Brunswick Part 2

Started working on the petticoat this week. Easy peasy, I thought, I'll just cut two lengths out and sew them together leaving openings at..the sides?...and at the back? I couldn't decide on what direction to go so I consulted the very fabulous Costume in Detal by Nancy Bradfield to see how they did it "back in the old days." If you haven't seen this book, it's well worth every penny because it's packed with pages of drawings of actual garrments and some even have measurements! And inside construction detail! Basically I could do no wrong with any combination of openings so I'm going with side openings that hopefully later will also double as pocket openings when I actually make my 18th century pockets. They are on the list!

Here's a really mediocre photo, taken in a hotel room while traveling for work. No pressing has been done at this point, just lots of hand stitching:

Handsewing is pretty good way to make the time fly, let me tell you. I just zipped along with a backstitch about 1/2" in from the selvedge* beginning about 8 inches down from the top edge. My stitches on the first side look pretty good. The second side not so much--I was getting tired and the light was fading so they went a little wonky in places. Makes you realize how important daylight must have been to candle-era seamstresses, seriously. The openings (shown on the left) were just rolled twice and stitched down. Voila! Still have to do the pleating along the top edge, put the twill tape on, and get myself a nice hem but I'm feeling accomplished nontheless.

*Okay, technically, if you are going to wash a garment you should trim off the selvedge edge in case it does some bizarre shrinking action. This isn't going to get washed AND I didn't want to make a mess while traveling so the selvedge, fringey bits and all, got to stay.