HSM24 challenge 2 - a quilted petticoat

 There is something with the month of December and my creativity. I always end up making projects that I didn't have any plans for and yet I most say some of them also give me the greatest joy because there aren't months or weeks of planning and choices behind them, they are more of "make it work"-projects.

This week was no different. We finally got some decent winter weather with temperatures well below freezing. I talked to a colleague about that I should get myself modern insulated overskirt, quite popular in the winter here. She said that a friend of her had gotten a nice one in wool, and not the regular puffy versions. Well that got me thinking...

And the February HSM challenge is Seasons of Fashion: Make something designed for a specific season, whether that be a meteorological season (ex: winter or summer, or the dry/rainy season) or a cultural season (ex: Carnival, the London social ‘Season’)

I have always dreamt of a beautiful matelasse and embroidered 18th century petticoat. I haven't had the time or energy to make it myself, and the perfect quilted bedcover that I know is out there, has so far eluded me.

The dream

Looking around at digitaltmuseum.se, which holds digital collection from a lot of museums in Sweden including Nordiska Museet, I found quite a few examples of more simple quilted petticoats, called "stubb" in Swedish. Many of them are later, second half of the 19the century or early 20th century, and they are usually quite worn as well, obviously made from pieces that have been patched together.

Petticoat from my hometown of Falun
photo: Dalarnas museum

A common thing between them semmed to be that they are not quilted all the way to the top of the skirt, and some have a nice decorative binding at the lower part of the skirt. 

I decided to make one, I would use the 18th century style, with openings in the sides and tied together with ribbons, but I would do it more in style of the later skits and quilt rather than embroider the fabric. I also really liked the binding at the bottom.

Then it was time to rumble in my stash, and I immediately knew that I wanted to use a quite stiff green wool fabric that I have, since I don't consider it suitable for historical projects, both the stiffness and the colour is off. For the quilting I used an old cover for an ironing board and since that wasn't very wide I also added a fleece blanket for the wadding. On top of that was an old Christmas curtain from my mother-in-law

I definitely left the historical materials for the inside, but again this was what I had at home. I quilted the pieces together with the machine, and then it turned out that the curtain was really good. I didn't have to mark out the sewing lines but used the star pattern as guidelines. Still the wool fabric was a bit short, for a modern skirt it would have worked, but I wanted it to really go to at least half my calves. Time to rummage in the stash again, and now I decided to use a nice 18th century reproduction print that I bought more than a decade ago. I figured that if I really just cut out fairly narrow strips I would still have enough of the fabric to be able to make a nice jacket out of the fabric one day. I used a strip of fabric to the top, and bond the lower edge with the same fabric. I then knife pleated the top, which of course was easier since it was the cotton and not the thick wool, into a lining of the same wool as the main skirt. Finally I added ribbons to the side so that I can tie the skirt around the waist.

The finished skirt, which is an 18th century petticoat, but back in those days it would probably not have had extra strips of the expensive cotton. As a bonus it will work as a petticoat for folk fashion throughout the 19th century, and I am planning on using it on cold winter days as well with my modern clothes. I was really wondering if I would put this as challenge 2 or challenge 7, which is "always in style"

Me wearing the petticoat under a regular 18th century skirt. I loved how puffy and big the skirt got with it.

What the item is: a quilted petticoat
How it fits the challenge: It is a quilted petticoat to keep warm during the winter
Material: 1,8 m of green wool, 0,5 printed cotton for the outer, a lining of 0,7 m cotton felt and wadding.
Pattern: My own, but basically I just cut fabric in strips and pleated to the lining.
Year: 18th century
Notions: sewing thread
How historically accurate is it? The style is historical, but modern construction and on the inside it's all modern mateials so I would say 30%
Hours to complete: 5
First worn: As a petticoat on December 8th for a Christmas fair.
Total cost: stash project, but probably around $60 if bought new