Saturday, May 10, 2014

Making a dress for Abigail

I'm making my 15 month old niece Abigail an outfit for Memorial day when we will hopefully go to Greenfield Village for the Civil War Remembrance days. This is her pettichemise. A pettichemise is a combination of two garments the chemise (a nighgown like garment meant to wear under stays and petticoat, to keep body oils off her dress) and a petticoat to give her little skirts some more loft. A pettichemise is not a usual garment - in fact it seems to have been pretty rare back in the day, but I am short on time and needed something like this to make for the Abster. I am basically quarantined at Lauren and Ben's house so I had to make do with the things I had on hand, and while I was awfully happy for a little while thinking that I had made the most of my one yard of cotton muslin (36 inches wide) and squeezed out enough for her pettichemise, the sad reality is that I had forgotton to save enough for a waistband. Alas. Thankfully, while very period incorrect as to pattern, Lauren had some good quality cotton quilting fabric in the basement that I used for a waistband, so all was not lost. It's a good thing it will be solidly UNDER her dress, though.
And yes, the raisins were the reason she was content for me to try things on her. :D