Margos Underskirt/Forepart Question

[Sorcha]

Hi all
It's been awhile...  But I'm back with a question.
I'm looking at Margo's underskirt and forepart pattern.  The design of this pattern is HA in that the underskirt is a complete circumference skirt and the forepart fabric goes over the top of the underskirt in the front.  Thus making it two layers of fabric in the front. 
I'm trying to keep this project a little lighter for warmer weather and I'm wondering if there is a way to make this a single layer of fabric in the front?   I've done that on past projects but none using the Margo pattern. 
I haven't looked at the pattern pieces too closely but my thought would be cut 3 using the forepart pattern piece. One in forepart fabric and 2 in underskirt fabric?? 
Or cut 3 using the underskirt pattern??  Again, one in forepart fabric and 2 in underskirt fabric.
Or use neither pattern piece and try some other funky thing??

[gem]

Well, first of all, have you noticed that the Margo underskirt calls for SIX YARDS of fabric?!  I was just considering using it for my kirtle, but IMO that's way more than necessary for an underskirt, particularly if you're adding oomph through bumroll/cartridge pleating the overskirt, etc.

To answer your question, I'd replace the center front panel only with the forepart fabric. Which is what you're already proposing, and I don't think it matters whether you use the forepart piece or the underskirt piece. You might have a look at the cutting layouts, though, to see how similar/different those pattern pieces actually are, just in case.

[Lady Rosalind]

I always like a separate forepart, because it's easier to clean, and has the added bonus of helping keep the farthingale ribs from showing. That said, I just take three panels of 60" wide taffeta and knife pleat it to a waistband for my underskirts. Plenty enough fullness, and takes way less than 6 yards of fabric. 

[gem]

Lady R, can you explain what you mean by "three panels of 60" fabric?" Do you mean the panels are 60" wide and whatever length you need (waist-to-hem)? People say this all the time and I never know what they mean!  That's still five yards, though, which is still pretty generous.

[Kate XXXXXX]

If each of your panels is 36" from waist to finished hem, you need about 2" for hem and waist seam, and a strip about 4" wide for the waistband.  That's still less than 4m of fabric all told.     And most skirts are quite happy at two widths.  My 18th C petticoats came out if about 2m of fabric.

[gem]

Kate, my 18th C. skirts are two 60" wide panels, pleated down to a very narrow waistband (easiest skirts EVER!), but they're a lot less full than my Renaissance skirts. My standard skirt pattern (the one I wear over my farthingale) calls for 4 yards of fabric, and the panels are gored. I'm just about to see if this pattern will work for my current kirtle project.

That might actually be a good approach for the OP--a four panel gored skirt, with one panel from the forepart fabric.

[Sorcha]

So I pulled my book out and  !  Umm...  No.  I don't think I need a 6 yard underskirt.  And after looking at the actual pattern pieces, I don't think any of them are going to work using any single one.  So!

I'm hearing two suggestions here:
1 - Make the underskirt similar to the skirt.  Just use panels of fabric.  So if I have 60" wide fabric, I would cut it in a way that the side seams are the fabric selvages.  Yes?  I have 105" farthingale and a 20something" waist, so 2 panels??  One of forepart fabric and one of underskirt fabric.

2 - Gored skirt.  Kate~  I'm interested in your pattern or technique for that idea.

[gem]

Well, one common way of going about things is making the underskirt gored (to seriously reduce bulk at the waist) and making the gown skirt from rectangular panels and making all that waist bulk decorative (ie, cartridge pleating, etc). So you probably wouldn't want to use the skirt pattern for the underskirt.  Do you have much of a pattern library you can pick from? The pattern I use (the 4-yard one) is the underskirt for the old Simplicity Irish dress, which is OOP, but if you can wait until later today, I can measure the panels of my skirt for you (top and bottom widths and length) if you're interested. There's also your good friend Google, although I personally haven't had a ton of luck sorting out the skirt info I've found online (YMMV, of course!!). 

I just ran through the Simplicity patterns, looking for a suitable one, and the best I could find is 5582, whose skirt is a little on the skimpy side, but might work as an underskirt. The farthingale pattern in 2621 looks to be about the right size, but I'm not sure the panels are shaped like you want them.

Ok, I *KNOW* we have folks on this board who regularly do precisely what you're proposing (make one decorative panel on the underskirt), because they've talked about it before. Where are they?!

[gem]

All right, one more from me! LOL

I just did a forum search for "forepart," and a ton of great links came up. You might try this one in particular, which talks about what I mentioned above.

[Anna Iram]

I'm another fan of pinning the forepart in.


Here's a file you can download from Semptress for a gored skirt.

http://www.sempstress.org/download/how-to-draft-gored-skirts-for-period-costumes/

[gem]

Anna, that link is terrific!!  And I also saw that she has a lengthy blog entry on straight vs circle vs gored skirts, with drafting instructions for all of them, here. My eyes started to glaze over by the time she started in on the gored version, but it's definitely worth reading, and I'll be studying it further!

[Sorcha]

Thank you ladies! 

[Lady Rebecca]

The underskirt I made last fall is just gored sateen. I believe I used simplicity 3782. But I did do the forepart as a separate piece, and it snaps on to the front of the underskirt. It worked really well, though!

[Anna Iram]

You're welcome Sorcha. Looking forward to seeing how your underskirt turns out as I'd like to try the gored skirt too.

Gem, yeah, isn't that an awesome link? I knew you'd like it, if you didn't have it already. There's so much good reading in there for someone like me who wants to learn new/better ways to do things.


Rebecca, is that the one you made for the blue velvet gown?

[gem]

Oh, I was definitely familiar with Sempstress, and I knew she'd started posting most of her stuff on her blog instead of her site, but that pattern download and the skirt info were new to me.

Pulled out my own skirt pattern (and a partially completed one I started last spring) last night and discovered that its "gores" are significantly less gore-shaped than I had remembered. Hmmm.