17.4.13

Flannel Petticoats

Found on eBay, circa 1860s
I got a great deal on some red wool flannel and I plan to make a mid-19th century "winter" petticoat out of it.  I haven't found as much research as I had hoped.  All I keep finding are other people's reproductions.  And they all seem to have one thing in common - a wide cotton yoke "to reduce the bulk of the flannel at the waist."  Problem is, I'm having a hard finding extant evidence of this in the mid-19th century.

The closest I've found is a Petticoat in the V&A museum dated 1890 (T.231.1968) which is much too late for my purpose. This Petticoat also appears in the V&A publication Underwear: Fashion in Detail and the accompanying text reads "the flannel is gathered onto a wide canvas waistband".

There is a Petticoat in the National Trust Gallery (Inv. #1364763) that has a yoke, but there is no date given.  It seems similar to other 1890s - 1940s petticoats I've come across.

On page 197 of Costume in Design there is a hooped crinoline (c. 1857-1860) made of  Welsh cloth (a honeycomb weave) that is attached to a 7" cotton panel which is then pleated into a cotton waistband.

Continuing through my stockpile of books, The Dressmaker's Guide by Elizabeth Stewart Clark makes no mention of yokes on flannel petticoats - only that they were less full than outer petticoats and were shorter in length.  They could be plain-hemmed or tucked.  Otherwise, she refers you to the typical petticoat construction with a waistband.

Have I been remiss in my exhaustive search to find extant examples of a yoke on a wool petticoat before 1870?  If you see one let me know!



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