Crinoline Question

Vintagiality

Vintagiality

VFG Treasurer
Hi all,

I have been marveling at some of the great dress pics in some Etsy stores and I know that most of these dresses are displayed with a crinoline. I actually purchased a couple of very old petticoats (just because they were $1) but they really are not full enough to create this effect and they always jumble up at the waist somehow making it look think. I am obviously not doing something right or I just don't have the proper crinoline. Here is a picture of what mine look like:
005.JPG

And this is how I would like it to look:
Suzy Perette photo.jpg

Could you please help? What I am doing wrong and can you recommend a place to get a not too expensive crinoline that would like the one likely to be under this green dress.

Thank you,
Victoria
 
Victoria, you're right - the crinoline needs to be fitted into the waist, with not too much fullness, but plenty of fullness as the skirt gets wider. I think that TV and other sellers who have really full skirts use multiple petticoats. Have you tried layering?
 
There are different types of crinolines in the 1950s - there are ones with fullness from the waist down, some are broomstick style, with flounces sewn to flounces, and some have very full flounces but are smooth over the hips - some are soft nylon, some are stiff, sugared or starched netting. So there are different looks and fullnesses for different dresses. Many dealers use the wrong crinolines under 1950s and early 1960s dresses - and the photo of the green dress is one of them - its probably a square dance crinoline and the fullness of the skirt doesn't match the fullness of the crinoline, which you can see by the stretched hemline but not the fullness in the middle, that the skirt shape dictates. Yours is actually correct, although perhaps a bit lumpy around the hips but its better than the green dress. One of the worst offenders of over-crinolining is Janie Bryant from Mad Men - she frequently used too many in the earlier series, or she used the wrong shape of crinoline for her dresses (she is now cutting the hemlines FAR too short for the era). By the early 1960s a lot of women, especially for daytime, were wearing full skirts with only a half slip underneath - the fullness desired was for movement in the skirt, not stiff prom dress skirts.
 
I like that answer Jonathen. I have struggled too with adding too much petticoat to get that really puffy fullness some dealers have in the pics.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top