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19th Century Corded

Petticoats

1 ©2010 Brookwaite Enterprises


Silhouettes – 1820 to 1860

1826 Vienna Moden Late 1820s Modes de Paris

As the slim skirts of the Regency started to be cut out in shaped panels to widen the hem, petticoats

started to be worn to help hold the skirt out. This 1826 plate clearly shows later 1820s fashion with the

larger gigot sleeves and hemline. Notice the waistline is still flat. The plate with the black dress shows

more fullness at the waist due to additional petticoats that sit at the waistline.

Throughout the 1830s skirts continued to widen. Several layers of petticoats began to be worn, including

a corded petticoat or crinoline made with horsehair.



1830 Modes de Paris 1837 February La Mode

1844 La Mode Parisiennes 1851 La Mode Parisiennes

By the 1840s and throughout the 1850s, so many petticoat layers were worn that the skirts took on a

distinct dome shape. Ruffles were added to skirts to assist in the visualization of wider skirt hems and

narrow waistlines.




Early 1850s Le Follet-Graham’s 1855 Godey’s

The wired cage crinoline was invented in June 1856. As you can see in the Le Follet fashion plate, the

skirts are very full and fold softly at the hem.

Ginny can tell that those girls have

a few petticoats on under those

skirts! A fan would be a must when

at a ball and dancing.

As with all fashion, the corded petticoat did not disappear right away. However, with the freedom of

movement and less weight provided by the caged hoop skirt, I’m sure women would have adopted the

new undergarment quickly.


The Back Story of Romantic Era Fashions

After the Prince Regent was crowned in 1820, and before Victoria was crowned Queen of England in

1837, these seventeen years came to be known as the Romantic Era. Of course these are not inclusive

dates, as fashion does not change, literally, overnight. Poetry by Poe and Longfellow became popular,

and early romantic music written by Beethoven and Chopin shaped social events.

The slender lines of Regency fashions in the late 1810s started to flare out – both at the shoulders and

the hems. The huge gigot sleeve developed in the late ‘20s and became even bigger in the ‘30s, and

panels were added to skirts to increase width.

Waistlines began to drop rapidly, from high under the bust around 1817 to just above the natural waist by

the late 1820s.

Queen Victoria, an icon of fashion trends, embraced romantic, feminine lines, demure in looks and

submissive in the downward pointing hair, shoulder line and pointed bodices, all popular in the 1840s.

The Undergarments

The wired crinoline, or hoop skirt, was first patented in the mid-1850s. Thin spring steel rows were

attached to twill tapes hanging vertically from a waistband. These undergarments were a blessing to

women as it freed them from multiple layers of petticoats.

But before then, women generally layered up to 5 petticoats at once. The corded petticoat or crinoline

was the 2nd layer out from the skin. (A narrow under-petticoat was the first layer next to the legs.)

If your goal is to wear the corded petticoat as an outer garment, to be seen rather than as an

undergarment, then study the sewing techniques. If you are building a new costume from the mid-19th

century, look closely at the skirt shapes of fashion plates and existing garments and photographs to sew

your petticoat as needed for the desired look.

With a bit of research and a few basic sewing steps, you can have your own foundation to the

proper mid-19th Century silhouette!



Some Original Petticoats and Their Measurements

Petticoat Hem Width Length Fabric Cord Size &

Type # of

Cording Rows

Distance From Top Cord to

Waistband

A

82”

34 ¾”

Cotton – 2 ½ panels

3/16” sisal rope warp-woven into fabric

28 – 21 with ½” space, 7 with 1½” space

5”

B

90”

37”

Cotton with white work

1/16” twisted cotton sewn in pintucks

20 with 1/8” spaces

22”

C

91”

37 ½” Very lightweight, semi-sheer muslin

1/8” cotton weft-woven into fabric

40 with 3/8” spaces

5”

D

92”

32 ½” Cotton muslin – 2 panels

1/8” cotton weft-woven into fabric

36 with ¼” spaces

4”

E

99”

37”

Medium weight cotton muslin

3/16” sisal rope and 3/16” cotton cord

13 – 3 at hem in facing, 10 in tucks with 2-3” spaces

9 ½”

F

100”

35 ½”

Cotton muslin – 4 panels

3/16” cotton

29 – 8 at hem in facing, 21 in tucks with 1” spaces

9”

G

104”

35”

Heavy twill – 4 panels

1/8” soft cotton weft-woven into fabric

45 with ¼” spaces

18”

H

105”

38 ¾”

Very lightweight cotton

1/16” tightly twisted linen cord weft-woven into fabric

80 – 6 bands with 1/16” spaces and 2” between bands

4”

I

111 ¾”

36”

Very fine light-weight cotton – 3 panels

1/16” twisted cotton weft-woven into fabric

134 – 24 at hem, 18 groups of 9 with 5/8” spaces

4 ¼”



Thank you to Carolann Schmitt of Genteel Arts for her past research of corded petticoats, of which some of the above measurement information was found on www.CWReenactors.com/forum.

You can see that most original corded petticoats varied between 80 and 112 inches.

That averages to 96” in width. With most muslin fabrics, you can use just two panels of 45” width to come

within that original average. I recommend staying within that range to have the proper weight and support

structure necessary for the petticoat to “work.”

Original Fabrics and Cording

The word crinoline comes from ‘crin’ meaning horsehair and ‘lin’ for flax that is used for making linen

fabric. Crinoline was originally fabric that was woven with actual horsehair to make it stiff. Sometimes the

hair was sewn into fabric.

An Original 1830s Corded Petticoat

Original Fabrics: Muslin, calico, cambric (cotton or linen), twill, organdy and sheer cottons, and

heavier polished cotton (chintz)

Original Cording: Cotton cord (most often), sisal or linen rope, and scrap strips of linen or wool Original Waistband Closures: Cotton twill drawstrings, buttons




Most corded petticoats were made from a cotton fabric that varied from light- to medium-weight. These

fabrics would be firmly woven with a natural stiffness or hand (the feel and drape of a fabric). Their

calicos imitate our modern muslins.

An Original 1830s Corded Petticoat Showing the Sisal Rope and the Original Closure Ties

The original cords that were used varied from

sisal rope (similar to hemp rope) to twisted

cotton and tucks stuffed with small pieces of

linen, cotton, or wool. Ginny has seen an

original corded petticoat that has both rope and

cotton cord sewn in. Sizes ranged from 1/8” to

1/4” in diameter.

Historical Note: Fabric woven with

cording was not too hard to find in

the early 19th Century as cords were

woven into the fabric as it was made

on the loom. You could visit your

local dry-goods store and purchase

two to three yards, go home and sew

in a seam, hem the piece and attach to

a waistband, and you would have a

corded petticoat for tomorrow.

However, some women chose to

insert their own cording into their

own selected fabric. This was one of

those long-term projects as many

rows were needed to give support,

but all was done by hand as this was

before sewing machines.


The original 1830s petticoat

drawstring closure.

Note that the twill

drawstrings are just folded

over and tacked to the

finished ends of the

waistband and hemmed.

The Big Debate: Corded or Hoop?

We’ll not go into great detail on historical use, but the general consensus is that once the wired hoop

skirt/crinoline became widely manufactured, women jumped at the chance to free their lower limbs

from the layers of petticoats and did not retreat back to their corded petticoats. Hoop skirts were

inexpensive and readily available to nearly all women.

When you adopt a new style/fashion or better-made clothing, you rarely go back to what you were

wearing before. Take, for instance, late-19th Century corsets. As more “health corsets” appeared on

the market, women adopted these new styles and let the waist-cinching,

heavily-boned corset fade away.

It is the same with the mid-20th Century girdle. Today we have much better “body shapers” in high-

tech fabrics to hold in all the unsmooth areas so that we no longer wear girdles.

So in my opinion, (and you can disagree), our ancestors put off wearing corded petticoats when the

freeing hoop came their way. But that does not mean the garment itself became obsolete. It may

have been many years before everyone stopped wearing them. Once a new contraption is on the

market, the older model is not written or talked about. The wired hoop skirt was created in June 1856.

However, women probably still wore corded petticoats and crinolines for a few years more.

Specifically speaking of American Civil War reenactors, much discussion is heard on whether to wear

a corded petticoat or a wired hoop skirt when working around campfires; which undergarment is safer.

In my own Civil War reenacting circles this is widely debated. However, within my specific group

(Historical Citizens Assoc.), our delightful cook, Miss Violet Johnson, prefers a small wired hoop rather

than layers of corded and plain petticoats. She stays cooler with the hoop. She also finds it easier to

maneuver around the cooking area in a hoop that has a slight “swing” to it. I have to agree.

But some say the softer folds of the corded petticoat are less likely to brush the fire. Possibly so. But

all of us must remember to practice attentive fire safety when around ANY campfire –

period setting or not.



The Look of a Corded Petticoat

As an Undergarment

Let’s take a look at the effect of

wearing a corded petticoat.

In this series of photos, you can see

the effect of the corded petticoat

worn underneath a plain petticoat.

First is the plain layer without the

corded petticoat then what it looks

like over the corded petticoat.

You can see the width of the over-

petticoat is slightly flared at the hem

and lies more evenly around over

the corded petticoat. You can also

see that by not taking the cords up

closer to the waist that only the skirt

hem is flared and the silhouette

becomes more bell-shaped rather

than domed.




Now look at this one:

This corded petticoat has an 82” hem width with cords sewn high up to the waist.

You can see the over-petticoat lies smoothly around the corded petticoat. What is clearly

seen is the effect of the cording being sewn as close to the waistband as possible. This

gives a nice 1840s dome shape to the over-petticoat.

Related Websites & Books

The Civil War Reenactors –CWR Forums

The Sewing Academy – Elizabeth Stewart Clark

Wikipedia.org

Cunnington, C.Willett. English Women’s Clothing in the Nineteenth Century. Dover Publications, Inc., 1992.

Cunnington, C.Willett and Phillis. The History of Underclothes. Dover Publications, Inc., 1992.

Hunnisett, Jean. Period Costume for Stage & Screen: Patterns for Women’s Dress 1800-1909.

Players Press, 1991.

Taschen. Fashion: A History from the 18th to the 20th Century. (Kyoto Institute)

http://www.cwreenactors.com/forums.htm

http://thesewingacademy.org/index.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoline

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0486263231?ie=UTF8&tag=clco0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0486263231


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corded petticoat?

Simply click below to buy the

19th Century Corded Petticoats Workbook

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19th Century Corded Petticoatscloakandcorset.com/products/websiteinfo/ebooklets/cordedpetticoats.… · 4 ©2010 Brookwaite Enterprises. Early 1850s Le Follet-Graham’s 1855 Godey’s