Decorative Techniques: Lace Insertion

Les Dessous Élégants, 1906	Les Dessous Élégants, 1904
Les Dessous Élégants, 1906

Lace insertion is common in drawings of Belle Époque petticoats. However, only two of my vintage petticoats have lace insertion, while a third petticoat has two rows of embroidered insertion. Three of the petticoats have no insertion at all.

Lace insertion is an easy product to find nowadays, but it wasn’t initially obvious to me how to work with it. Unfortunately the period instructions I found are confusing and contradictory. Many of them describe what I am hereafter going to refer to as the “classic technique” of sewing insertion: attach the insertion to the petticoat, and then cut the fabric away from behind it.

These illustrations from American Dressmaking Step-by-step, 1917 show how to insert complicated lace designs:

 

There are five sets of directions I found that specifically talk about cutting the fabric from behind the lace, but none of the instructions are quite the same as each other.

The most elaborate (and time consuming) instructions for attaching insertion on were in Authentic Victorian Dressmaking Techniques (a republication of Butterick’s Dressmaking, Up To Date, 1905) edited by Kristina Harris. These instructions are for putting insertion onto a fancy blouse:

“Ordinarily the lace would be machine-stitched in place, but when time and patience may be depended upon, the lace may be held to the waist [blouse] by using the imitation hemstitching or fagoting stitch. This is done with a very coarse needle and a very fine cotton, and looks like hemstitching, although it requires no threads to be drawn; the stitch is called Bermuda Fagoting….The lace should be pinned on the waist [blouse] in the desired design, then basted with small stitches very close to each edge. Cut away the material that lies under the lace, leaving only one-eighth of an inch inside the bastings at each side; turn back this edge and work the fagoting stitch through the foundation material and this turned-back edge together, and across the edge of the lace. The open-work stitch adds to the beauty of the lace and produces an excellent finish.”

The above instructions seem unnecessarily elaborate for a petticoat. The same book gives simpler instructions for putting lace on a blouse,

“The lace in these cases is machine stitched in place, the material is cut away underneath, and the edges rolled back and overcast.”

I tried following these instructions for my own petticoat, but the results look nothing like the period examples in my collection, nor is the edge of the lace as neatly finished as in those examples (although I now think I misinterpreted the instructions).

Lace on my reproduction petticoat	Reverse

The same book gives yet a third way to insert lace in the “classic” manner; with possibly the clearest instructions:

“In making up wash frocks and those for Summer wear the garment is cut and fitted, after which the lace insertions are added; these are laid on in the proper position and basted. If the insertion is narrow, the material is cut though the center; but if the insertion is wide, the material is cut away from underneath, allowing simply a seam on each side. The edge of this is turned in and then turned again on the line of the basting, as for a hem. The insertions are now sewed down from the right side, catching though the material which has been turned over. This will also be seen at No. 7. If the material frays badly this method will have to be followed, but if it is firmly woven it may simply be folded over at the edges of the insertion and not again for a hem.”

The fourth “classic technique” instructions I found were in The Edwardian Modiste (from the section reprinting Clara E. Laughlin’s The Complete Dressmaker, 1907) edited by Frances Grimble.

“There are two ways of putting in insertion, with a single row of stitching or a double row. If a single row of stitching is wanted as a finish, turn the material back to within 1/16 inch of the needlework. Baste flat on the goods (if tucked, leave the width of a tuck between the last tuck and edge of insertion). Then baste the upper edge, after having folded down the edge, and stitch close to edge.

“After stitching, first remove bastings. Then run the scissors carefully between the material and the insertion and cut though the center. Trim away the surplus material. Turn the other edge over like a narrow hem, then hem down. This gives a neat finish and protects the stitching when laundered.

“If two rows of stitching are desired, fold the edge to within 1/8 inch of the needlework and proceed as before, making two rows of stitching 1/8 inch apart. Never finish the edges differently on the same garment.”

The fifth set of instructions is in the 1917 sewing manual, American Dressmaking Step by Step (illustrations near the top of the page). These instructions are for putting in more complicated lace designs (involving curves, etc.) rather then for simple insertion, which is dealt with in an earlier section. After much analysis, I don’t think any of the insertion in my vintage petticoats actually use the “classic technique”, despite its prevalence in period manuals and in modern “heirloom sewing” instructions. In all of the above “classic technique” instructions, I think the instructions are intended for complicated lace designs rather then the plain horizontal bands seen in the vintage petticoats being analyzed.

After much searching, I found three sets of instructions that talk about attaching insertion to a straight edge (which is the case for all six petticoats). The first instructions, from the 1916 book Clothing and Health, describes finishing the hem and attaching the lace at the same time:

“After the hems have been turned backwards and creased to the wrong side, we are ready to sew on the insertion. Hold the insertion straight with the right side to the right side of the gown, and with the edge of the insertion to the edges of the creased hem. Now great care must be taken. The overhanding stitch [whipstitch] is to be used. …. In taking the stitch be very careful to put the needle through the edge of the hem, the creased edge, and the lace. The sewing will not be neat unless all these edges are caught by this sewing. This is important.”

This is similar to the way the fabric and lace bands are attached in the Lacy Petticoat, in that the lace on the Lacy Petticoat is attached by whipstitching which also finishes the hem. The hem finish on the Lacy Petticoat is easier to do then the rolled hem described.

So far, all of the insertion instructions tell you to finish the hem and attach the lace at the same time (with the same stitch). The directions from The Complete Dressmaker (1907) for decorating a corset cover are the first instructions I found that suggest these steps might be done separately. The instructions are very brief (leaving out many details) but they do accurately describe how the lace insertion is attached to both Bess Moser’s Petticoat and the Lacy Petticoat:

“There are many ways of trimming an under waist [corset cover]. If lace is used, the neatest way is to overhand the insertion, beading, and lace together. Turn a narrow hem on the waist and overhand the insertion to the waist.”

There are three sets of lace insertion instructions in American Dressmaking Step by Step that are specifically intended to be used when the insertion is to be attached along a straight edge. The second set (Lesson 228, which is a slight modification to Lesson 227) indicates that a narrow hem is to be done by machine and the lace is to be whipstitched to the edge of the hem. This describes how the top of the lace is attached to Bess Moser’s petticoat, but the bottom of the lace is attached in a slightly more complicated manner.

The general recommendation in The Complete Dressmaker to “Never finish the edges different on the same garment” is not followed in any of the petticoats. In fact, only one of the four rows of lace insertion even has the same hem finish along both its top and bottom edge. However, all four rows of lace insertion are whipstitched to the ruffles by hand, even while the seam finishing directly above and below them is done by machine. Thus, in that sense they are all finished in the same way.

 

Bess Moser Petticoat

Insertion in ruffle	Reverse

The seam finish at the top of the insertion is different from the seam finish at the bottom of the insertion, which makes me think that the insertion was not done in the “classic insertion” method detailed above. If it were done that way there would be no reason for the seam finishing to be different at the top than at the bottom. However, this is the one piece of insertion in all three petticoats with either fabric or lace insertion that could have been sewn to the petticoat and then the petticoat fabric cut away from behind. It is possible to do the seam finishes seen in Bess Moser’s petticoat after that first step (although it wouldn’t be my first choice for how to do it). It’s not possible for the other insertion examples I have.

 

The insertion in the top ruffle and the insertion in the bottom ruffle are both done the same way; for both ruffles the top hem of the insertion is done differently from the bottom hem.

The edge at the top of the insertion is folded up, the seam allowance is tucked inside, and very tiny machine stitches run along the edge (about 1/8” above the insertion). The lace insertion is whipstitched to the bottom edge.

The edge at the bottom of the insertion is more complicated. The seam allowance is folded down. Then the fabric is folded up to cover the seam allowance, forming a tuck. The top of the tuck is then machine-sewn (though all layers) with very tiny stitches.

 

 

Lacy Petticoat

 

Lace insertion	Reverse
Fabric between rows of lace insertion	Reverse
Fabric held up to the light, showing the seam allowance

The lace insertion here was definitely not sewn in the “classic” insertion method (ie sewing the lace onto the fabric, and then cutting the fabric away from behind the lace).

The edge of the ruffle above the top row of insertion is folded up, the seam allowance is tucked under, and the edge is machine-sewn though all the layers about 1/8’ above the insertion. This may or may not have been done before the insertion was whipstitched to the bottom edge. I would guess the insertion was attached afterwards, just because I think it would be easier to do, but it could’ve been done in either order.

The fabric below the top insertion is a strip of fabric, folded in half with the seam allowance tucked inside. The top row of insertion is whipstitched to the folded edge of the fabric strip. The top of the second row of insertion is whipstitched to the bottom of the fabric strip. The same whipstitch that attaches the insertion also sews the open edges of the fabric together.

The fabric below the second lace insertion is constructed the same as the first fabric strip; instead of lace insertion being whipstitched to the bottom edge, the lace edging is whipstitched to the bottom edge.

 

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Next month - Lace Edging and Embroidery!

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