In the last two months I talked about the different decorative techniques used to trim Belle Époque petticoats (here and here); now I will discuss the different factors that combine to create the shape of the skirt, and the petticoats that support it. There are many factors that affect the shape of the skirt:

1. The number of petticoats worn

2. The fabric (or fabrics) used for the petticoats

3. The patterns used

4. How the decorative ruffle is supported

5. Whether tucks are used in the decoration, and if so, where they are applied.

I will be discussing all of these in this article, particularly as they relate to the six 1890-1910 petticoats described here. Next month I will be talking about the basic sewing techniques (plackets, seam finishes, etc.) that were used in these six petticoats.

Styles

The exact shape of the skirts varies quite a bit during the Belle Époque period:

1892 The early 1890s has the fullness of the skirt drawn towards the back, and the front is rather flat.	1895 The mid-1890s fashionable skirt silhouette was almost triangular. Skirts were frequently cut as half to three-quarter circles.

1903 During the early 1900s the skirts seem to cling down to the knee and then flare out around the ankles in a trumpet shape.	1906 There is a brief fad in the late 1900s for full skirts with a comparatively raised waist.	1909 The end of the decade moves to extremely narrow skirts that continue to have a raised waistline.

Petticoats changed their shape just as the skirts did. In the first few years of the 1890s the skirts were very narrow with all the fullness at the back. Petticoats reflected this:

“The front [of the petticoat] fits almost as closely as a sheath skirt, the fullness being drawn to the back by means of a casing that extends from each side across the back about midway of the skirt. It has an opening in the centre of the back formed by buttonholes, and out of which come broad, pink ribbons that draw the fullness as it should be, and are then tied in a pretty way in the back.”(Ladies’ Home Journal, March 1891) [Severa 464]

As skirts flared into the full “triangular shape” of the mid-90s there was a change in petticoats to match:

“The fashionable flaring effect is produced by wearing… skirts over an Empire Petticoat that is gored to flare well at the bottom, and made with a deep, full flounce that falls over narrow, gathered ruffles to further increase the flare” (The Delineator, May 1893).[Severa 464]

Again in the early 1900s, when skirts became “trumpet shaped” and much more clingy, petticoats adjusted to focus the decoration around the bottom:

“If we remain faithful to soft, clinging material for our dresses, we require a petticoat with a good deal of frou-frou round the feet to enable us to walk with due dignity!”[The Lady’s Realm, 286]

In the late 1900s, as skirts narrowed more dramatically, petticoats shifted shapes again:

“By the autumn [of 1907] ‘petticoats are obviously on the decrease, the befrilled and laced jupon already carrying a démodé air when placed in close proximity with the soft falling, clinging skirts that, on being raised, reveal petticoats of an equally affectionate character.’”[Cunnington, A History of Underclothes, 213]

Throughout the entire period, petticoats fit closely through the hips, and usually it was the layers of trim (frequently referred to as frills or frillies) that determined just how wide or narrow the skirt would be.

Petticoats & Underskirts

How many petticoats are worn has a huge impact on the ultimate shape of the skirt worn over them. According to The History of Underclothes, “not more than two [petticoats] were worn, the top one, particularly when coloured, often being referred to as an underskirt.”[Cunnington, The History of Underclothes 212] In fact, I found the top petticoat being referred to by a number of different names: petticoats (just to be confusing with the white cotton petticoats they were worn over), jupes or jupons (the French terms for petticoats [Picken 21.]), slip skirts, lining or lining skirt, foundation skirt, drop lining, and underskirt. For the purposes of this article I’m going to refer to it as an underskirt, in order to differentiate when I’m talking about the top petticoat, and when I’m referring to a white cotton petticoat.

The 1907 publication of The Complete Dressmaker devotes a number of pages to describing how the foundation or lining skirt should be constructed. Initially this sounds like the lining of the outer skirt, but the garment described is a completely separate skirt, which is to be worn with both a petticoat and the main skirt.[Grimble, The Edwardian Modiste 368-9.]

The May 1906 issue of The Voice of Fashion also talks about the possibility of the skirt lining being a separate garment:

“Skirts are now so constructed that the outside and lining parts are made up as two separate skirts. They may be made on the same or separate bands. The lining is then termed a drop skirt and is very seldom constructed the same as the outside skirt. The most desirable way to construct the drop lining is to use plain drafts for the upper portion of the skirt and finish the bottom with a pleated flounce of about 10 or 12 inches in depth. The flounce can or cannot be set upon the upper portion of the skirt, the most satisfactory way being to sew the flounce to the lower edge.

“Such a drop lining can be worn with almost any style of outside skirt. Braid is usually placed on the bottom of the drop skirt for protection. When such a lining is used the outside skirt is faced a short distance from the bottom and the facing hand sewn or stitched in place, as the case may be.”[Grimble, The Voice of Fashion 15]

Based on these factors, my hypothesis is that only a single white cotton petticoat such as the six we’ll be analyzing was worn during the Belle Époque period, underneath the second petticoat is the (sometimes quite fancy) colored underskirt. As Mills says in Calico Chronicle, “even with purchased embroidered trim, there was still much handwork required to put it to proper use. In most cases, the top petticoat was fancy and the other layers were plain.”[Mills 120]

Trains are prevalent in fashion illustrations for both day and evening wear in the Belle Époque, but are rarely seen in petticoat illustrations or the white cotton petticoats available on the vintage market, although they are mentioned in period advertisements for silk petticoats:

“And that reminds me that near akin to the corset is the petticoat or underskirt. The craze for silk certainly predominates over our fancy for cambric, and the London Corset Company are making a lovely trained underskirt in soft taffeta, with a multiplicity of soft frills.” [The Lady’s Realm, 286]

None of the six petticoats we’re analyzing have a train; their decorative ruffles measure approximately the same distance from the floor in the front as in the back. I suspect trains were a more common feature of underskirts then of white cotton petticoats.

[Click next to go to the next page]

Patterns

Some notes that apply to all the pattern layouts:

•  A small square is equal to 1 inch (4 squares = 10cm).
•  Seam allowance has not been added, although plackets and the waistbands are both drawn at their full width, before they were folded and stitched into position.
•  Fabric allowance for the tucks has not been added. Tucks are indicated by single lines, because there wasn’t enough space to use the more usual double parallel line notation. See the Tucks section of the previous part of this series to find the widths of the tucks.

Bess Moser’s Petticoat

Front	Side	Back

Lacy Petticoat

Front	Side	Back

Woven Lace Petticoat

Front	Side	Back

Eyelet Petticoat

Front	Side	Back

Embroidered Petticoat

Front	Side	Back

Cutwork Petticoat

Front	Side	Back

[Click Next to go to the next page]

Controlling Shape Though Decoration

There are three types of decoration that have a major impact on the shape of the petticoat:

1. Tucks above the decorative ruffle
2. Tucks in the decorative ruffle itself
3. Ruffles

Tucks Above the Decorative Ruffle

Two of the petticoats don’t have any embellishment above the ruffle. The four petticoats that do have decoration above the ruffle head use tucks as one of the decorations. Tucks add a bit of structure to the petticoat, and help it stand out from the legs. This isn’t desirable for the styles with incredibly clingy skirts (seen in high fashion between 1900 and 1905), but it is for other Belle Époque styles.

Bess Moser Petticoat

Bess Moser’s Petticoat has the most body of any of the six petticoats being analyzed. A large part of that structure comes from the 16 between the yoke and the first ruffle.

Tucks between the yoke and the top ruffle.	Reverse
Ruffle head at the join between the yoke and the body of the petticoat.	Reverse
The tucks are arranged in three sets of 5, 5, and 6 tucks. It looks like there was once a seventh tuck at the bottom of the third set, which has been let out. The widths of the tucks in both the first and second sets are about 3/16” and the spacing between the tuck seam lines is about 3/8”. The bottom set of tucks are wider: ¼” but the spacing between the seam lines is still 3/8”. The spacing between the sets is not completely uniform. The first tuck starts about 1” from the bottom of the ruffle head. The spacing between the seam lines of the first and second sets of tucks is about 1 5/8”. The spacing between the seam lines from the bottom tuck and the top of the first decorative ruffle is about 1 3/8”. All of these measurements have some variation in them as the seam lines are not perfectly straight. Below these tucks are two overlapping decorative ruffles.

Lacy Petticoat

Tucks and ruffle head	Reverse
The Lacy Petticoat has very simple decoration above thedecorative ruffle: There are 3 1/8" tucks spaced ¼" between seam lines. The ruffle head is decorated with a ribbon that has raised decoration that almost looks like embroidery. (It is the same decorative ribbon that tops the dustruffle).

Embroidered Petticoat

Tucks above ruffle	Reverse
The Embroidered Petticoat has a band of embroidered insertion and two tucks above the decorative ruffle. Both tucks are about ¼” wide and the distance from seam line to seam line is about ½”. The top tuck seam line is 1 1/8” from the bottom of the insertion. The seam line of the bottom tuck is about ¾” from the top of the decorative ruffle.

Cutwork Petticoat

	Tucks above ruffle	Reverse
	The Cutwork Petticoat is constructed in three tiers. Thereare 5 tucks clustered above the top of the middle tier (just above knee level)and 5 tucks clustered above the cutwork ruffle. In both sets the tucks areroughly 1/8" wide and the distance from seam line to seam line is roughly ¼".The seam line of the bottom tuck is roughly 13/16" from the top of the ruffle.

Tucks in the Decorative Ruffle

Ruffles

Ruffles are the main feature of Belle Époque petticoats, in both fashion illustrations and in all six of the extant petticoats we’re analyzing. Three of the petticoats only have a single decorative ruffle, which is what many sewing manuals illustrate. This simplicity is infrequently seen in fashion illustrations. Bess Moser’s petticoat is the only one of the six that has layered ruffles, which are a common feature in fashion illustrations (as the pictures above show). The Eyelet Petticoat and the Cutwork Petticoat both have tiered ruffles; their embroidered ruffles are gathered along the hem of a larger decorative ruffle.

1903-4 An example of layered ruffles (e.g. the ruffle head of the bottom ruffle is covered by the bottom of the top ruffle.)	Grands Magasins, 1903-4   An example of tiered ruffles (e.g. the bottom edge of the top ruffle is the ruffle head of the next ruffle)	1903 Catalogue of the Grand Opening at H.P. Munson’s Store   An example with both tiered and layered ruffles

Bess Moser’s ruffles are layered so that they overlap each other. The circumference of the bottom ruffle is slightly wider then the top (118” to 128”) and they overlap by 1 1/4” (including the lace edging).	The Eyelet Petticoat has a tiered ruffle. The bottom tier is approximately 1.25 times the length of the top tier (105” compared to 133”)	The Cutwork Petticoat also has a tiered ruffle. The bottom tier is approximately 1.3 times the length of the top tier (116” compared to 155”)

Adding Body to the Ruffle

Adding extra body to the hem of the petticoat was a concern, especially in the mid-1890s when the fashionable skirt silhouette was almost triangular, although it becomes a different concern in the late 1900s when the skirts seemed to cling; then the worry was adding too much “floof” to the skirt, at too high a point, while still adding enough “floof” to allow the wearer to walk easily.

The six vintage petticoats we’re analyzing illustrate three different patterning techniques vis-à-vis the decorative ruffle:

1. The petticoat is constructed like a tiered skirt: the body of the petticoat ends at the top of the decorative ruffle; there is nothing behind the decorative ruffle to give it extra body. The Eyelet Petticoat and the Cutwork Petticoat both use this construction.

2. The petticoat is constructed like a full length skirt; the body of the petticoat extends to the hem. The decorative ruffle is applied on top of the skirt. This leaves the hem of the petticoat behind the decorative ruffle, adding an extra layer to the ruffle which gives it extra “floof”. Bess Moser’s Petticoat and the Embroidered Petticoat both use this construction.

3. The petticoat is constructed like a full length skirt; the body of the petticoat extends nearly to the hem, where a short extra ruffle is added. The main decorative ruffle is then applied on top of the skirt, covering the flounce. The extra flounce pushes the decorative ruffle out more; giving it more “floof” then it would have on its own. The Lacy Petticoat and the Woven Lace Petticoat use this construction.

Dust Ruffle

I’m using the term “dust ruffle” to describe a ruffle underneath the decorative petticoat ruffle. (The third patterning method described above.) Two of the six petticoats have this extra ruffle.

Lacy Petticoat

The dust ruffle is fairly short, only 3" long. The dust ruffle is about 1.6 times the hem of the petticoat at top of the dust ruffle (The hem of the ruffle is 141 inches and the top of the ruffle is gathered into a 90 inch length). The ruffle head is decorated with a ribbon that has a raised decoration, which almost looks like embroidery.

Dust ruffle (as seen from the outside, underneath the decorative petticoat ruffle)	Dust ruffle from the inside of the petticoat
Dust ruffle head	Reverse
Dust ruffle hem	Reverse
The hem of the dust ruffle was turned up 3/8”, the seam allowance is folded under and machine stitched down with very tiny stitches. Then the lace edging was machine stitched to the underside of the hem at the very edge of the hem.

The top of the ruffle is sandwiched between the edge of the petticoat body (with the seam allowance tucked under) and the decorative ribbon.

This could have been achieved in a number of ways. The simplest way:

1. Gather the dust ruffle (use your normal seam allowance)
2. Fold the seam allowance on the petticoat edge up, towards the outside of the garment. Iron it in place.
3. Pin the gathered dust ruffle to the folded edge of the petticoat, so that the gathering line is just above the folded edge.
4. (Optional) Baste into place.
5. Position the ribbon so that the bottom edge matches the folded edge of the petticoat body, with the gathering sandwiched between. Sew along the bottom edge.
6. Trim the seam allowance off the dust ruffle, so that it is shorter than the top of the ribbon.
7. Sew the top of the ribbon onto the body of the petticoat along the upper edge. Make sure to sew in the same direction (right-to-left or left-to-right) that you did in step 5.

Woven Lace Petticoat

The dust ruffle is 7½ inches long and the width of the ruffle head is just ¼”. The dust ruffle is about 1.6 times the hem of the petticoat at top of the dust ruffle (The hem of the ruffle is 130 inches and the top of the ruffle is gathered into a 79.5 inch length). The ruffle head is formed by a strip of self-fabric bias tape, with the seam allowance tucked under. The hem of the dust ruffle is finished with eyelet embroidery.

Dust ruffle	Back of dust ruffle
Dust ruffle decoration	Reverse
Head of the dust ruffle	Reverse

The top of the ruffle is sandwiched between the folded edge of the petticoat body and the bias tape. This could’ve been achieved in a number of ways. The simplest way:

1. Gather the dust ruffle (use your normal seam allowance)
2. Cut a narrow bias strip (¼” plus a narrow seam allowance). Fold the seam allowance down on either side and iron it.
3. Fold up the petticoat edge to make a ¼” (or slightly longer) facing and tuck the seam allowance towards the petticoat.
4. Top stitch the bottom of the bias strip, sandwiching the gathers with the petticoat edge. (Leave an extra long seam allowance on the petticoat side, ¼” plus extra seam allowance).
5. Trim the seam allowance off the dust ruffle, so that it is shorter than the top of the bias tape.
6. Top stitch the top edge of the bias strip, sandwiching the gathering with the petticoat. Make sure to catch the top of the petticoat hem facing while stitching.

Inside Hem

Two of the petticoats have the decorative ruffle applied to the body of the petticoat, leaving an interior hem beneath the decorative ruffle. This extra layer of fabric supports the decorative ruffle, although it doesn’t add as much “floof” as a gathered dust ruffle might.

Bess Moser’s Petticoat

Hem	Inside Hem
Hem Facing	Hem Facing in the light
The facing is on the straight of grain. It’s about 1.5 inches wide (it varies a bit). The facing is topstitched along both its edges, with the seam allowance of the facing and the skirt hem sandwiched inside. Pleats are taken along the top of the hem facing to make it curve around the hem.	Tuck in Hem Facing

Embroidered Petticoat

Hem	Reverse
Hem Facing as seen from the inside	Hem facing as seen from the outside
The facing is on the straight of grain. It’s about 2 inches wide (it varies a bit). The facing is attached the same way as for Bess Moser’s petticoat; however the bottom hem has three extra rows of machine stitching using a whiter thread than the original stitching and a longer stitch length. I think these were added later to reinforce the edge, as occasionally you can see a line of tiny stitches in the same color and weight of thread as the top of the facing was attached with. As in Bess Moser’s Petticoat, pleats are taken along the top of the hem facing to help it curve around the hem.
	Tucks in facing to follow curve of hem

Petticoat Fabrics, Trims & When to Wear Them

The material for a petticoat (and for underskirts too) should be determined by the style, fabric and formality of the outer ensemble.

“The outer garments that a woman wears generally govern the kind of material that should be used for the petticoats. If the outer skirts are clinging and the lines very straight, then very soft fabrics should be selected for the petticoats; if the skirts are full from the knees to the bottom and hang full and fluffy around the feet, soft, clingy petticoats with many flounces and ruffles should be worn; if the outer skirts have a decided flare at the bottom and the flare extends from the waist line, then the petticoat itself should be made almost as full as the outside skirt and of material that will give graceful lines and at the same time serve to hold the dress out well.” [Picken 21-22]

Many, many fabrics are mentioned for making petticoats. According to classifications in both Plain Underwear and Clothing for Women (both 1916 sewing manuals) the fabrics fall into two categories: washable and not washable. These categories mostly align with the idea of plain fabrics versus fancy fabrics, although some of the “plain” fabrics also appear alongside the fancy fabrics in advertisements, which suggest those could be used in either situation. It seems likely to me that the fancy, non-washable fabrics are being recommended as underskirt material, rather then petticoat material, but the conflation of terminology makes that a hypothetical distinction.

Neither petticoats nor underskirts are necessarily made of only one fabric. Both the Embroidered Petticoat and the Lacy Petticoat are made with two different weights of white cotton. Sewing manuals mention the cost savings of finishing an underskirt with flounces of a fancier, more desirable material. The materials chosen affect the when the petticoat is appropriate to wear and what it should be worn with. Similarly, the material chosen also has an effect on what decoration is considered suitable for the petticoat. Below is the list of all the fabrics I found mentioned as petticoat and underskirt materials, along with what descriptions I could find regarding the fabric and its use.

Nearly half of the non-washable petticoats are silk. Instead of repeating myself for each fabric, Clothing for Women gives the following general guideline regarding silk petticoats:

“Silk is very generally used for petticoats to be worn with tailored suits and dresses of wool, silk and linen. These may be finished with a hem at the bottom, or with dust ruffle, and gathered or plaited flounce, according to the fashion in width for the outer skirt. Silks of delicate colors for wear with lingerie or silk afternoon and evening dresses admit of more decoration, the flounces being made of the silk, chiffon, crêpe Georgette or lace.”[Baldt 274]