Early 1920s Silk Taffeta Petticoat

My new 1922 frock needed a petticoat.  I normally would wear a full slip but since the frock has a separate lining for the bodice I decided to go with a petticoat.  The frock is black so I decide to do a black taffeta petticoat since I had plenty of black silk in my stash. 

My 1922 catalog gave me all the information I needed for the petticoat.  Here are some pics:

                     

The majority of them are silk taffeta and there are some with silk jersey or cotton tops and taffeta flounces.  The descriptions say they have elastic waists with hook and eye closure.  A close look at the waistband below tells me that the front waist is flat and there is a center front panel.  I suspect there is a placket at the left front seam with the hook and eye and the elastic is around the sides and back.

The flounces on all of the slips seem to have pleats and pin tucks.  Here are a few examples.

I really like the last one best but I decided to do something similar to the first one for the sake of speed.  Before starting, I needed to work out the math.

After figuring out the length of my ruffle strips and the fullness, I got to work.  I did want to keep  flat panel in the front.

I made the ruffle strips, using my pin tuck foot and stitched them together then I seamed 3 crosswise strips of fabric together for the bottom ruffle. After making a narrow hem in one long edge,  I used my perfect pleater--every other pleat--to pleat the ruffle.  Then all the pieces of the flounce were stitched together.

For the top part of the petticoat, I tore a 14.5 inch strip across the grain of my taffeta then cut off a 12.5 inch wide piece for the front flat panel.  The remaining long piece wraps around the body and is seamed to the edges of the smaller piece.  The left side of the flat piece has a placket opening.  I stitched a 2 inch seam allowance on the left edge of the front panel.  I trimmed away the excess seam allowance below the placket using pinking shears and pressed the seam toward the center.

For the underlap of the placket I pressed under 1/4 inch then folded the allowance in to the seam line and pinned it in place (left side).  For the overlap, I trimmed away a little of the allowance and folded the raw edge in twice, pinning in place.  Here's the wrong side.

Here's the right side of the placket.

I tore a 4 inch wide strip of taffeta cross grain for the waist band.  I folded it in half lengthwise and seamed the raw edges to the top of the petticoat, finishing the short edges.  Then I folded the band to the inside and whip stitched the folded edge of the band to the seam, leaving the flat part of the waistband open.    I fed elastic through the back part of the waistband and checked for fit then stitched the ends of the elastic down to the waistband.  The remainder of the waistband was whip stitched in place.

Here's the petticoat waiting for the hooks and snaps.

Here is the finished closure.

I like the way this turned out though I should've followed my gut instinct and done the waistband differently.  I originally thought I'd do an "in case" waistband which doesn't have the bulk. What is an in case waistband?  It's a fitted waistband that is about 2 inches bigger than your waist with elastic threaded through to snug it up.  It looks fairly tailored but allows for weight fluctuations.  I was in a hurry and opted to just make a casing with elastic for the sake of speed.  Since this is being worn under frocks that don't have fitted waists, it will be fine since the bulk won't show but I won't make that mistake again.

Here it is worn over an envelope chemise, French corset and 20s brassiere.