(humming) - Oh! (laughs) (slow motion laughing) I'm taking my petticoat off real fast 'cause if I'm just gonna sit,
I don't need to wear this. Hold on. Clip you on there. Hello, everyone. How are we doing this afternoon? I'm also gonna be putting... Ow, hi, Gryffy. You just bumped your head on my elbow. Payback's a bitch, ain't it? Festive sweater. It's really cute, it's got
little wooden people on it. They're adorable. (laughs) Okay. We have a lot ahead of us. Oh, good, and the sun's now coming out. Perfect. The lighting in this is
probably gonna get really weird. Great. Thanks, sun. We have a lot to cover today, and I just kinda wanna intro
this whole next month or two, of, it's basically welcome
to the Victorian era. We are in the 1890s, y'all,
for the next month and a half, and we are going to sit in this space, we are going to enjoy this space, we are going to talk about
a lot of different things that have to do with
the 1890s in this space. Today's video, we are
talking about my underwear, 'cause why not just start
off with a bang, right? I mean, views have bene kinda low, so it's like, hello, I'm in a corset. Cool, thanks, YouTube algorithm. Love ya, babe. No (laughs), only partially true. Oh wait, I still have
my clips in. (laughs) I totally forgot about them. Hold on. Oh my goodness. I was like, wait, what's
going on with my hair? I could barely see it. I almost went this whole video with my clips in my hair. Wow. That's... Wait, is there... No, that's just normal, okay. (laughs) Where was I? Wow, this is already super
chaotic good energy. (sighs) I've been wanting to really get into Victorian clothing reconstruction. Obviously, as you guys know, I have a lot of Victorian originals and I have been itching to
start reconstructing them, really diving deep into
Victorian dressmaking techniques, theory, approaches,
reconstructing and reproducing the pieces that I have in my collection, understanding from a
very tangible perspective how they were built, and starting that whole
process that I love, about taking the original,
reproducing it as best as I can. And I've been dying to do 1890s because this bitch loves
a big power sleeve. ♪ I just took a DNA test ♪ ♪ Turns out I'm 100% that bitch ♪ - Like, ooh. Ooh. I love a power sleeve. With that, I need to make underwear. I realized that I'm
just gonna have to make everything basically from the skin out for this 1890s project, which I'm like, cool, that's awesome. That's what we're doing today. But before we go on any further, it's time to talk about being
a bit of a sweaty bitch. Which leads me into the
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you get free shipping. And thank you very much to Native for sponsoring this video. (upbeat music) Since I have a knit union suit, what I've decided that I need based off of some visual evidence and magazine article or two, is that I want to make an underskirt. And this is not to say the
petticoat as we would call it, but an underskirt. And that is because since I
had this knit combination, it doesn't have any sort
of fullness around the leg. Chemises were definitely falling out of fashion in the 1890s. They're just kinda like,
"Ew, chemise is gross." But the problem is, is that
when you have a knit union suit against your body, it doesn't
have a lot of fullness, and these skirts are
very shaped in the 1890s. And so, I think what's happening is that they're wearing an underskirt over the combinations,
but underneath the corset to help give some fullness
around the leg area. And then also with it having ruffles, it just kinda helps hold
out the skirt even more. So, what I have done,
and what I did yesterday, was I'm using the Margaret
Blair drafting book from archive.org, which is
perfect because it's from 1897. It has excellent instructions on how to draft things
from that time period. I was using my phone, and so
everything was really small, and so I have just dress skirt, and so I went to the dress skirt, and it's basically a, it said an eight, eight gored skirt pattern. And I was like, well, I
thought that there was something else in this
book, but I didn't see it. Lo and behold, there is an
underskirt pattern in this book, it is literally called an underskirt. I did not draft an underskirt, I drafted a dress skirt. But you know what? That's fine because I can just test out to see how well this pattern works and how well this drafting works. That wasn't my intention,
I wanted to do something that wasn't umpteen billion gores, but you know what? Hey, here we are. This is where we're at. I've seamed everything together yesterday using French seams because
in magazines and everything, they're talking about with lingerie that French seaming is the best way to go. It makes sense, it's completely encased, it's very secure and strong. Also, my serger's kind of on the fritz, so I was like, I don't
have time to deal with your tension issues today, serger, so I'm just going to do
other things instead. I need to do the waistband,
the opening in the back, and then I need to hem
it and add ruffles to it. There's not a lot of information
in the Margaret Blair book about how to do that, so what I did, is I went and grabbed
an original petticoat that I have in my collection. When it comes to the
opening and the waistband, I'm gonna use this petticoat
as a bit of a reference, the only reference,
but at least partially, mostly for the opening
to see how they did it. What it looks like, is that
the back part of the skirt is actually seamed together, where mine was cut on the fold. It's a little bit different. But what I can tell, especially here, and there is a pleat taken in here, so it's kinda hidden, but that they did a
placket over the top here, and then they just
encased the cut raw edge within this about one-inch
wide placket, stitched it down. And then the same thing goes for this, it's just been offset just a little bit, like a 5/8 of an inch or so in, and then this is just the placket. So, it has just a bit of overlap that it would've just
hooked-and-eye down that way. I'm not gonna do hooks and eyes, I'm just gonna do a
drawstring at the waist because this is just for an underskirt, so it's not a big deal. The way I did the waist
for both petticoats is actually identical, and inspired by images of
original silk petticoats in The Met's collection. First, I marked out the half inch seam allowance at the waist, folded the seam allowance
over to the inside, and basted it into place. (bright music) from there, I needed to make the plackets, as I used the placket
to encase the raw edges of the skirt opening. I cut, folded, and ironed, and stitched the plackets into place. Once they were sorted, it
was time to finish the waist. I stitched down the ties of
the selected seam points, then I applied the casing. For the cotton underskirt,
I used plain cotton tape that I got from Burnley & Trowbridge. I pinned the tape into place and then topstitched
it down on the machine, making sure I didn't catch
the ties in the stitches. So, the waistband is on on the inside, so it's just folded over on this side. So, nice and smooth, very,
very minimal, no bulk. Some of the gores got in my way, but it's fine, it's going under a corset so I'm not gonna be bothered by it. So, what's next is, I need to decide on what
kind of trim I'm going to do. I need to hem it, and then
I need to make the trim and apply the trim, and then it is done and I can move on to the silk petticoat. (upbeat music) The ruffle on the underskirt
was cut on the bias around three to four inches wide-ish. And going off of several references to corded or wired ruffles and petticoats, I decided to add some cord
to the bottom of this ruffle. Did I get any footage of this? No I didn't. Am I sorry for it? Only a little bit. What I'm happy with and
what I'm not happy with. I am really happy with the shape, I'm happy with the length, I'm happy with my ruffle. I think it's really cute on the bias, and then I add that little bit of cording, so it does do a really good job holding itself out and helping
hold my silk petticoat out. It's a little bigger than
what it needed to be. And then I also wished I had
had my silk ribbon at the time to have done a silk ribbon tie in the back like they recommend,
versus the linen tape. The reason I used linen tape was simply because I
didn't have silk ribbon. It's fine, it works, it's no big deal. It's just like, yeah, the silk ribbon would've been a lot nicer. That's much better. Okay. So, I don't have any makeup
on because it's Monday. I washed my face, but
I didn't do anything. Anyways, this has nothing
to do with anything. I finished the underskirt last night. I don't think I got all of that on footage because I was just like, (whooshes) you know, like balls to
the wall, don't stop. My goal today is just
to get it patterned out. I made a couple of random mistakes when I was drafting out
the underskirt pattern, and I'm gonna use, I
think, the same pattern and the same drafting
instructions to do this one with. It should be pretty straightforward. The construction's basically gonna be identical to the underskirt. I'm not gonna do any hooks
and eyes, anything like that. It's basically the exact same process. So, that's (clicks) really, really good and I'm looking forward to it. And yeah, so, that's what
we're doing today, friends, is just patterning out a petticoat. (upbeat electronic music) I don't really have too much to say about these drafting instructions from the Margaret Blair book. They are pretty easy to use, and I was only confused a little bit with the wording about
measurements and about... I think it was just for one panel. However, I do definitely recommend
double or triple checking your length measurements for each piece before you cut out the pattern pieces. So, please do as I say, not as I do, and learn from my mistakes. Also, I don't know if
anyone else notices this when they're using
original drafting methods, but it's like they sometimes
leave out sentences or words, and you're just kinda like, were you all drunk on laudanum
when you wrote this book? 'Cause you're literally
missing important data in some of these things. I was trying to use a
different drafting manual for this skirt originally, but I had to scrap it
because I'm pretty sure they were missing half
of their instructions for one of the skirts,
and it was infuriating. Anyways, that's just a random
digression that I have. Moving on. I get asked about my
pattern weights a lot. They're actually just massive washers from the hardware store. These curves and rulers, they are amazing. I got them from StitchBuzz and the rulers come in 5/8, 1/2 inch, or 3/8 of an inch width, so you can have the
perfect seam allowance. I'll put the link in
the description below. (cheerful music) (laughs) This is what
I get for working out. Oh my god, I'm sore. Okay, so, the petticoat has been cut out. I think I messed up the
measurements on the pattern because one panel is
like, four inches longer than all the other ones. But at least it's an easy fix. I was doing some research
this morning about petticoats, just to make sure that I have
the idea right in my brain and the original that I have and the other ones that I have, that I kinda go about
this the most correct way according to ladies magazines. I'm a little nervous that the petticoat's a
little on the big side. Most petticoats in advertisements and discussion are usually, especially for the late '90s, are usually around three to four yards in diameter at the hem
and circumference... Not diameter, but in
circumference at the hem. This one is supposed to be
around four and a half yards, which is a little on the bigger side, but I did find a reference, luxurious, really nice petticoats, were around four and a half yards. So I'm like, okay, well, I guess it's not the end of the world. The other thing that they said to do, and I understand why they're doing this, is to go ahead and bind the hem. I went out, and I got a lovely shade of purpley, rosy, carnation pink cotton velveteen from Mill End that I'm gonna cut into bias strips, and I'm gonna use that to
bind the silk petticoat. That will also help stiffen the edge. The ones that I have in my collection are not interfaced and
not faced at the hem with polished cotton, which
I think is called percaline in the late 19th century. I'm kind of waffling with that, trying to decide what I want to do. It wouldn't hurt. Taffeta petticoats are
really highly recommended, but they're not attainable for
most people because of cost. And so, the most common petticoats are gonna be out of alpaca or moreen, which is a very stiff fabric. It's a very sturdy fabric,
usually a wool blend. And then the ruffles at the bottom are pretty much a two-inch dust ruffle, is what they're calling it, at the bottom, and then two rows of four-inch
wide ruffles above that, and they're cut on the bias. So, I might see if I can put this through the roll hem foot on my machine so that way I don't have to do it by hand, even though the nice
way to do it is by hand, but, it's a petticoat, we
don't have time for that. And that one's done by machine. So, the original one is done by machine. (bright music) So, probably the most
important construction note with this petticoat that might be a quote, unquote surprise for some of you, is that I seamed up the skirt, except for the center back seam. Since I'm applying
ruffles to this petticoat, it's a lot easier to apply
nine yards of ruffles on a flat surface than it is
to apply them in the round. So, the very last step of
the construction process is going to be seaming
up the back of the skirt. I also just did normal machine sewn seams and pinked the raw edges
of this silk petticoat because that's what they actually did in my original petticoats. And so, if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. This petticoat will never be washed, so I don't really have to worry about that kind of wear
and tear to the raw edges. Now, as for the waist,
like I mentioned earlier, the basic construction of the waist for both skirts is the same, however, there are some small differences. First, for the silk skirt, I used the silk satin ribbon for my ties, per magazine's recommendations, over and over again, they
were obsessed with it. And with the intention of
keeping the bulk to a minimum, I faced the inside with a
biased strip of silk taffeta. I machine-sewed it into
place on the inside, and since it was a bit narrower than the cotton tape
I had used previously, I had to handstitch the last
few inches down on each side so I could make sure I didn't accidentally catch the slippery ribbon. It was very ornery, and I
knew it would give me fits if I did it by machine. So, I just avoided the
crying by being responsible. Okay, good morning. This is the angle we're going with, even though I still
don't like it. (laughs) It's like... Just like here, what if I just kinda prop you up like so, how's that work? Oh, that's better, I like this better. Okay, okay. Yesterday, as we saw, I was working on putting
the silk petticoat together, and I realized that I
basically had miscalculated how much yardage I need. Part of this is because of how I cut it. I think I would've been okay if I had cut a little bit
more conservatively in the hem and a little bit shorter, but I was just erring
on the side of caution because I'm never 100% sure. But basically, what it's come down to, is that I have this much left of silk. This is scrap of every
different frickin' variety of warp and weft. And I need to make one more ruffle. My two-inch dust ruffle is on the bias, and I just cut this with pinking shears the way I understand this to be. I also used my black silk
petticoat as a reference to kinda how this looks. But that's it, that's all I have. So, I have two options
that I can work with here. I think this is a yard or two,
I don't even honestly know, of this pale sage green silk taffeta. And this color actually looks really, really good with the pink. And I found a reference in
one of the ladies magazines about light green silk taffeta petticoats, light brown silk satin ruffles around it. So, this two-toned ruffle
situation isn't unheard of. It is something that is
possible within the period. And they're very much like, "Yeah, colored silk petticoats, whee!" Like, "Have fun, have at it, even though black is more
popular, and more practical." More practical. I'll cut out two ruffles out of this that are the four-inch wide and cut them on the bias,
and then hem those up, and then apply those. So, it'll be the pink silk petticoat, green ruffle, green ruffle, and then the pink dust
ruffle at the bottom. (soft music) So, when I was actively filming this, I was a bit of a confused numpty. I realized I was getting ahead
of myself about the ruffles after I had filmed that
whole thing about ruffles. So, before I could even apply the ruffles, I actually needed to finish the facing and the hem of the skirt. So, for the facing, I used
some of my brown percaline, or polished cotton, which is the Victorian ride
or die fabric of choice. I cut it about nine
inches wide on the bias using pinking shears because I have original
skirts in my collection that have just pinked
their cotton facings, and I am all about that cheater life. Not that cheater life, but
like cheating at sewing, not my husband. (crickets chirping) Okay, anyways, moving on here. Once the facing was stitched up, I laid it at the hem of the skirt and basted it into place. I made a bit of a mistake here because I should've folded up
the hem allowance of the silk and then basted it into place. However, I did eventually
figure out my error and I went back to fix it before making and attaching the binding. Now, the skirt binding
is a cotton velveteen. I cut it into two-inch wide strips, and following the application techniques seen in the antique
skirts in my collection, I machine stitched down with about a half inch seam allowance, right sides together, folded
it over to the inside, folded down, and pressed the raw edge, and then hem stitched
it by hand into place, trying to make sure I
only catch the facing and not the silk. Though, sometimes those stitches happen and it's not a big deal. Plus, at least in my case, the ruffles covered up
all of that anyways, so who really cares? Now, for the binding, you want some of it visible in the front. The goal, is that the
binding protects the hem from wear and tear, and it can't do that if it's all to the inside. So, even if this looks a
little bit strange to you, it is totally normal
for the Victorian era. Embrace the binding, y'all, it is the way. I got the hem finished on the petticoat, and so it's been hanging
up ever since then. And so, today all that's left to do, all that's left to do, is to cut out the new ruffles,
and then attach the ruffles, and then seam up the center back seam, finish everything off,
have the ruffles go over and kinda tack all that down, and then the petticoat is done. So, it's not that much to do. Obviously gathering ruffles and laying them on and
stuff is a lot of zhuzhing, and that takes a lot longer than what I ever care to deal with. I hate this part. Okay, now I'm actually
gonna get to cutting out those damn ruffles. (laughs) I got them about four
and a half inches wide and on the bias. And then I spent way too
many hours of my life that I will never get back hemming them with the roll
hem foot on my machine. (groans) Oh, look at that beautiful slo-mo footage. Mm, tasty. So good. (soft music) So, yesterday was not nearly as productive as I thought it would be. I spent the entire afternoon
just hemming ruffles. I was able to get the dust
ruffle pinned into place so that it's actually
ready to be stitched on. So, I need to stitch that on
before I do the other ruffles. So, that's where I'm at. Hopefully I can get this done today because I really don't want
this to go on to another day, but it's almost 1:00 and I
gotta wrap this up by five, so let's just see what I can get done in the next couple hours, eh? And more stitching. Whoo. Okay, so now you can see
why laying the skirt flat makes pinning and gathering
ruffles so much easier than if I was trying to attach
and stitch them in the round. Now, I didn't get footage of this, and I'm really sorry, I really should've, but here's what I did to finish the skirt. I started stitching about
1.5 inches in from the edge, leaving that last several
inches of ruffles free. That way, I was able to
seam up the center back seam without catching any ruffles. Now, once the skirt was
seamed up at the back, I gathered up the last
little bit of ruffles, stitched them together,
and then I topstitched the ruffles into place
over top of the back seam. This creates a nice full
circle finish to the ruffles, and helps prevent the center back crease from wanting to dip in, which has happened to me before, so I learned my lesson about this, and I'm sharing the lesson here. Anyways, if you are making
a skirt or a petticoat that has ruffles on it, I 10 out of 10 suggest
leaving the center back or another seam open
until the very, very end because it makes gathering, pinning, and ruffling life so much easier. Also, pleating. Studies show that you're
actually 89% less likely to ugly cry or throw a
hissy fit and fall in it during this stage of the making process if you make sure that your skirt is flat. The velveteen binding,
the layer of interfacing, the two rows of four-inch wide ruffles with the dust ruffle at the bottom, it just has a lot of structure, it has the right amount of fullness to it, and I know it's gonna do a great job holding out my fashion skirt. The one thing that I don't
like about it, (laughs) and this isn't the fault
of anything but me, is that it's just a little bit
too big in the waist still. I should've run the drawstring
into the side back gore, too, instead of just the back gore, but I wasn't 100% sure how it wasn't gonna hang on the corset. So, I need to take two
tucks on either side, just a couple pleats in the back, just to kinda fit it a little bit. I don't wanna fit at my waist, I don't want it to sit onto my waist, I want it just below my waist, but it just needs to go
up just a little bit. Just a little bit. The other thing that I need to do that I couldn't do until I
tried everything on together, is I'm going to put a
hole in the center front, or around the center
front, of my petticoat, and I'm gonna just whip that open so then that way I can slide actually this front hook through it. I saw this in some
petticoats in The Met museum where there was this little
hole at the center front, and I realized that that's for the hooks. It makes sense, because one of the issues I had with the skirt,
especially since it was a little bit on the bigger side, is that when it's not
completely fit to your waist and tight there, it will
obviously rotate around, it'll slide around. It's silk, it's heavy at the bottom, you move too much, it's just the weight, you know, it's physics. So, by having that on the hook, that should help keep it into place. So, I need to do that, too, but like I said, I wasn't
gonna be able to do that until I had tried everything on, which I did yesterday. And now I'm wearing it again today. (humming) Oh! (laughs) (slow motion laughing) Oh, Gryff, you just hit her. (groans) All right. I hope that you all have a
lovely rest of your week, and I will see you all back here next with with another video. Bye!
(upbeat music) - So.
