Making a Tucked Petticoat with Crochet Lace
The past month has passed in a flurry of sewing as I've created, from the skin out, an outfit for a Portuguese country woman in the late 19th and early 20th century! You can read more about the petticoats (known as saiotes in Portuguese) used with the Portuguese folkloric costume here.
The first item I made was a white cotton petticoat, trimmed with three .5 inch pintucks and wide white crochet lace. The white cotton fabric and lace were purchased in Portugal and are of exceptional quality. The fabric already was lightly starched, perfect for a nice, full petticoat.
My petticoat only has a 3 yard circumference because I only had 3 yards of lace. I consulted a few websites that sell extant petticoats or reproductions of petticoats for use by folk dancing groups, and this seems to be an average hem circumference. The lace is hand sewn to the hem of the petticoat, and the waistband is also hand sewn.
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| Very convincing machine-made crochet lace! |
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| The side seams were pressed open, then folded and stitched down. This appears not to be a very secure type of seam, but at least it isn't bulky; I don't anticipate that the petticoat will take too much strain anyway. |
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| A diagram of period appropriate closures for petticoats (saiotes and saiotes travados) via Trajes de Portugal |
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| The petticoat fastens on the left side of my body. |
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| My only regret with this project was placing the buttonhole too close to the tab edge! This was my first time using the buttonhole function on my new sewing machine. |
This was a fun and quick project! I see where I could improve on the next petticoat, but I still love this one very much. It was just the thing to motivate and prepare me for a long month of furiously sewing the rest of my turn of the century folk outfit. And it's nice to have a little petticoat to dance around in!
What is your favorite seam technique and closure for petticoats?
