My friend and I measured for these when we first made the pattern - 12" plus an inch for sewing into the stays. All I did for these was measure and cut out in the silk, canvas and cotton (for lining) 13" in length and just over an inch wide. I curved the end that was to be tied to the stays before pinning the binding to the silk and canvas (leaving the other end raw) and sewing down. I then lined using the cotton.

At this point I made a cotton case for my busk which sits in the centre front and is ever so slightly shorter than the stays. I sewed this to the top and bottom and added a few stiches in the middle to keep the stays flatter.

Next I started to line the stays. The tabs were individually lined with squares of cotton before the main body of the stays were lined with 3 pieces of cotton (the middle bit being one piece, and 2 side pieces), this was quite fiddly getting it to sit properly (not forgetting to snip the curves!), but quite quick and easy to sew down. I attached the straps at this point too so that they are between the canvas and lining of the stays.

After this, I started on the eyelets. There were 4 eyelets for the straps. I made the holes with what I think is a kilt pin (looks a bit like a safety pin, but much longer and thicker) and then used varying sized knitting needles to make a suitable hole. After those eyelets, it was time for the lacing eyelets at the back! My stays are spiral laced and so the eyelets were set out for this - there were 30 altogether and took several hours to complete!

Once this was done, all I had to do now was was sew on some ribbon along the seam lines on the front of the stays, commonly found on extant stays. You can see this on my collection of final photos in the following post.