Saturday, August 1, 2009

A Modern Crinoline

Isn't this crinoline slip lovely? It's a current offering at Anthropologie.com. I've actually tried to sew a crinoline before (as a part of a dress lining) without a lot of success.

I honestly don't like working with tulle; I find it very frustrating. And when you start cutting it in layers and gathering it--yikes.

I like this little yellow Anthro crinoline for a few reasons:
  1. I don't have to work with tulle and sew it myself.
  2. It's $38, which seems pretty reasonable to me.
  3. It's yellow.
  4. It has a modern shape: it's not so poufy that you would feel like you were wearing a costume, but it would still give a bit of shape to a full skirt.
  5. It's a nice length: 19 inches. This seems manageable for today's skirts, as opposed to 50's skirts, which were often tea length. (But perhaps it will be too short?)
  6. I like the shaping at the top; it looks like it wouldn't add bulk around the hips.
What are your thoughts on crinolines? Do you wear them with full, vintage-style skirts? Have you ever sewn your own crinoline? Or have you bought one with success?

P.S. The slip above is on backorder, but will be available after 8/17, according to the Anthro site. It also comes in black.

P.P.S. I also couldn't resist these earrings. Aren't they sweet?


14 comments:

  1. I actually sewed a crinoline similar to this last week as part of a dress lining. I was attempting to copy a designer dress for a contest on Pattern Review, and the dress was supposed to be puffy in the skirt. I was using boring 100% cotton for mine and needed the crinoline to add some shape. I had no pattern and no real clue what I was doing, but I did a similar shape - fitted at the waist and hips. I only had 1.5y of tulle to work with so I just gathered one end, attached it to the bottom of the lining, then folded it back on itself and gathered that end and sewed it down. It created a bubble effect but it does not poof out the skirt too much and it is above the knee length. Pics are here:

    crinoline closeup


    Lining


    Dress, not looking that puffy in this shot but without the crinoline just hung flat and looked rather boring

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  2. I love the yellow! I, also, tried to add tulle to a lining with no success.I would like to try it with softer tulle--mine was too stiff.
    For under 40, I think, it would be worth it to buy and then you can see how it is made. I probably would only wear it on dressy occasions. The yellow would look sweet under a navy silk dupioni dress!

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  3. And I love the earrings!

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  4. Why oh why did you have to post this crinoline? I want it now! And that is a great price for an unusual color and that dropped fullness. I have two petticoats. I bought one which I love but I think it's too poofy and stiff for the dresses I currently have, which are not dirndls. Then the one I made isn't poofy enough but the Anthropologie one looks perfect.

    But if someone wants to make their own fabric petticoat there is a great tutorial here and she also sells them in her Etsy shop. One day, one day...

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  5. I have a long history of buying and wearing petticoats:)
    Right now I own 2 white and 3 black ones. The one I wear most often is a very simple one from the 1950’s which I bought in a thrift store for about 5 Swiss francs. (There is a picture of me wearing it under a pink dress on my blog).

    Because I couldn’t find a petticoat for daily wear (too long, too wide, too scratchy, and too expensive) I made one for about 20 USD two month ago. I wrote a tutorial for making the petticoat. It took me ages to write it, due to my poor English skills, but finally I succeeded and posted it on my blog.

    The Anthro petticoat is cute and reasonably priced, but if you look closely at it, you can see that it is mainly a half slip and the two tulle ruffles are directly attached to it. I think you could easily make one like this for less than 38 USD.

    Oh, and I love your blog! I find your sewing very inspiring.

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  6. Crinolines! We used to wear them in grade school - in the 50's. You had either a 50yd or a 100yd one. Unfortunately, my mother thought they must be starched, so I crinkled as I walked down the aisle and my legs were all scratched up. I don't want to go back there - but I love the yellow one - wish I had a use for that!

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  7. I love the earrings, and I love crinolines! I have one very full one, and one that gives a less severe shape, like I just have a breeze following me around.

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  8. Man I covet that crinoline! I know what you mean about the length. The only one I have is the dreaded tea length, although otherwise I dote on it: it's red with 2 fairly subtle layers of tulle and one embroidered, scalloped layer. But it was my grandma's, and I have this sentimental thing about cutting or really modifying any clothing items that were hers, at least for stylistic rather than fit reasons-- for one thing, she was of the few pieces of high quality school (she was a great seamstress; there are SO many things I wish I could ask her these days!)... it's wearable given the right outfit & belting; the upper elastic just needs to be at empire height, LOL.

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  9. I am a big fan of petticoats and underskirts. I had an awesome Laura Ashley one a long time ago that I wore under everything. In spite of being Laura Ashley it wasn't as they say "Laura Ashley". I love this one from Anthropolgie. The color and length are great. I am thinking myself of making a shorter length petticoat in cotton with white lace at the bottom as a crinoline one wouldn't really suit my lifestyle these days :)

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  10. I made an outfit with a bottom ruffle over gathers of tulle that I had bound in red on the bottom. The binding was very tricky. I had to go very slow. If I do it again, I will starch the dickens out of it. I couldn't gather the tulle enough to get good gathers across the top, so I gathered sections into 'packets' and that was successful. Very, very perky. It was under an apron. I'm on my way out the door to work, otherwise I'd give you a link to my web page. Maybe later.

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  11. I'm not a tulle/crinoline fan, but I can remember a petticoat pattern from last issue of Burda Easy fashion (is it as popular in US as in Europe?) I considered in cotton veil... the technical drawing looked pretty much like a fifties pattern enveloppe I had received a few weeks ago! And since it's a contemporary pattern, I'd think the length and 'poofiness' would be fine for everydaywear...
    Sorry if there's any fault in my English!

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  12. I must admit to a little ignorance about crinolines. Doesn't the ruffling cause the skirt to ride up?

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  13. Reilly, I truly hope that I'm in the minority and that more women feel the way you do.

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  14. I really enjoyed reading this. Thanks for this wonderful post. I hope to see more posts in the future.

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Thanks for your comments; I read each and every one! xo Gertie

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