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| Finished sacque petticoat over pocket hoops |
I've been steadily progressing on my new sacque, using the
Simplicity 8578 Robe a la Francaise pattern we released December 2017.
Since I already had pocket hoops from way back, conveniently the same dimensions as those from
Simplicity 8579 and
The American Duchess Guide, I could set right to work on the petticoat.
I used two panels of 60" wide taffeta. I marked the top curve from the Simplicity pattern and pleated up the back, finishing the top edge with a tape.
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| The trim applied to the front panel of the petticoat before pleating the top edge. |
I trimmed the front of the petticoat before I pleated the top, which made it loads easier to deal with. The Simplicity pattern has trim placement markings on it, and while I chose my own trim style, I did use the width from the tissue to determine how wide I wanted my trim.
Trimming is the fun part! I used the scalloped trim templates cut out from posterboard, traced onto the silk with a heat-erase pen, and then set to cutting each scallop with my
scalloped pinking shears, which makes a wonderful, very Georgian pinked edge. It's a little tedious, but the trick is to fold up the fabric double or triple, pin it to hold everything secure, and then cut.
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| The taffeta is folded up and pinned, then the trim template is traced over the part of the stripe that I liked |
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| Cutting scallops with scalloped pinking shears - originally these would have been punched with a scalloped tool, but I can never get mine sharp enough so I use the scissors and that's just fine. |
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| Whip gathering the edge of the trim pieces |
I strategically cut my pinked strips from different parts of the stripe in my fabric, to make different color effects. I whip-gathered the different pieces, working two widths together for the deep ruffle and top trim. The bottom-most trim is a single piece but I did two rows of whip gathers simultaneously.
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| A whip-gathered double ruffle for the petticoat - I gathered the narrow and wide pieces together,then pressed open with the iron. |
Once all the trim was on it was just a matter of pleating the top, binding it, and finishing the petticoat hem. I did run into a little trouble here - I forgot that Simplicity added a deeper hem to the petticoat, so mine has come out a little too long. I could take the trim off the front, raise it all, and then re-hem the petticoat, but what I'm going to try first is actually just rolling over the top edges to raise the entire hem.
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| The top edge of the petticoat pleated then bound with cotton tape. |
So now with the petticoat done (pending raising that hem), I've moved on to the gown, but that is another blog post for another day. <3
