1890-1910 Petticoats, Part 4: Construction

Page 5 of 5

Seam Finishing in the Body of the Petticoat

Clothing for Women describes 5 seams that are generally used for undergarments (see the table below) however, in the section on sewing petticoats Clothing for Women suggests either French seams or a Stitched Fell seam. American Dressmaking Step by Step lists 28 different seams (lessons 56-84) however it (and the other sewing manuals) rarely says when each seam should be used. The names for the seams (and their descriptions) vary slightly between the sewing manuals; generally I have used the names and definitions given in Clothing for Women.

Plain Seam	American Dressmaking Step by Step defines a plain seam as a single row of stitching and no further seam finishing. Clothing for Women defines a plain seam as “Two raw edges, with row of stitching or machine stitching, three-eight to one-half inch from edges, which are afterward neatly trimmed and overcast (for undergarments).”(Baldt 229) The petticoats we’re analyzing use both types of plain seams.	Illustration from Clothing for Women (Baldt 229)
French Seam	French seams are exactly what we modernly define as French seams; first a seam is sewn facing the right side of the fabric. Then that seam allowance is trimmed, and a second seam is sewn on the wrong side of the fabric, encasing the original seam allowance. There are a number of nice You Tube videos showing how to do this. I liked this one. American Dressmaking Step by Step says that French seams are “for thin materials and dainty garments. It should be used on lines that can be easily turned. Often, however, the French seam is used where the Turned-in Seam should have been used and a most undesirable effect is produced.”(Coates 72) See the French Fell Seam entry for more on the Turned-in Seam; I believe Coates is complaining about the use of French seams for armholes and other such curvy seams.	Illustration from Clothing for Women (Baldt 230)
Hemmed Fell Seam	In this variation on a Fell seam, the second line of stitching securing the seam allowance is whipstitching done by hand. American Dressmaking Step by Step says that this seam “is especially suitable for seams on underwear made of medium weight material. The [Hemmed] Fell seam is not used on very thin material, as the edges of the seam will show though the goods.”(Coates 71)	Illustration from Clothing for Women (Baldt 231)
Stitched Fell Seam	In this variation on a Fell seam, the second line of stitching that secures the seam allowance is done by machine. Modernly this is usually what is referred to as a Fell seam.	Illustration from Clothing for Women (Baldt 232)
French Fell Seam	In this variation on a Fell seam, the seam allowance is not sewn to the body of the garment; instead the edge of the seam allowance is folded towards each other and whipstitched together. This results in a seam very similar to a French seam. American Dressmaking Step by Step gives a variation on this seam, which it calls the “Turned-in Seam”. In this variation the second row of stitching is done by machine.	Illustration from Clothing for Women (Baldt 233) Illustration of the Turned-in Seam from American Dressmaking Step by Step (Coates 71)
Flannel Fell Seam	In this variation on a Fell seam, the seam allowance is folded over, the side that is next to the outer fabric is trimmed, but edge of the top layer is not tucked under, instead it’s left raw and a catch-stitch fastens it down.	Illustration from Clothing for Women (Baldt 234)

Five of the six petticoats we’re analyzing use French seams. The seams that are not French seams are plain seams (with or without whipstitching around the raw edges).

Bess Moser’s Petticoat

All of the vertical seams at the top of Bess Moser’s petticoat are 3/8”-1/4” French seams. However, the vertical seams in the tucked area above the ruffles are all plain seams with no further seam finishing. This was probably done so that the seams would not make big lumps in the tucks. Some (but not all) of the seams below the tucks return to being French seams beneath the ruffles. The others remain plain unfinished seams straight to the hem.


French seam	Plain seam in tucks	Switching from plain seam back to a French seam

Lacy Petticoat All of the vertical seams in the Lacy Petticoat are 1/8”-3/16” French seams. They are more often 1/8” then 3/16”; some of the seams vary in width along their lengths.
	French seam
Woven Lace Petticoat All of the vertical seams in the Woven Lace Petticoat are 3/16” French seams.
	French seam
Cutwork Petticoat All of the vertical seams in the body of the Cutwork Petticoat join selvedge-edge to raw edge. The seam allowances are folded to one side, and no further seam finishing has been done.

Eyelet Petticoat

Most of the seams in the body of the Eyelet Petticoat are 3/16” French seams; however there is one exception to this. The center back seam (where the placket is inserted) is a plain seam with the seam allowance folded to one side and whipstitched together.

French seams

Whipstitched seam allowance

Embroidered Petticoat

The vertical seams above the top row of insertion are all 3/16” French seams. Below the insertion, the gore seams are either tiny (1/16”) seams joining selvedge edges without further seam finishing or they are 1/8” plain seams joining selvedge edge to raw end. In this case the seam allowance is folded to one side and whipstitched together.

French seams

Gore seams. On the left is a tiny plain seam without seam finish and on the right is a plain seam with a whipstitched seam finish

Skirt Loops

Two of the petticoats have sections of twill tape attached to the waistband. Occasionally you see similar loops attached to skirts’ waistbands. Plain Needlework (a modern compendium of Victorian sewing instructions) says that tapes “may serve as loops for hanging up.”(Roberts, 46) The instructions Plain Needlework gives for sewing skirt loops describe how the loops in the Eyelet Petticoat are attached, but the Woven Lace Petticoat’s loops are attached in a slightly less complicated method.

Woven Lace Petticoat

The Woven Lace petticoat has two strips of 3/8” cotton twill tape attached to the waistband. Their lengths are not quite the same as each other; the one on the left of the back opening is 2 ¾” long and the one on the right side is 3” long. On both, the raw ends are tucked under and they are whip-stitched to the waistband along the fold. Both the right hand loop and the left hand loop start 3 7/8” from the center back opening.

Eyelet Petticoat

The Eyelet Petticoat has two strips of 5/16” cotton twill tape, both are 3 ¾” long. The sewing attaching the loops to the waistband is slightly different from the Woven Lace Petticoat; the raw ends are tucked under and the fold is whip-stitched down. But this line of stitching isn’t the only one, a square is sewn at each end of the loop, the three outside edges are whip-stitched and the inner edge is a running stitch. This is exactly how Plain Needlework describes, “For tapes sewn on the inside of a band, hem the three sides of the square, then seam… the edges together.” The raw edge of the twill tape is secured between the waistband and the loop itself.

Bibliography

Baldt, Laura I. Clothing for Women.Selection, Design, Construction. A Practical Manual for School and Home. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1916.

Butterick Publishing Company, The Dressmaker. New York: Butterick Publishing Company, 1911. (Internet Archive. 5 Feb. 2010 )

Coates, Lydia Trattles. American Dressmaking Step by Step. New York: The Pictorial Review Company. 1917. (Vintage Sewing.info. 1 Nov. 2009,)

DraperyIdeas, “How To Sew French Seams”, [Jan 23, 2010]

Grimble, Frances, Ed. The Edwardian Modiste. San Francisco: Lavolta Press, 1997. (This contains a partial republication of The Complete Dressmaker, edited by Clara E. Laughlin, 1907)

Grimble, Frances, Ed. The Voice of Fashion. San Francisco: Lavolta Press, 1998.

Harris, Kristina, Ed. Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques. New York: Dover Publications, Inc, 1999. (A republication of Butterick’s Dressmaking, Up To Date, 1905). P. 41-42.

Picken, Mary Brooke, Plain Undergarments. Scranton, PA: Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences, Inc., 1920. (Original copyright 1916 under the title “Underwear and Lingerie” by International Educational Publishing Company.)

Roberts, Melissa. Plain Needlework a Guide to Nineteenth Century Hand Sewing. Being the Complete Art of Plain Sewing Minutely Described and Clearly Illustrated. Georgia: Hollis & Bell. Sautee, 2000.