Natural Form Era Skirt and Petticoat Train

Once again life has taken over the last few weeks and I have neglected the blog! I got a last minute commission from Dublin Castle to make costumes for their Christmas programme which took over three weeks of my life but was immensely enjoyable and satisfying :) Expect a post about that soon!

In the mean time I have made the skirt for the mink silk natural form outfit and the petticoat train finally got buttons so I can show you that too.

Natural Form Petticoat with Button-on Train

This is the new TV 125 NF petticoat pattern. I think I actually love the petticoat and train more than that actual skirt! It's all those ruffles and lace..

Also effective for sweeping floors and amusing cats!

Tiger is very pleased with his new cat toy

So far I have left the skirt plain although I may change that, I'm not sure. Was going to layer a few ruffles onto it but will wait until I have the over-skirt done to see if it needs it. I quite like the simpler look, although that might be my 21st century sensibilities taking over!

I have also pretty much made the bodice, and remade it several times as right at the end I decided I needed tiny piping! I love tiny piping :) All of which meant that by the time of the event it was due for, an afternoon tea at the lovely Victorian Royal Marine Hotel, I was literally sewn into my bodice! No time for buttons! And I am actually going to open up the lining again and redo the centre front as despite my best efforts it has a definite case of the "shrinking bodice" effect, probably due to all the interlining. So please excuse the terrible pull lines, lack of an over-skirt and *gasp* even worse, lack of a hat! More on the bodice later :)

It was a very fun event with the lovely Debbie of Artisan Alchemy and Andrea of Aphrodite's Trousseau and all our costuming group friends. Everyone looked beautiful!

Corsets and Etsy shops!

 I'm still plugging away at my natural form gown over the last few weeks but my attention has been diverted to a couple of other things that I have been working on.


Using a pattern I developed for myself I have been experimenting with grading up a corset pattern into something resembling standard sizes, or what I'm using as standard sizes away! I would like to be able to offer something a little less expensive than a fully custom corset to my customers.

I started with just making it an under-bust pattern as to me it's the bust that is usually the hardest to fit and make into something standardised. I love full, rounded hips on my corsets and so this pattern incorporates that. It is fully boned with an average of 24 steels to give a really smooth fit. I was really pleased with the results! Everyone I have tried the samples on, in a range of sizes and body types, have looked fab and it's fitted them really well! To complement my facebook page I have now opened an Etsy shop and listed the under-busts and hope to add to them soon. I already have an over-bust corset in development so will list that as soon as I am happy with the fit.

I also think I'm going to have to make a TARDIS corset for all the Doctor Who fans out there (including me!), I was recently at the London Comic Con and loved the outfits I saw there! When I get round to making a sample I'll list that on Etsy too :)

Last night I did finally get around to making all the buttonholes to attach the train onto my petticoat, and I have to say I LOVE the petticoat! Possibly even more than the skirt, which is also done. There's something about those white ruffles and lace that just gets me :)

I'll update soon with pics of the skirt and petticoat!

Natural Form Petticoat

The "Natural Form" period ranged in the few years from 1877-1882 where the fashionable silhouette shrank from the voluminous early bustle era to something more resembling the natural figure. This was short lived as soon the bustle came back, and then some, with shelf-like structures with elaborate drapery and poufs ballooning behind women.

May 1880 Journal des Demoiselle

As the bustle frame shrank, the new style revealed more of the sinuous shapes of a woman's hips and legs than had been seen in decades. Princess lines and cuirass bodices which were long and smooth- fitting were all the rage The term "natural form" was a bit of a misnomer of course, the skirts were restrictive, tied around the legs to maintain the narrow look, and frequently still had some form of support particularly behind the knees, where the skirt was allowed to billow out, and to help the train keep it's shape.

My inspiration fashion plate

I wanted to make an outfit that fell in the earlier part of the Natural Form era, where the skirts were not quite so narrow and the bustled effect of some fullness behind hadn't quite disappeared while also having a slim, narrow front.

 To get this effect I needed to make a petticoat to support my skirt in this way. I used the Truly Victorian petticoat pattern TV125.













This, like all Truly Victorian patterns, is a very easy to follow and successful pattern. It includes two ruffles on the hem and an optional button-on train.


 I used some cotton lace to cover the raw edge of the ruffles.








To get the required pouf in the back there is a layer of netting sandwiched between an inner and an outer back piece. I say a layer, I mean tiers of gathered netting all sewn together. Netting is not my favourite thing to sew!









Struggling to get this through the sewing machine can be a little like trying to put on a pair of jodphurs in a moving car (incredibly awkward)! Plus I kept on adding in extra pieces, as for some reason I would run out of the piece I was adding to the bottom of the last one before reaching the end.

 The end result is then sandwiched in between the inner and outer back pieces and it's all sewn down the edges.

I wasn't sure how happy I was with the poufiness of the result. I had added in extra to the bottom two tiers so they looked aright but the rest of it looked a little sad and forlorn so I decided to go back and add in a few more layers to the top and middle region.

Much better!


The end result! The button-on train is still to be done but I'm very happy with the shape of the petticoat. I'm glad I put in the extra tulle as my skirt is likely to squash it down a little bit more.