A petticoat update from Holland land!

Hello again!

It's all been happening here in the past few days, I've been doing two shows a day for the past two days, so I'm pretty exhausted, but tomorrow we make the trip to Rotterdam for the final stint of the tour - performing at a 6,000 seat arena! It's going to be great fun, although I am looking forward to a rest when we're finished :)

The great thing about working in a theatre is that there is a wardrobe department stuffed with extra costumes and accessories that are not being used so I get to rummage through them to my heart's content (or at least I do, whether I have permission to or not!) to look for inspiration or just marvel at the prettiness :) The show is set in 1967, so the majority of the costumes are a bit too late period-wise for my usual tastes, but it also features some parents that are dressed in 1947 style, which means there are some swoon-worthy original outfits lurking about if you take the time to look, which I do!

But what I really wanted to show you was one skirt in particular. Not a 1940s wonderful, but still pretty interesting nonetheless. Do you remember my little petticoat conundrum, when I was trying to decide whether or not to make a crinoline for myself? Well the design of this skirt may be the answer!

Huge circular skirt!

A close up of the gem-action

Yes I know it's a little horrific to look at, not necessarily the colour, which is a quite pretty buttercup yellow, but the fact that someone thought it would be a good idea to cover it with plastic gems! Oh dear. But it's the construction of this skirt that really got my attention.

The main body of the skirt is chiffon, then directly underneath is an identical skirt but make of silk organza, instant body! Then under this layer is a lining (still using the same shape as both the top skirt and silk organza under layer), I think make of some kind of poly-blend standard lining material, but with two layers of gathered silk organza around the bottom, one sewn directly onto the bottom edge of the lining, and the other longer layer sewn higher up on the lining and covering the other. 

The layer under the under skirt

The final layer

Now I don't know about you but I found the whole concept of a skirt with a built in petticoat very charming! I've been imagining all different kind of colour and fabric combinations. It would make a beautiful summer skirt, using floral chiffon over pastel silk organza. Equally I think the effect would be just as pleasing with a cotton blend over skirt, the differences of texture would be fun :) 

I just think that this skirt would be an interested alternative to the usual skirt + petticoat combination, particularly when made in chiffon. Perhaps it could even become the bottom half of a floaty summer dress, my mind is racing with possibilities!

Of course making my own version of this skirt does mean that I still have several dresses in need of some oomph, but never fear, I have that covered too! The brilliant Daisy Donut left me some fabulous links on my previous petticoat post, and one of them looks very promising indeed. Over at Sugardale Clothing there is a post all about how to make a petticoat, brilliantly laid out in great detail. Trista, the blogger in question, also suggests using crinoline instead of tulle for your petticoat for a less scratchy finish (one of the reasons I was drawn to the skirt design about was also the lack of tulle! Not fun for sensitive skin!). The petticoat she produces is also very pretty, so I kind of feel that I need one, particularly when she makes it seem so simple!

So there you have it, I have two petticoat projects in the mix for when I return to the UK! The start of my tackling my make-not-buy project in earnest :) and as a circular skirt was on my list of things to make I can't really go wrong. What do you think about these two different styles? Do you have a preference, or, like me, do you feel that both may be the way forward?

Bye for now, I've got shows to do!