I fully intended to finally put the ideas of making your own petticoat that had been floating through my head into an actual tutorial for the sew-along. But the general busyness that seems to have taken over my life the past two months pretty much pushed a lot of my sewing to the wayside. So for now, my sincere apologies that this tutorial never reached fruition (though eventually I’d like it to—I’ve filed away all my notes for later!), and I decided to round up a number of links from around the web on making your own net petticoat.

Petticoats are one of the quintessential components of 1950s dressing; and if you want to add a bit of authentic “pouf” to your circle skirt, are a much. (You don’t have to wear a petticoat with a circle skirt though—I wear mine without all the time to no ill effect!) You can generally find them online (Ebay is a great place as well as the many vintage reproduction stores online) and in costume shops. But if you have a specific hue, length or size in mind, then making your own is probably the way to go. Let me just say here as someone who attempted to make a petticoat years and years ago: you can not be afraid of dealing with miles of netting. These garments use a lot.

This tutorial at Sugardale is probably my favorite out of the bunch, and approaches petticoat-making in a similar way I would.

BurdaStyle has a pattern you can download for a net petticoat. I haven’t downloaded and looked at it, but it looks nice from the picture and several members have made it.

Someone sent me this link ages ago, but it has a few loose details from the 50s on making a petticoat and how to achieve a very full, fluffy effect.

If you have access to it, the June/July issue of Vogue Sewing Magazine had a how-to on creating a net crinoline petticoat. I bought the issue and was impressed with the article (though like Gertie, I thought the resulting petticoat was a bit short for most of my 50s dresses and skirts—but easily adjustable!).

Speaking of the amazing Ms. Gertie, she also has a pretty fantastic petticoat tutorial here, using organza or organdy instead of net. (Also less scratchy!)

For a less poufy look, check out this how-to on BurdaStyle for making a petticoat from a sheet.

I think these links cover the various methods of petticoat-making out there! Best of luck for those of you tackling the project (wish I could… but again it’s the specter that is looming of late called Time. lol.)

Don’t forget that the Circle Skirt Party is this coming Monday! I’ve already received a handful of entries (and will be emailing you back to confirm shortly). Don’t forget to send yours if you haven’t already! I’m also extending the deadline to 12pm Saturday afternoon as well, so that gives you a bit more time!

So, there’s a hiccup in the blogging scheme for today. I didn’t get the second half of the 50s dress tutorial finished in time to schedule a post today, and now I’m out of aforementioned time. As my sister would say: epic fail. Instead I’m going to distract you with some links, videos and promises of the final post on Monday. Sometimes these things happen… in fact, life just seems to be happening at a rather alarming rate this week. lol.

I get a ton of emails and comments about sewing books I recommend. My lovely friend Megan (I adore her blog so much–she inspires me to no end!) asked me earlier this week to share some of my favorite sewing books in a collaborative post. She’s divided it up into several segments (I’m kind of scared to see how many books we’ve listed between the two of us!), but the first one is up today: Beginner Sewing Books and worth a look!

I also recently uploaded a new thrifting show and tell video to my YouTube channel; and it includes things I don’t think I’ve shown you all here yet. Including some beautiful 50s sweaters I found back in March. It makes me so sad it’s far too warm to even think about sweaters right now–I want to wear them!

I’ll be back Sunday both with my usual links roundup post and an announcement about a little group project/blog tour I’m cooking up. Have a lovely Friday and Saturday friends!

image source.

My apologies that there is no sew-along post up this afternoon as promised. The last couple days just whizzed right by, and unfortunately I ran out of time to prep everything this morning as I had hoped before I running to an appointment. So the post shall be up tomorrow instead! I’ll be touching on lengthening or shortening the bodice and sleeves. There was also a question in last week about doing an SBA on this particular bodice. I’m hoping to tackle that this week as well, time permitting. If you’re itching to get going on adjusting your pattern, I highly recommend using Gertie’s method for adjusting a bodice for a smaller bustline: trying on the tissue pattern (or tracing in this case) and pinching out the excess fullness as needed, and then translating that to the flat pattern. Keep in mind that this design is not meant to be skin tight; the bodice should have a bit of blousiness. There is also a great illustration of where to slash the pattern on a similar surplice bodice here (scroll down to Simplicity 3775).

Finally on a different note, reader Alli emailed me last week about the flooding in Queensland, Australia. I am so sad by the news of the destruction and loss of lives caused by this disaster–my thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this. Alli sent a link to the RSPCA Queensland and kindly asked me to post about it, as they are in need of help to care for animals in the flood-affected areas. Of course, having an adopted bunny in the house, this caught my attention. She wrote: “I don’t know if you have heard over your way, but the floods here in Queensland, Australia, have been devastating. There have been 20 people killed, many missing, and thousands are homeless. One of the places that was badly hit was the RSPCA Qld. They help rescue, heal and rehome hundreds of animals (both wild and home friends) per year. Unfortunately, they do not receive any government help as they are a charity run organisation, so they are going to have a hard time getting back on their feet again after this horrible disaster. They function on donations.“

Until tomorrow, dear friends!

click the above image to view the sources for these lovely images!

Thank you so much for the red hair love on Friday’s post! I am still getting used to it, but think I might keep it up for the next few months at the least… How is your weekend going? I’ve been spending a good deal of time revisiting a certain sewing project this weekend, as well as writing an outline for that sew-along (look for a post on that sometime next week). After a few weeks away from my sewing machine, it’s nice to get back to actually sewing in my free time (instead of daydreaming about it!)–I didn’t realize I missed it so much during this break!

I also wanted to let you know that I set up a Facebook page for Elegant Musings this week too. It’s something I’ve been going back and forth on for some time now. You see, I have a rather love/hate relationship with Facebook. But I know a lot of people use it and figured it might be a great way to add some more interaction to the blog. For right now, it’s purely a trial to see if I keep up with it (I have a bad record with Facebook! lol), but if you’d like, feel free to add the page to your favorites. And now, without further ado and blathering on about my stuff, here are some links for you!

And now, I’m back to some sewing… Hope you’re having a lovely weekend too!

please click on the above image to view the sources for these lovely images!

How is your weekend going? I wish I could say mine was going splendidly… but I seem to be feeling a bit under the weather. Augh! At least I have gotten the Christmas gifts wrapped and some sewing done. But otherwise all I want to do is curl up on the sofa and snooze… Not quite the super-productive weekend I had planned. But what is that saying about the best laid plans? lol.

A quick little housekeeping note as well… Firstly I added a subscribe by email feature to the blog. So if you don’t use a feedreader, but want to be notified of new posts, you can now get them delivered to you by email! Finally, which you may have already noticed, I compiled a page with links to all the tutorials I’ve posted–including beauty tutorials. So they’re all in one spot now! I also plan on updating the links page this week–my apologies to those who have been patiently waiting to be added there, but hopefully that will get done in the next couple days.

And now, I think perhaps I will go curl up on the sofa for a bit… Although I really was hoping to decorate the sugar cookies today. We shall see about that! Hope you are having a lovely weekend!