A pleated corduroy skirt

I made a new skirt! I got this floral printed corduroy at the Textile Center garage sale a couple years ago and the pattern reminds me of an 18th century chintz, so I thought a full pleated skirt would be a fun historically-inspired project.

I really love how it turned out! So floofy and full, so cozy and warm! I have been wearing it with a petticoat; I like the extra floof and it also prevents the skirt sticking to my leggings.

The waist is adjustable and here's why. The first winter after Covid, I found to my dismay that none of my winter skirts fit anymore; I got a couple inches bigger around the middle. Now, I am happy with my body and I feel good, but the damn zippers just wouldn't zip! So I started this skirt with the plan to make the sizing flexible.

For awhile I overthought the adjustable aspect but decided to keep it simple; I pleated the skirt into a band about 2" larger than my desired finished measurement, then just overlapped the band and sewed several sets of hooks and eyes.

The pleats, the busy fabric, and the fullness all hide the overlap quite nicely!

I don't usually choose brown for clothes, so I've been a little lost about what to pair this with. So far this thrifted red tee is my favorite, but I've also liked it with green!

Ok the last thing I want to say: I plead with anyone reading this, please don't over-complicate pleated skirts! You DON'T need graphs, you DON'T need math, and you definitely don't need to precisely measure your pleats!

This is a big giant rectangle, and I just hand-formed each pleat and used some trial and error to perfect their size and overlap. If it was a little off, I just adjusted a pleat or two here and there to make it fit. It's okay for a few pleats to be 1/8" bigger than the next ones. I promise. 

A Handsewn Green Striped Robe a l'Anglaise With En Fourreau Back

This project has had quite the journey!!

I started sewing this back in spring of 2017 and posted my initial thoughts and progress HERE. I actually did finish it that summer, but with one thing and another, I never got a chance to wear it and it just sat in a sad little pile in my closet.

Eventually the weather, my schedule, and the stars aligned - I finally got a chance to put it all on and take some photos!

Then I uploaded a few pics to Instagram, etc. and promptly lost my entire hard drive in an epic crash. :(

Well, this post has been sitting as a draft for far too long. One day I will put this dress on again and actually wear it somewhere, but for now, I'm just posting the few pics I have.

You can see my in-progress post here.

This dress was sewn entirely by hand. The fabric is lightweight silk taffeta and the thread is Metrosene white cotton.

I used the JP Ryan pattern for this dress. The back is cut "en fourreau," that is, in one piece from neck to hem, shaped to the waist with stitched-down pleats.

The back skirt can be poufed up with cord loops that hook onto self-fabric covered buttons. This manner of wearing the skirt is sometimes referred to in the modern era as "polonaise," but it's more accurate to say "retroussé." The polonaise was a completely different style of dress in this era. See Kendra Van Cleave's article on this topic for more.

The trim is scallop-pinked self-fabric, box-pleated along the stripes and stitched in the center. The trim goes around the neckline, sleeve ends, and bodice front. I angled the trim at the bodice side front for a faux-cutaway (or "zone") effect.

I used a scallop-shaped rotary cutting blade to cut the trim. Here's my comparison again of various pinking shapes.

The cuff ruffles are a simple white lawn that I hand-hemmed.

Shoes are Fugawee Annas. On my face I've got some modern mineral foundation powder, plus the liquid rouge and rose balm from Little Bits on Etsy. Big glass pearl earrings in my ears.

My hair is a hot mess in these photos. I had hoped to try a new style or make some extra pieces but I just ended up with the same old hairdo - what I used for my orange dress and pretty much any other time I've done 18th c dressup - and it wasn't behaving really well either. So it's a bit untidy, but in the dim afternoon light it's just a big dark blob anyway! As long as the general shape and volume was right I'm good!

Here's the basics of the hairdo:

I made this foundation of hair rats, wired and stitched together.

Made some false buckles.

Combed my hair forward, placed the rat foundation on top, and pinned it in place.

Combed my hair over the rat and pinned in place.

Braided the back section of my hair, looped it up, and pinned in place.

Pinned my false buckles in. Done!

I am pretty happy with the fit of the dress, however, I recently had some unexpected weight loss due to illness, so the bust area of this dress doesn't fit as well as it did before, and the neckline gaps just a bit. A small drawstring around the neckline and a bit of padding under the bust would probably fix this.

I took these pictures with the help of my kiddo at Irvine Park in downtown St. Paul.

My new winter coat!

This coat has been YEARS in the making. It's not that it was difficult, it's just that there's SO MUCH of it. Plus, it's kinda hard to stay motivated on seasonal sewing out-of-season. This wasn't exactly the first project I wanted to reach for in the hot days of summer!

Anyway it's done now and I am so glad! 

It's a very fit-and-flare shape with a nicely defined waist and huge skirt, made in dark teal wool Melton from Treadle. The weather was absolutely dismal today so these photos are very grey, but I did not want to wait a moment longer! 

The hemline is huge. It's practically a full circle. It's swishy and cute and took a TON of fabric.

It also took forever to hem! Worth it, though.

Did I mention the hemline is HA-UGE? So much fullness in back!

I would have loved the look of more buttons, but I know it would have made me crazy to have to do them all up all the time. Besides I only had 4 of this style in my stash.

The pattern is McCall's 6800. I snapped it up as soon as I saw it because a fitted, classic coat pattern is a find. Thar was like 4 years ago and I think it's still current!

I made the bottom of view D and the top of A. I made the break much higher to keep the cold out, and I made the collar and lapels a little narrower, but didn't change much else. I cut the size 12 and made a full bust adjustment, then sewed a mockup and tweaked the fit.

Ok, my lining is boring, but I learned my lesson on my last coat about needing some slip in the sleeves! I interlined the coat with cotton flannel for warmth; you can see through the lining where the flannel stops.

I put plenty of ease into this lining - I learned my lesson on that, too! There's a big pleat at center back and the lining moves loosely in the coat.

I had a terrible time getting that collar to lay flat! The topstitching helped, plus rolling it into shape before stitching. Also I just love these buttons! Dug them out of the stash.

Cute pocket fabric, because why not? It's 18th c repro cotton print. I don't like slippery pockets. The pockets are in-seam on the side front.

This pattern called for a lot of fabric, and I was short by almost a full yard. So I ignored the nap layout.

Then I realized I forgot to cut out the front facings. So I got creative with piecing. Definitely made good use of my cabbage!

The piecing is all in the lower inside front. It's pretty discreet.

I also had to piece a small strip into the lower sleeve. Again, I tried to choose a less-noticeable area.

One more inside detail: I clipped the heck out of my princess seams, especially at the waist. With so much curve I did not want to risk puckering. 

 

There are small shoulder pads sewn in for structure, I think about 3/8" thick. 

I could nitpick many, many things, but overall it's pretty dang good. The fit is not perfect, but oh well. It is definitely the best coat I've ever made! And now I really want to start another one. Maybe green?