1890-1910 Petticoats, Part 1: Decoration

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What shape petticoat should I make?

The exact shape of the skirts vary quite a bit during the Belle Époque period: in the mid-1890s the fashionable skirt silhouette was almost triangular; in the early 1900s the skirts seemed to cling down to the knee (the fashion illustration below is actually less extreme then many of the photos of the time, which increase the effect by twisting the train around the legs towards the front); in the late 1900s there is a brief fad for full skirts with a comparatively raised waist, only to swing towards extremely narrow skirts (retaining the higher waist line) at the end of the decade.


1895	1903

1906	1909

How should I decorate the petticoat?

This second question is closely related to the first. The decoration (especially tucks) has a lot of effect on the shape and how much “floof” a petticoat has:

The author in a petticoat made using
Past Patterns #109 without the
decorative ruffle

The author in the same petticoat
with a decorative ruffle

It was considered rather immoral to wear fancy lace-trimmed underwear throughout most of the nineteenth century. However, during the Belle Époque period, petticoats (and other underwear) became incredibly elaborate; advertisements show petticoats trimmed with lace, ruching, tucks and frills. One observer positively frothed, “we must all frou-frou ‘till we can’t frou-frou any more.”

Definition of Terms

Before I get started here are some terms that I will be using, which you may or may not be familiar with:

Term	Definition	Example
Lace edging	Lace with one side straight and one edge finished, usually with scallops or some sort of decorative border. Lace ruffles generally use lace edging. It's the most common type of lace found at fabric stores.	Four examples of lace edging available for sale in 1916
Lace insertion	Lace with two edges straight, meant to be inserted between two pieces of fabric. "Heirloom sewing" tends to use a lot of lace insertion. Belle Époque petticoats, blouses, and lingerie dresses rely heavily on lace insertion.	Four examples of lace insertion available for sale in 1916
Lace beading	Lace with holes at regular intervals to insert a ribbon into, so that the ribbon weaves in-front-of and then behind the lace. The edges on lace beading may be either both be straight (intended for insertion, like the pictured examples) or both with a scalloped finish (like lace edging). Very rarely you see beading with one edge straight and one with a fancy finish.	Three examples of lace beading available for sale in 1916 Lace beading with ribbon
Cluny lace	A style of lace; heavy bobbin lace made from relatively thick thread. The threads in the style tend to be thick and give it a slightly rough or clunky look. The style could be mimicked by machines in the 19th century.	Cluny lace available for sale in 1916 The two top rows are machine made Cluny lace, which was coarser (and much cheaper) than the bottom two rows, which are traditionally made Cluny lace.
Valenciennes lace	A style of lace; bobbin lace that tends to include a lot of net or “mesh” in the design. It could be mimicked by machines in the 19th century. Wikipedia has a nice introduction to this style.	Valenciennes lace available for sale in 1916 The two top rows are German Valenciennes lace which was somewhat coarser (and cheaper) then the bottom two rows, which are French Valenciennes lace.
Eyelet Lace	A style of lace involving whitework embroidery, frequently with eyelets and cutwork (ie. shapes that have been cut out of the fabric). The Encyclopedia of Needlework by Thérèse de Dillmont (published in 1884) has a good introduction to making eyelet lace.	1917 photo of eyelet lace
Whipstitch	A stitch that can only be done by hand. It involves looping the thread around the edge of the fabric. American Dress Making Step by Step has good instructions for this stitch. In modern times I learned to call this a whipstitch, but in the Belle Époque sewing manuals it's most commonly referred to as overcasting, occasionally overhanding or top stitching, and least frequently whipstitching. Sometimes those terms are differentiated by the closeness of the stitching and the angle of the needle, although the manuals don’t agree on the differentiation. So I’ve chosen to lump them all under the modern term.	1917 Illustration of whipstitching

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