Flannel Petticoat from old sheet

r ranson started a lovely thread about flannel petticoats that inspired me!   Warm underwear for winter - Petticoats!
Ooooh!! And I have a very dead flannel sheet I can cut up! So I ran amok, and this is what I ended up with, and how I made it.

It's designed to block cold wind from coming in the skirt, the wind here bites, and the way it's made stops the wind REALLY well!

Flannel Petticoat done

That was the short version, the rest of this is pretty much a tutorial on how I made it. There are some action shots at the end, if you are skipping the sewing details.

I started with a really dead fitted bottom flannel sheet, it's been patched many times, the whole section that's white is layers of patching, it just got tossed. The remainder is odd sized and shaped, so I got really creative cutting it to get what I wanted out of it.

Really dead sheet

Really creative with cutting. This is my whole scrap pile (except the white stuff) with a cat tail for scale.

scrap pile

I cut trapezoids about 15 inches high, lengths differed, about 18-24 inches on the long side. Some were halves that had to be sewed together to make a trapezoid.

trapezoids

I sewed them together, short sides to the top, long sides to bottom, so it all curved into a long arc that made a circle 27 feet in diameter. For reference, that is an absurd amount of fabric to use for one ruffle. Normal for this would have been 10-12 feet. I was going for keeping out the wind, the way I was folding it I wanted all the length I could get.
PRO TIP: Hem the circle of gathered stuff before you pin it to the skirt! Always hem your ruffles before you gather them, no matter how you do them.

The base skirt is a basic A cut, out of some very damaged lightweight denim (or something like it, very tight weave) from a thrift store, such nice sturdy cloth I didn't care what it looked like. I didn't try to size it more than minimally at this point, I'll take it in to fit well later on.

base skirt and hemmed ring of flannel

I folded the skirt into sections, and put BIG saftey pins to mark four sections, then folded and pinned the ring to mark 4 sections.
PRO TIP: Use saftey pins for this part, you will be moving it too much to keep straight pins in place, and when you lose your mark, you have to refold it to find it.
PRO TIP: Use different sizes of pins for each of these foldings, makes it a lot easier to keep track of where you are.
PRO TIP: Don't make your sections on the skirt match the seams, it is too bulky there and hard to pin.
Incidentally: I have bigger versions of the pins pictures if anyone really wants them, please PM me.

Big pins

Then fold the skirt and ring into halves of those sections, mark those with MEDIUM safety pins.

Medium pins

This is where it gets fun. Line up your ring to gather with your skirt, and start hooking the pins to the matching sections. So a big pin hooks to the same place as a big pin, then the next pin is medium, it hooks to the medium on the ring. Next pin is big, hooks to the next big pin in line etc. I pinned the ring with over an inch of stitching room, as it was too thick to hem it and gather the top and sew it, so I had raw edges I was going to be stitching down. I get the pin on the skirt lined up with it's mate on the ring, then hold it tight at the right spacing for sewing, remove the easiest to reach pin, pin it through both the skirt and the ring, then remove the duplicate pin. Each pin on the skirt will match a pin on the ring if you have it right.

The way you tell if you have it all done right at this point is pick it up and hold it so it hangs down, all the loops should be the same length. If some are shorter or longer, go back and fix them till it all matches.

all the loops hang to match when pinned up right

I'm having issues with making this work, I'm going to post this and start a new post, so I don't have so many pictures trying to choke my computer. Continued on next post!

So we have the skirt and ring pinned together in nice neat loops that all match, right??  
Onward!!

The way I gathered this mess (this is a LOT of cloth!) to make it more wind resistant than a basic ruffle was I pleated it. Get one looped section, lay it smooth. You want to fold the ring so it lays flat and all sections match. I ended up with something like this, this pic would be looking at it end on, so you can see the pleats. Mess with it, you'll see what I was doing, I had to get a lot of cloth in there!

folding the ring

I used straight pins to hold the top edge onto the skirt, and my SMALL safety pins to stabilize the pleats as I pinned them, they are not going to cooperate when being sewed. I counted how many pins of various sizes, plus how many straight pins I used, I came up with something like 287 total. BUT! It didn't come apart when I sewed it!

all the pins

When it was all pinned I sewed it. Several times. First time around I did in the middle of my inch or so of sewing room, next two went along the raw top edge to hold it very still, then finally the bottom edge, nice and close, so it looks spiffy.

The skirt hadn't been sized yet, so I just have it pinned up while I show the ruffle.

ruffle sewed on

And look how full it is!

fully flouncy ruffles!

I measured up the length of the whole mess to see where I wanted my waist band to be. I wanted it just above the floor, and I marked where to fold over a casing. Not knowing exactly what length it was going to come out is part of why I didn't size the skirt properly to start with. So, knowing where my waist would be, I figured out some long triangle pleats to take the excess width off the waist and hips. If you look close, you can see which ones don't go all the way to the hem. I made it fit over my hips by leaving a bit unsewed on one taper, and my drawstring comes out there.  When it's untied I can get it off, when it's tied it fits smoothly.

waist tapered to fit me

I rolled a waist casing to put a string in, and stitched it neatly, and hey! I have a petticoat!

A petticoat!!

I put a skirt over it and played with it!









So now I need to dye it, as the sheet is mangy and the skirt was bleach burned and sun faded or something (not even sure what could have happened to it to be damaged like it was.) Dyeing is a skill I have, I ended up using lots of black RIT and Tulip dye, and it was interesting what happened. The two fabrics took the dye differently. The flannel sheet had a bit of polyester in the fibers, not a lot. When you see the ruffle alone, it looks black, but when it's next to the skirt it still  looks purplish.

drying on the arbor after being dyed

And still having issues, so one more post to go! My computer is having issues tonight.

The fun part now! Showing it off!

This is what it looks like alone. Looks much nicer black than it did mismatched and messy!

just the petticoat

With that same blue skirt over it, you can see it peeking out, but it mostly hides unless I flounce it (which I tend to do with my skirts!)





I put it under a patterned skirt, and again you can almost not see it.





So then I did what I designed it to do, layered it with a cream lace petticoat. NOW it looks like me!





I wore it to an appointment, small office, three women work there. they all go to a church that they wear long skirts at least to church, often every day too. I showed my petticoat to the lady I was there to see, she said "oh NEAT!" and yelled across the office "Jean, come and see this!" Jean came over, took one look and yelled "Hey Stacy, come see this!!" They all want one now. Two of them will sew their own, one might be bartering with me to sew her one. it was quite a hit!



That day was sunny, about 37 degrees with a wind chill of 29, I deliberately walked as fast as I can, with long strides, across a big bare parking lot, to see if the wind got up my skirt. If you wear long skirts you know that on cold days you walk slow so you don't move the skirt enough to let the wind come in. I felt no wind. It passed my tests! I'm VERY pleased!

Thank you r ranson for the idea! This is a lovely and useful addition to my wardrobe.

I curtsy nicely at you all!
:D

Excellent tutorial Pearl! Thank you so much. This is definitely me too. I really like the ruffle and your clear instructions for getting it just right. I also love that you have such a handsome snoopervisor.

I do like that design; nicely engineered. The weight of the denim keeps the skirt down, and the soft ruffle seals out the wind.
I mostly wear trousers because of the draughts with skirts, but that looks quite cosy!

I well remember tuning the length of my petticoat to just show under the hem of my school skirt! Love your dragonfly too.

Nancy Reading wrote:I do like that design; nicely engineered. The weight of the denim keeps the skirt down, and the soft ruffle seals out the wind.

I failed to mention that the double rolled seams all along the circle of flannel made stiff lines, almost like corset stays, that help keep the flannel from riding up. That helps a lot.

Love your dragonfly too.

I do too!! A vintage brooch from a thrift store, and a shell necklace that was way too long turned into that :D Always gets a lot of attention when I wear it! One of my favorites.

Wow! I like your Unique design and expertise.  😍

Maha Khan wrote:Wow! I like your Unique design and expertise.  😍

Welcome to Permies!

You will see we have quite a few people who are inspired with needle and thread. I am not one of them, but I am working towards it!

Hope you find some inspiration in the threads.

Wow, this is so inspiring!  And I love your design.  I'm not at a level at this point to make such a one, and it's definitely something to work toward.

Phoebe Fraiser wrote:I'm not at a level at this point to make such a one, and it's definitely something to work toward.

Hi Phoebe - The most important step is the first one (or something like that!). Start a new thread on your projects and there are more experienced people wanting to help. The project can be any stage, from pure fantasy and imagination (R's LoR dress thread) to showing off your mended old clothes (darn it!) We're not about fast fashion on Pemies, but more practicality, frugality and clothes with purpose!

Update on the flannel petticoat: I wore it all winter with a heavy skirt over it, and a pair of leggings underneath, and even in seriously cold wind I was warm. The only way I could have been warmer would have been to wear my snowpants. I'm REALLY pleased with how it works!! And it looks neat! I like having my own style.
:D