Petticoats!
I love, love, LOVE retro dresses from the 1950's. Something about the pouffy skirt appeals to me. Thats a lie, I know it's my pear shape! These hips don't lie and having a full skirt is a nice way to disguise them a bit. On top of that a full skirt is fun to twirl in, and I do enjoy how distinctly feminine the look is. Sometimes a girl wants to wear a mens T shirt with the Hulk on it, and sometimes you just gotta put on something sweet and simple. It's called balance. Anywho, an essential part to completing a 1950's look is actually in the undergarments. I present to you: A LESSON IN PETTICOATS.
A brief history of garments will tell you about the french Panniers (the lovely hoops and caging) in the 17th and 18th century that Marie Antoinette rocked in court fashion. Bustles came after that and changed the shape of the skirt from expanding the sides to expanding the back of the skirt. These were essentially cage shapes made out of bone, reeds, or metal. Then came the petticoat. These were actually made from fabric and acted to extend the skirt of a dress and evolved into an essential skirt puffenening accessory. That's right: puffening. And the petticoat or crinoline in the retro dress is responsible for that darling full skirt effect. A flat full skirt just isn't quite authentic.
Using the sugardale method found here http://sugardale.blogspot.ca/2008/08/how-to-make-petticoat.html I cut out the tiers of the petticoat. The way it works is taking 4 metres of fabric and cutting it in 4 quarters horizontally along the bias. 2/4 will be gathered into the bottom tier, the top 1/4 will actually be cut in half and that half will be the top tier, and the middle 1/4 of fabric will be gathered and sandwiched into the middle tier of the petticoat. Make sense?
The top tier has half the length of the fabric The middle will have twice that length, and the bottom will have twice THAT length. By doubling the lengths and gathering them into each other you'll get more and more fullness as the tiers go down.
Add the elastic to the waist and voila! A lovely petticoat!
