I Made Late Victorian Petticoats Using 1890s Ladies' Home Journal Instructions | Historical Sewing

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The next couple of months are 1890s themed! A bunch of us are working on a long-distance group collab of Disney cosplays, and I'm putting my character into the mid-late 1890s - which means I need to make everything from the skin out. So this week's video is going to focus on the design, patterning, and sewing of 2 different types of Victorian petticoats (the underskirt and the silk petticoat), and next week's video is focusing on the knit combinations and a bit on the corset (mostly the combinations though because woo am I excited about those (it's a bit video essay and a bit construction in format!)

My research for the underwear portion of this project has been grounded in two main primary sources. The first is Ladies' Home Journals from 1895-1898* and the second is Margaret Blair System of Garment Drafting (1897) (https://archive.org/details/margaretblairsys00blai/page/n5/mode/2up). I also used one of my antique black silk petticoats for some construction guidance.

LHJ is a great resource for tracking trends, and understanding how normal (American) society talked about clothing, and what general fashion was pushing forward as "the right thing to do" during the Victorian era. They are so good about sharing thoughts on everything from nightgowns, corsets, mourning dress, chemises, shoes, gifts, bodices, fabrics, etc. That by just sifting through everything I could find about petticoats and underskirts (including any and all advertisements!) I was able to piece together a good idea of what an "ideal" late Victorian petticoat could and would look like.

The only thing LHJ is lacking is actual patterns, so that's where the Margaret Blair cutting system came into play. It was right in the date range I was looking for, and her instructions are very clear and don't require any weird rule system, etc. Being able to use primary sources for guidance is so important to me when I am doing a historical fashion reconstruction project, trying to put myself into the mindset of a Victorian dressmaker is part of the fun, and I love seeing the finished results!

I'm really pleased with how everything has come out, it's super extra 😂 , but when I look at the photos and see how the skirt hangs I am extremely pleased with my pattern, fabric, and construction choices, and I cannot wait to get the fashion skirt made up.

Petticoats are crucial for all historic fashions, whether it's the 18th century, Regency, Victorian, or Edwardian era, women wore petticoats to help get the fashionable historic silhouette, protect their modesty (because sometimes those dresses were Shear™), keep them warm in the wintertime, and also just wearing petticoats is, weirdly, loads of fun. There's a common "reenactorism" or "historical costumer"-ism to make and wear organdy petticoats, but in all of my research, I have never once come across this in a primary reference. What I see are silk petticoats, cotton percale or nainsook, or flannel (or alpaca or moreen - both of which are stiff woolen fabrics) for petticoats.

If you are new to historical costuming or even sewing, and you want to make yourself a petticoat, I highly recommend going that extra mile to follow fabric, trim, and construction recommendations from the period, instead of trying to find modern "cheats", by following their advice, you can feel and see the difference in the finished product, and that is huge. Petticoats are a great way to practice your sewing, improve your patterning, and are great beginner sewing projects as well!

*A Patron let me know that some copies of Ladies' Home Journal are available for free here: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000059808 - this is not the database I used for my research, so I don't know about its usability/searchability, etc. But, Hooray for new research opportunities!

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Видео I Made Late Victorian Petticoats Using 1890s Ladies' Home Journal Instructions | Historical Sewing канала Abby Cox