Make-do and Mend Finish

I'm starting my year off strong with a double entry for the first challenge! Going thorough my rather sparse historical wardrobe I didn't find too many things to mend, and the one thing that did need mending I had to order trim for, meaning I had to wait to fix it. Going through my wardrobe did yield an old petticoat with some potential for improvements though.

The petticoat in question was actually my entry for the second challenge of last year's HSF, UFO. The pieces were cut out nearly a year prior to that. I did not have a lot of experience back then and the petticoat came out rather clumsy. I made it way too large, practically big enough for an 1860's hoop skirt. It was all gathered onto a drawstring leaving it very bulky around the waist. I decided to remake it into something a little more useful for the new wardrobe I'm building.

The 1860's petticoat has been updated to an 1880's petticoat! I still love this fabric, and since the old petticoat was just two very large rectangles it was pretty easy to make over. I got my inspiration from the petticoat this woman is wearing in her video. One rectangle of the old petticoat was left just as is for the back. The second rectangle was cut in half so the top could be fitted over the hips and the bottom ruffled to fill out a little more.

I was making up the pattern as I went so it didn't come out quite as smooth over the front and hips as I would have liked, but it's not really a big problem. The back piece is pleated very neatly into a nice smooth waistband. No more bulky drawstring!

Pretty little blue stripes!

I really love how the petticoat came out, and am very pleased with being able to get the correct foundations for my historical costumes made up finally! I could probably even use this petticoat for and Edwardian dress, without the bustle underneath it should have a little bit of a train.


The Challenge: #1 Make-do and Mend

Fabric: Cotton/poly blend

Pattern: None

Year: 1880's

Notions:Thread

How Historically Accurate is it? Besides the poly content of the fabric I'm calling this one mostly accurate

Hours to Complete: About 2

First Worn: Not yet

Total Cost: Nothing!

For the mend part of the challenge I focused on fixing the hemline of an antique skirt. The old wool binding on the hem was threadbare and worn. There was also a fairly large tear near the hem. The pleats hid all of the damage cosmetically but since I want to make this skirt part of my wardrobe I wanted to strengthen the hem to prevent further wear and tear.

I added a small linen patch to the largest hole in the hemline. This whole section of the hem had a lot of wear to the actual fabric itself so I bound it with a wider wool tape to protect the weakened fabric. The rest of the hemline only had damage to the wool tape used to bind it so I just patched new tape of the same width over the worst spots.

The Challenge: #1 Make-do and Mend

Fabric: Linen cloth and two types of wool tape

Pattern: None

Year: 1880's I think

Notions: Cotton thread

How Historically Accurate is it? Fairly accurate, I tried to match the original as closely as I could

Hours to Complete: 4

First Worn: Not yet

Total Cost: $18 for the wool, the rest was stash

All in all I'm excited for a strong start to the new year. I've already completed the second challenge as well, a post will be coming soon about that! I've got plans in the works to knock out almost all of the various bits of underwear I'll need for Victorian and Edwardian costumes within the first four or five challenges. Once my foundations are all made up I can focus on the gorgeous gowns to go over them!