How to do a French Seam and finishing an Elizabethan underskirt without a waistband

Excuse me...Who owns this seam?:

While the creation of the French Seam is relatively obscure, the name however implies we know where the French Seam originated... that is unless you speak French. The sewing technique known as the French Seam in England is known as the Couture Anglaise in France. Thus- The English call it a French Seam and the French call it the English Seam. It seems that no one or everyone wanted to take credit for this tidy little stitch.

The French seam is a couture seam finish used in high-end clothing and is one of the most beautiful seams for any type of fabric—not just silks. It completely conceals raw edges and is sometimes used on the outside of garments. Since it ultimately has many layers, it is best used with lightweight and sheer silks such as three-ply or four-ply silk or silk crepe, crepe de Chine, charmeuse, chiffon, and georgette; however I use it any time I do not want a raw edge to appear.

It is very useful if you do not have lining. Since I do not want to line my underskirt, which would be about as pointless as lining a slip, I regularly use the French Seam to make the underskirt as well finished as the rest.

French Seams for Beginners...

To make a French seam, start by pinning the fabric with the wrong sides (the side of the fabric you don't want to be viewed) facing each other. Sew a seam 3/8 inch from the raw edge. At this point you should have a seam and raw edge on the side of the fabric that you want people to see.

It is my personal opinion that the seam should be clipped at this point, though many seamstresses disagree. I dislike raw edges and I tend to catch the raw edge in my second seam, so I use my pinking sheers to clip the fabric to 1/4 of an inch.

To make your life easier... I suggest ironing the pinked edges to the right or the left of the seam. Don't press open. This can cause problems. You want to press the raw edges together. It will give you a crisper line with which to work.

Second step: With right sides (the fabric you want to face out) together, fold the fabric along the seamline, sandwiching the raw edge seam created above. Manipulate the fabric between your fingers to bring the stitching of the seam to the very edge.




Keeping in mind that you have clipped the now covered raw edge of the first seam down to 1/4 inch, sew a second seam, encasing the pinked raw edge. Press the seam to one side; then press again from the right side of the garment.

This stitch, makes a lovely seam from both the inside and the outside of the garment.







The Underskirt for Simplicity Pattern 8881

The process for sewing the underskirt for 8881 is really well outlined by the actual instructions. Basically you have your front section and six side and back panels. The side and back panels all have the same lower part and differ only in a small section near the waist.

Using the French Seam I put the skirt together in this order. (Sorry I forgot to take pictures of most of the steps.)
1. If I have a lace overlay for the underskirt, I top stich it to the front skirt panel.
2. French Seam the Back Side, and Side pieces together.

To make my life easier, I sew the side pieces together, then attach it to the front panel using French Seams. When I first started making this dress, I would sew all the tops to the bottoms and I'd get them mixed up. Now, once I have a panel finished, I attach it to the skirt and save myself some anxiety.

3. French Seam the back sections together and sew the center back seam leaving 6-8 inches for an opening. ( At this point I leave the opening raw, and I'll come back to it later.)

4. French Seam the back to the skirt.

I do not use the waist band! For me, having the underskirt and the overskirt separate is a lesson in patience and dexterity. As you walk in a farthingale, your skirts tend to slip a bit- especially the underskirt, since it is not attached to the bodice. Last year I made the underskirt complete then attached the waistbands. It was bulky and messy. This year I'm doing away with the underskirt waistband. (I'll explain more below. For now let's deal with the raw edge opening)

It is perhaps not my most professional method of handling skirt openings. My intital instinct is to put in a zipper, but there is the danger in the SCA patrol catching sight of it. Thus, I usually opt to do a simple roll stitch where the skirt parts in the back. It will be covered by your overskirt and as you can see in the picture, I hand basted the underskirt opening down, so it won't get in the way of the overskirt. (Red dots in the picture below)




Doing a roll stitch is easy. Fold the fabric 1/4 inch. Now fold it 1/4 inch again and top stitch. Done!




Finishing the Skirt Without the Waistband:

To attach my waistbandless underskirt to my overskirt, I first baste stitched a 1'' seam around the top of the skirt. Pulling the thread I gathered the skirt opening until it matched the measurements of my overskirt.

Just like when I attached my overskirt to the waistband, I found the center of my underskirt and pinned it to the center front of my overskirt waistband.

I matched up the outside edges with the edges of my waistband. (Note: I did line these up about 1/2 of an inch from the outside edge of the waist band to hide any white showing) Pinnning the gathered underskirt in place, took a little patience, but in the end it looked lovely.

Because my sewing machine is already shuddering due to the bulk in the overskirt, I opted to whip stitch the underskirt in place. I did this for a second reason: The underskirt is usually the part of the dress which needs to be replaced first. By whip stitching the underskirt to the overskirt it makes it easily switched when the hem of the underskirt becomes worn.

A whip stich is when you loop the thread catching the top and the bottom of the fabric you are attaching. It doesn't look pretty, but it is hidden and ultimately (for me) forgivable. :)

At last the skirt has been sewn together; however the longest journey is still ahead. Now that the skirt is finished, hemming must occur. It's important that you have your hoop, bumroll, and both skirts completed before you hem. It is also a very good idea to have your bodice completed and that you wear the shoes you are going to wear to the fair on during the hemming process.

I'll talk about Hemming in my next blog entry in more detail.

As of right now my trip to the MRF is now a month away...

Skirt to do:

• Grommets,
• Hemming,
• Adornments for underskirt

Remaining items:
Bodice:

• Move corseting loops for new waist size (Yay)
• Add fabric cover
• Add Jewelry

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Over Skirt Hurdles: Sewing an Elizabethan Overskirt

Weightlifting and Pleating:

The skirt on a renaissance dress is usually somewhere between 5-8 pounds depending on the fabric and the adornments. Given the length of the fabric and the slipping due to the lining, I have long thought that Renaissance skirt sewing could be an Olympic event. The red skirt I'm sewing weighs a glorious six pounds; however if I had opted for velvet or a heavy tapestry, this particular skirt could weigh almost ten pounds. In the end, this dress will weigh right around 15-20 pounds total.

I have heard it said that the over skirt is the easiest to sew. That is not quite true. If you follow the instructions listed on pattern 8881 you will be treated to cartridge pleating. It takes a great deal of time and effort to get the exact look required. I dislike cartridge pleating for two reasons: 1- I can't see evidence of cartridge pleating in the majority of art pieces from the time period. Those who disagree with me mention that it is the artist smoothing the bunching which cartridge pleating causes. That may be, but I prefer the look of the art to the heaviness that cartridge pleating places on the hips. 2) Cartridge pleating is bulky. Granted it is less bulky than machine gathering the fabric- which would be impossible, but it still creates a spare tire between the waist and the hip, usually where the bodice attaches to the skirt. This can be uncomfortable and can take away from the narrow waist look of the renaissance gown.

Because I am trying for the look of Catherine De Michi's flying squadron a narrow waist is key. For this reason, I am choosing Knife Pleating over the cartridge pleat. Knife pleating is what you think of when a pleated skirt is mentioned. The fabric lies smooth back and forward in a "Z" shape. Large portions of the material remain flat and smooth giving a more slender silhouette.

A second deviation from the Simplicity 8881 pattern is my decision to add a modesty panel in the back of the skirt. It is a common occurrence at Renaissance fairs. You see a beautiful dress-- simply stunning. They walk past you, you turn, and the illusion is ruined by a) a bunching in the back where the closure has been artificially pinned, hooked, or snapped closed. b) A non period addition to the dress, like a large bow or other adornment to cover the opening. or c) a open panel of the dress which shows the underskirt or hoop. It's sad but true the majority of beautiful dresses all have the same flaw. The skirt opening! Thank goodness they eventually invented the zipper in the 1900s. :) I determined to give myself a three inch panel so if my skirt opens, it only shows the fabric from the dress. Hopefully this will keep the smooth look all the way around the dress.

On to Sewing!

First step when sewing the over skirt is to seam the center back line. For this you take the two huge squares of fabric required by Simplicity Pattern 8111 and seam them together. This is where I made my modesty panel. Instead of lining up the fabric evenly, I had a seam allowance of 1.5 inches on the right side and 4 inches on the left. Once the fabric was sewn, I trimmed the excess from the skirt, leaving seven inches where I cut the fabric to overlap by four inches. Modesty panel achieved. Repeat the process with the lining. Now at this point, I sew the back skirt opening to the lining. Make sure NOT to seam the entire upper portion of the skirt to the lining. This will make pleating almost impossible due to the bulk 4 layers of fabric and lining will create.

I know this because I made that mistake on this dress and ended up unpicking the entire seam. It was horrible! I'm including the picture of my wonderful idea here. You can see from the picture how the panel overlaps... I figured seaming the lining and the main fabric together was a great way to keep the fabric from slipping. I achieved that goal, but ended up with a headache in return.

Step two: Side seams: In Simplicity 8881, there are two other cuts for the skirt. These two pieces are attached to the large squares. Because I have attached my lining to my main skirt, I chose to work with the lining first. The hardest part of this seam is actually figuring out which side of the fabric attaches to the back. I now remember that the ski jump type cut never attaches to the skirt. I will put a portion of that together so you can see what I mean. Now you have two choices at this point... you can seam the lining to the skirt at the front split or you can seam the lining to the lining. I choose for simplicities sake to seam the lining to the lining.

Repeat with the main fabric. It is a bit tricky with the back opening seamed to the lining, but really you will have a nicer opening, less troubles with fabric sneaking under the fabric you're sewing, etc if you do it first. Anyway that is my opinion. :)

At this point I have an incredibly lengthy sewn piece of fabric and lining attached by a small V like seam. It's time to attach the two. The pattern says to place the right sides of the fabric together (on the floor), and line up the outer edges. Pin them and run a seam down both edges. Then take three inches of the fabric on either side and hand stitch them back, so if your skirt moves the lining does not appear.

I like to avoid the folding over phase and whip stitching. I cut my lining down by three inches on each side, lined the lining and main fabric up and sewed my two seams. When I pressed the fabric open, the fold over is automatic. I sewed a top stitch down both sides of the split and I have a very smooth lining without ugly hand work along the edges.

Step Three: Run a basting stitch along the top of the skirt to keep the main fabric and the lining from slipping while you add the waistband. (I do not have a picture of this, because I was an idiot and sewed and turned this seam causing me needless headaches when sewing the waistband.

Fun with Folds and Tucks:

In order to do the folds and tucks on my dress, I used my dress maker's dummy to quasi-drape my skirt into position. Like an idiot I forgot to take a picture, mostly because I was busy figuring out where to place the folds. Unless you are cartridge pleating, you'll need a bit of trial and error with the dummy. I ended up with two larger folds leading to the back and several small pleats layered against one another. You can see this in the picture. Once this was decided, I placed the waist band and pinned it in place.

The waist band is fairly easy. Before I attached it to the skirt, I simply seamed both sides, clipped and pressed. Ready to attach the skirt, I opened the band and pinned the skirt into the band itself. It is important to make sure you start with the middle where the split occurs in your over skirt. My second set of pins are used on the opening in the back, leaving the remaining billows of fabric on either side. If my dummy measurements are right, the rest of the fabric should ease into my waistband perfectly. However it is not a perfect world and there is a bit of adjusting needed.


Once I stitched the waist band to the skirt, I folded down the waist band. I added a new strategy to my waist band I've never tried before. I dislike the wrinkling and folding that occurs with my waistbands in the past, so I used some of my left over boning and made channels in the waist band. I slid them in before folding under the remaining waist band seam allowance and pinning it into place.


Because my machine was groaning under the weight of the first stitch, I decided to hand stitch the waistband's final seam. I used a simple whip stitch and it worked perfectly.

Over skirt project... check!

Here is the dress so far. The underskirt is not done, I'm simply playing with possibilities for the underskirt. I have decided against the gold fabric because it has a funny sheen to it where it goes green under certain conditions. I have decided instead on an off white lace overlay atop a nice silk damask. It will be lovely. At least in this picture you can see how lovely the over skirt turned out. I'm really quite happy about it.

Left to do:

Bodice finishing touches: hooks and eyes, jewelry. (I've lost weight so I'll have to redefine the placement of the corset lacing's.) It's a lot of work but I don't mind... now if I had GAINED weight. :)

Over skirt finishing touches: Grommets, hooks and eyes, hem.

Underskirt
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