Quilted Petticoat: Cheater Project

Yup. I totally cheated. I feel very bad about it, but I came up with tons of reasons to justify the cheat, the most important of which may have been that I've been wanting to make myself a quilted petticoat since I first learned about them in 2002, and I have not yet been able to justify the time and effort to actually make by hand an entire quilted petticoat. But I love them! I even bought a beautiful gold silk about five years ago then two years ago cut it up in order to make one, but I chickened out after the fabcric sat around for another year so I made a plain skirt and several sleeve linings out of it instead. I figured if I finally plucked up the courage I could take the skirt apart, and quilt the fabric then put it back together. This is still a possibility.

At the beginning of December I began thinking Colonial again. There is a 12th night ball that a local militia group puts on that was so much fun last year (and was the reason why I made the gold silk into a skirt last year.) The plan is to attend again this year, and possibly do some other Revolutionary War events as well. I've got most of an outfit already. Actually, I've got most of two outfits, but what I needed to complete either one was a proper set of stays, and what I wanted most was a quilted petticoat.

I consider myself an intermediate sewer, but there are some things I have not yet attempted. I've never made anything that is boned. I'm more than a little intimidated, but in order to get a pair of well fitted stays I could either have them custom made at some expense and time, or I could attempt them myself (Stephen promised to help.)

With one big new project in front of me I really did not want to attempt two big projects, and the petticoat is not totally necessary since I have other petticoats. Also, there is an easy cheat. Not a perfect one, anyone who looks closely will be able to tell. Earlier this month I went to Homegoods and bought a quilt. A white cotton quilt, probably quilted somewhere in Asia using child labor. I cut it in half, took apart the side seams and stitched it into a tube. I put a waistband on it, and I've made myself a quick quilted petticoat.

I really like it, but I have not worn it out into the LH world yet.
I'm really hoping this is not going to be one of those projects that gets me all sorts of excited, then I wear it out once and am too embarrassed to wear out again. I guess we'll see what sort of reception it gets, and what sorts of events present themselves over the course of the coming year.

Next, on to the stays!

For examples of period Quilted Petticoats, I recommend Larsdatter's Links. You can also find Stays there!