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Quick and Dirty petticoat “tutorial”.

I decided to do a quick write-up on how I made this petticoat, because I had a lot of trouble fining a tutorial online that I could actually understand. I figure I probably wasn’t using any of the correct terminology to find what I wanted, so I ended up messaging jhartdesign on Facebook and asking for a low-down on how he made this masterpiece of a petticoat.

Fair warning: Mine is nowhere near as professional and I took lazy shortcuts. This probably isn’t the ‘correct’ way to make a petticoat, but it’s a damn good start.

Step 1: Math-ing

Huehue (sorry I’m not funny). So first we need to know how long we want the petticoat to be. I wanted mine to be 15 inches long, so each of the 3 tiers needed to be 1/3 of that, plus 1 inch for seams (.5” on top and bottom). I believe J.Hart’s is 4 tiers, but I didn’t really notice that until now. If you want to do more sewing, feel free to have more tiers on the petticoat.

Now the petticoat has 3 layers, each are identical, so with a 3 tier petticoat, you’ll have 9 strips of fabric, plus the yoke (basically a waistband). The bottom tier on mine was 28 yards, 14 on the middle and 7 on the top layer. The yoke should be about 4” tall and double your hip measurement. 

Here’s what you’d have to have in fabric:

Step 2: Fabric

Generally, petticoats are made out of stiff netting such as tulle, crinoline or organdy. I wanted to use organdy, but I had a lot of trouble sourcing the fabric, so I decided to use tulle that I already had. I’m actually a bit of an idiot and used cotton broadcloth for the bottom tier, which was a huge mess and I don’t recommend it at all (not like I actually recommend making a petticoat…)

Anyways, how much fabric you need depends on how wide your tiers are and how wide your fabric is… You’re basically alone for this one. I ended up using 14 yards of broadcloth for the bottom layer alone, and about 10 yards of tulle for the other 2 layers. They sell bolts of tulle on eBay for $15-$25 which would probably be enough fabric.

Step 3: Gathering

This is the least awful step of the whole petticoat-production-process. Each of the 9 lengths of fabric need to be gathered. Largest tier down to 14 yards, middle tier down to 7 yards, and the top tier down to the length of your yoke (let’s just say 80” for convenience).

The absolute best way to gather is to use a presser foot with the opening in the center, and to zigzag stitch over non-stretch 1mm cording, OR 50 lb test fishing line (the non-braided stuff, it’s extremely cheap). 

Tie a really good knot at the end, and measure how much you need, and get sewing. The cording is going to stay forever so you probably want to make sure it matches. You’ll have to pull on the cording along the way to make the gathers (you can do this while you are sewing it, I normally count to 4 and pull on 5, then start counting again).

Step 4: Putting It Together

In my opinion, the least confusing way to do this is to do all the gathering in one go, then sew the bottom tiers to the middle tiers (all 3 layers), then the middle tiers to the top tiers. 

Once you do that you’ll have most of a petticoat. The correct way to hem the bottom layer is to bind it in hem tape, but if you don’t hate yourself that much you can do what I did (a rolled hem with my serger), or even use a rolled hem foot on your sewing machine.

At this point you should have 3 giant piles of fabric, hemmed and gathered. I had an additional step of serging the bottom tier to the middle tier to prevent frays.

Now we have to sew them shut. To make it look professional, the edges should be bound in bias tape (3 guesses who skipped this step). Now you should have 3 massive skirts. Sew the yoke closed as well- it should now be a tube of fabric. The next step is to sew each of the 3 layers onto the yoke, 1/4” apart. This can get pretty messy if you don’t have a long-arm sewing machine, but if you pin everything really well you won’t have a problem.

Hopefully this helps explain how to sew the layers on (except they will be tubes, not flat).

ALMOST DONE!! What you should have now is a skirt that’s way too huge for you. All you have to do is sew the top down and put elastic in (I really hope you already know how to do this). Because of the layer of broadcloth on mine, it’s extremely heavy and a draw-string would probably be beneficial. You can now cry yourself to sleep in the ruffles of your glorious petticoat.

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HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY! 

I hope you all have a fun and safe night! 👻

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Enjoy the pagan festival of Samhain

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these skulls are super cool guys💀💀

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Artwork by:  Sephiroth Art

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National Trust continues to allow fox-hunting on their land

I know a lot of you who follow me are not from the UK, so I will try to make this as easy to understand as possible! The UK is a strange strange place, and there are a lot of cruel things that happen here in the name of Tradition. 

The National Trust held an unprecedented vote on Saturday, 21/10/2017, on whether licences for trail hunting on their land should be banned or not. The vote lost by 299 votes, and for many reasons this whole thing has left National Trust members, and the general public alike, outraged.

So let’s hit the basics: 

What is the National Trust? The National Trust is a charitable organisation which owns, and is responsible for, the majority of heritage sites, national parks, and areas of outstanding beauty in Britain. As such, they own much of the land in rural England. The National Trust has been the subject of controversy in the past: namely with how it treats it’s workforce made up of overwhelming numbers of unpaid volunteers (despite the fact that they’re rolling in money); and with how they treat tenants on their land. There are over 4 million members of the National Trust - membership allows you free entry to the sites that they own, as well as a subscription to their magazine and other perks. 

What is fox hunting? Fox hunting is as it sounds - it is when people (usually rich rural land owners, as well as members of the aristocracy) go out on foot and on horseback with a pack of hounds to chase down adult foxes, as well as dig fox cubs out from their dens. In 2005, fox hunting involving the intentional killing of foxes was made illegal under the Hunting Act (2004). Live fox hunting was replaced with trail hunting, where a trail, usually made out of fox piss, would be laid and the hunt would follow this trail. However, as the trail is made out of fox piss, and because huntsmen usually lay the trail through fox habitats and dens, foxes are more often than not caught up in the hunt. They are then chased down for hours until they collapse from exhaustion and are ripped apart by the hounds. All the while being egged on by the huntsmen. If a fox happens to get caught up in a hunt, hunts can claim there was no intent to kill the fox, and so are still deemed legal. However, as the hunts and the establishment are in collusion with each other, and often are one and the same, some hunts don’t even lay trails and go out actively fox hunting, or digging cubs from their dens. Overwhelming numbers of the general public (85%) are opposed to hunting. Despite this, Theresa May has attempted to repeal the Hunting Act. This was quickly dropped due to public outcry and the tories no longer having a parliamentary majority. As such, there now remains a stalemate surrounding the issue of fox hunting. 

So what’s been going on? Last year it was discovered that the National Trust had issued 71 hunt licences to allow hunts to take place on their land. Members were shocked and outraged at this. The National Trust is considered to be an organisation with conservation, environmental protection, and animal welfare at it’s very core. So how could they allow trail hunting to take place? This when it has been proven time and time again that hunts routinely kill foxes [video shows animal cruelty] and other wildlife, have been responsible for the death of farm animals, destruction and damage of property, damage to the environment and local ecosystems, and have acted violently and illegally to hunt monitors? Following public and member petitions, the National Trust announced that it would have a vote on whether to ban trail hunting on its’ land, or whether to bring in reform. There were several key issues with how this vote was carried out: 

The wording of the vote was confusing and many did not know if they were voting for or against the motion. 

Paper ballots were hidden in the back of magazines with other flyers and circulars, so many members threw them out without realising.

Many people were unable to vote online as the system was not fit for purpose.

Many members simply did not know about the vote, as the National Trust did not publicise it at all.

Many members never received any sort of ballot papers.

The National Trust used discretionary votes (votes from members who did not wish to vote) to vote the motion in their favour.

Members are seemingly not allowed to have a say on how current legislation will be changed, and some voted against the motion thinking that they would have the opportunity to shape new legislation

So whilst I am very disappointed with the result, it is not at all surprising as the National Trust board members are made up of elite land owners, and/or those with ties to the Tories. This vote may have made it seem like this was a democratic decision, but it seems that the board were never going to let the motion pass. 

What can we do? Petition, Protest and make it Public. The National Trust is an organisation whose leaders only care about money. If you are a paying member, you have a few options - cancel your membership and write a letter to the National Trust explaining why you have done so. Or you may wish to stay in the organisation and change it from the inside, if so appeal for a recount or a re-vote. Either way, make your opinions known. If you are not a member, you can still email or write to the National Trust, asking them to explain a few things. Let them know that you are boycotting their sites and not buying things from their shops because of it. You can also add comments to their Facebook page (this is something they seemingly don’t like at all as they have been frantically deleting comments). Although be aware, if you comment on their Facebook page you will likely garner attention from the pro-hunters, who can be aggressive. You can also lobby your local reporters and journalists to cover the issue, as it has been swept under the rug by many newspapers and news sites. You can also write to your local MP, asking them to support a nationwide ban on trail hunting. 

Please don’t think me wholly against the National Trust. As an archaeologist, I deeply respect the work that they do to protect archaeological and heritage sites. Without them, many of these places would be lost. However, there are deep flaws within their system that can only be changed if people speak out!

Email: enquiries@nationaltrust.org.uk

Write:  The National Trust, PO Box 574, Manvers, Rotherham, S63 3FH

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nationaltrust

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The National Trust (UK) allows the barbaric act of fox hunting with dogs on its land, why support an organisation that allows this to continue?

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₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡ Lenore The Cute Little Dead Girl from the comic book of the same name by Roman Dirge

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I can be a real Little Sister now 😏 Instagram: Albahaaa

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I am half Scottish and half Japanese- I hand-sewed this kimono from men’s dress shirts and boxer shorts.

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Poe & his pumpkin.