Let's bring back Pettipants ! (History, Bloomers, Skimmers)

Typical Pettipants - Late 70's I'd guess

Very 70's Look on the Models

Back in the day - ladies wore bloomers. And when the skirt length revolution began in the 1920's and into the 1930's those bloomers sometimes peaked out below the hem. I recall reading about a relaxing moment for golden age mystery author Dorothy L. Sayers - her legs on somebody's desk, with her bloomers showing. Didn't gals used to tuck their bus money under the elastic at the knees of their bloomers as well? 

 Apparently these days, women who want a shorts-like slip, wear a popular garment called "skimmers". 

But back in the late sixties and into the seventies, we wore "pettipants" under our cute short dresses. My Mama sewed them for me, but lingerie departments had them too. I'm thinking about making some today as a slip alternative. 

Pettipants are basically like fitted elastic waist pants, but made in lingerie fabric (and usually with a cute bow at the waist). Also they often had lace along the bottom edge. It would be fun to sew a camisole that matched, as my mother often did for me.

This is the style of camisole and pettipants Mama sewed for me

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Web Resources

Should have guessed the square dancing' gals would have a free pattern! Takes some drafting, ok? http://www.squaredancesewing.com/under_it_all/pettipants.html

Sounds like certain ladies physiques have major issues with chafing that would make pettipants quite useful. Here are lots of options and links for ready made commercial alternatives, including "skimmers" http://www.hobomama.com/2012/09/no-chafing-options-for-skirts.html

Do you Love Butter? In praise of the Buttercup Purse

My latest buttercup purse is
still in the construction stage.
I sew it as one long double sided bag,
then just stitch across the bottom of the lining
before tucking it down inside the bag.
The big bird image above is part of an inside pocket.

Some  favorite postings

* Tit for Tatting: Embellishing my Buttercup Purse
http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/09/tit-fortatting-embellishing-my.html

* Romancing the Dress Part 1: Dainty

* Romancing the Dress Part 2: California Romantic asks do skirts really fit into her active and arty modern life?

* Romancing The Dress Part 3: The Dress Comes to Life

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Back in the 1920's, when my mother was a little girl, there was  a game amongst her friends in regards to buttercups. They tickled each other under the chin with the bright yellow flowers and giggled "Do you love butter?", then checked to see if any pollen had stuck to their little chum's chin. My mother, not being a sentimentalist, recounts this activity with a curling lip. The fact that she still recalls it, tells it's own story.

I happen to love the buttercup purse pattern by Made by Rae. I first  discovered it on the purses/bags/wallets forum at Crafster.org. It's a free, easily downloadable purse pattern, with the caveat that it's not to be used to create items for sale. I've probably made close to ten of these winsome bags by now in a variety of sizes. Wonder what you'd find stuck on the bottom of my chin?

Eva's Cowgirl Purse was a Buttercup

The basic pattern produces a rather small pocket-sized purse (which also made it perfect for 4 year old Eva). But that's just the right size to hang across my chest to hold my iPod, keys and reading glasses and accompany me on a walk or when I'm attending to domestic activities. Essentially I use it to replace a pocket and it keeps my pants pockets from wearing out. I don't think the original pattern includes a long handle, but mine always do. I've started interfacing those handles with Peltex interfacing for a really sturdy strap.

I made this goodly sized Buttercup in purple velvet
cut from a never-made-but-cut velvet suit
I turned up in my own sewing stash

However quite often, as in the case of this bluebird buttercup above, I enlarge the pattern for a regular purse-sized bag.

Techniques: 

After downloading the pattern (it's only a couple of pages) and stapling or taping them together, I photocopy them at a couple of different sizes. I think 129% is the biggest my local copy store goes, so sometimes I've enlarged an enlargement. I also like to simply extend the bottom of the little purse to make it deeper.

My in-progress buttercup purse is a recreation of one I made from the same quilting-cotton fabric last January. I loved the bird embellished fabric so much that I pretty much wore it out. I didn't line much more than the top pieces and it didn't stand up to the weight of the items I put in. So I started over with fresh fabric.

This time through I stabilized the buttercup's bird fabric not only with fusible quilt batting on both the outer and lining layers, but also with a layer of crinoline on the inside of the outside pieces. I also did some simple quilting on the outside layer.

This buttercup should really stand up to the service I expect of her. 

The completed buttercup purse I was working on when I first wrote this posting, is on display in 

Tit for Tatting: Embellishing my Buttercup Purse

http://meencantacoser.blogspot.com/2012/09/tit-fortatting-embellishing-my.html