Thursday 3 May 2007

A Crinoline

Because I love big skirts from the 50's


As I really love circle skirts and the fashions from the 50's I decided that I really needed to have a crinoline. I had bought some white poly cotton and some nylon netting a while ago in anticipation of the project. I took a while to get started as I really didn't know how to make one.

So I hit the Internet and read quite a few methods. The one that I liked best came from a doll making site. But I still modified the method.

I did not like the idea of a elastic waist as I figured all the layers would become quite heavy and would have a tendency to pull itself down. I also didn't like that I would have so much fabric bunched around the waist. I used the top part of a skirt pattern with a straight waistband as my upper part. the second tier is about 8 inches deep and is a layer of nylon net sandwiched between two layers of poly cotton. The lower level is about 10 inches deep. I used two layers of net gathered and joined to the middle layer of net. The poly cotton layers are each just a single layer one on the inside and one on the outside.


I am thinking of binding the edges of the net with some satin ribbon so it is not so scratchy (it's just overlocked at the moment) and possibly adding some eyelet lace to the poly cotton layers.

But does it work?

Here is a before shot of my vintage vogue dress:


And here is the after, with crinoline:


I think the dress looks a lot more balanced. So think I will go ahead and make it in a fabulous fabric. And I'll have to make more circle skirts and dresses.

3 comments:

Jenn said...

It looks fab under the dress! Well done. :)

Jen said...

Great job, it looks wonderful under the dress and without. That it's of cotton means it'll breathe a lot easier and be far more comfy than the typical netting/tulle/etc. kinds of petticoat.

Caitlan said...

Wow! The dress is fancy now!

People tried really HARD in the 60s.