As I mentioned in my last post, for the Great War Gallop I created all new pieces – from the underwear out – which was both harder and easier than I expected. Everything came together pretty smoothly, and the only mockup I made was for my corset (which I probably could have skipped, but coutil is too expensive to take chances with).

But as a bunch of us have discovered recently during our forays into this period, Teens-era construction is deceptively hard! Basic skirts look like they should go together in the same way that modern clothes do, but are actually more similar to earlier periods. And yeah, there are sewing patterns, but most of the instructions are pretty sparse and cryptic. We joke that instructions on old patterns consist of a single sentence – “construct in the usual way” – but in this case, that’s true. Which is fine if you wore these clothes every day of your life – you’d know what the usual way was, but I haven’t spent much time studying extant garments from this era so it was unfamiliar to me. I spent a decent amount of time throughout this project looking at old sewing manuals online (yay public domain!) and asking friends how they thought something should be assembled. I don’t know that I got it “right” every time, but nothing fell apart and I think my construction techniques are close enough to the “usual way”, so I thought I’d share in case anyone else finds themselves in the same boat. Once you figure out how the darn things are supposed to be assembled, the actual sewing is fairly simple.

For my combinations (base-layer undies) I used Wearing History’s circa 1917 Combination Underwear and Chemise e-pattern. After purchasing the pattern I realized that I have a couple original vintage combinations patterns in my stash that I could have used (oops!) but I do enjoy the ease of e-patterns. This pattern includes the original instructions (which aren’t much) and some text “translations” of what those instructions mean for modern sewers, but not step-by-step illustrations for construction. Hopefully these photos will help explain some of the tricky bits, and if you have more questions check out the in-depth post that The Dreamstress did on this pattern.

I used a lightweight cotton broadcloth and made self-bias tape to finish the armholes, bottom edge, and to finish the inside of the CB pleat. I finished the neckline with beading lace using the heirloom sewing technique described on the Wearing History blog. If you don’t want to buy pricey lace or want a very sturdy top edge, you could also finish the neckline with bias tape and use that as a casing for your drawstring.

I only made a couple fitting adjustments – the balance was a little off so i removed a little from the front shoulder length to get the sideseam to hang straight on me. I wish I had scooped out the neckline and armhole a bit after shortening the front armhole, but I didn’t realize how high they were until after attaching the lace. And I took some of the width out of the sideseam because I didn’t want quite as much bulk under my corset. 

And here are a few more construction photos. Make sure to also check out The Dreamstress’s blog to see how she constructed these parts! Her versions are a little different but I think they all qualify as “the usual way”.