April Sew Monthly Challenge

April's Challenge is finished, I can't believe I am all caught up! The challenge for the month of April was "War and Peace", to make something that shows extended times of war or peace. My submission is a corded petticoat. I originally made this particular petticoat a year or so ago for someone larger in the waist than myself, and decided to take it in to fit my measurements.

During the Civil War fabric, notions and, well, most things were hard to come by especially in the South, so it makes good sense that if someone in the family had an extra petticoat, and another member needed one, it would most likely be redone to fit the new recipient. Below is the finished petticoat with a waist measurement of 22 inches (decreased from about 26 inches), and a 90 inch swing. It has 6 rows of cotton cording, which I would like to add more to for historical accuracy, but I plan on starching the petticoat first to see how much body it will give as is. I plan on wearing two fully starched petticoats over it, so hopefully that will give me the body I want under my dress as I just don't have the funds right now for hoop boning. 

The Challenge:  War and Peace

Fabric:  White cotton muslin

Pattern: My own

Year:  1860's

Notions:  Cotton cording, cotton thread, hook and bar

How historically accurate is it?:  Most of it is machine sewn, so that is definitely not authentic, and it should have more rows of cording, but otherwise, corded petticoats were still common in the 1860's especially for the working class, so I'll give it 50%

Hours to complete: less than 1 hour, as I only had to re-gather the waist

First worn:  Hasn't been worn yet

Total cost: $0