Back when I made the old petticoats I still had a really bad habit of doing gathers on the machine for undergarments. By remaking them I was able to put on a proper waistband with proper stroked gathers. The new-old petticoats ended up pretty short. To balance them properly, I sewed on new bands of fabric at the top and balanced them from the waist. I made the length to go to right above my ankle bones. I find that at a lot of events my skirt hems get wet and heavy if there is any dampness and it's easy to see why hems for laboring women were sometimes made quite a bit shorter than usual!
Anyway, I ended up with two very serviceable, properly fitted and short petticoats. Around this same time I also made a bum pad to help give more lift to the skirts and create a better silhouette for this period. With my new awesome bum pad and pettis I needed a short-skirted dress!
I found a large flat queen size sheet at Goodwill for a few dollars and figured it was enough to make a plain work dress. I intended to have it done so I could wear it to an event in late September but that event ended up being cancelled a month before it was supposed to happen. (I wasn't too happy!) so I shelved the project for a while.
It did get finished though, just in time for several Halloween activities. The dress went together well although I had a little difficulty with the high thread count fabric and the fit of the armscyes. I hate armscye problems! It seems the fabric stretched a little so there was too much width across the upper chest. I had to take out the sleeves and recut the armscyes in a little smaller. There was enough fabric in the sheet to make the skirt about 140" in width at the hem. I had to piece one of the bias lower sleeves but the piecing is at the back and matched as well as I could manage. All in all, this is a great little work dress! It's comfortable and easy to wear and I think will be my go-to dress for any impression requiring a lot of activity. I made the bodice with just piping at the edge instead of my usual waistband. It gives a slightly different look but I like it as it's different from what I normally do. The waist is also a little bit higher to help balance out the shorter length of the skirts.
Accessorized for active wear, suitable for this time of year.
It's been drizzly and cold, so I am wearing my (new!) big pinner apron,
scarf tied at the back waist, plaid neckerchief and quilted hood.
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Thank you to my oldest son for the pictures he took yesterday. It was fun creating different looks with different accessories!
Have a safe and happy Halloween!