Starching a corded petticoat?

[Lady Gregory]

What is the best method?  Any and all advice is welcome.  Grammercy.

[Orphena]

Hi Lady Gregory,

I think we will better be able to answer your question if we understand a little more about your project.

I have a corded petticoat that I made up to help a skirt stand out a little, but I've never starched it, and don't yet understand why you would want to - can you please elaborate? Personally, I would try to figure a way to do something without adding starch.... but I'm interested to hear more about your project!

[Lady Gregory]

My petticoat is for the same purpose as yours, to fill out and shape my skirt.  However, it seems to fold in certain areas.  I would like to stiffen it a bit to give it more shape. The folds are especially noticeable when I wear my split overskirt.  The folds push the underskirt out through the split area.  I would prefer a smoother silouette, if that makes sense. It is not too pronounced, but I am always looking to perfect my garb. 

I have also heard that starch helps to repel dirt and dust, which will come in handy when I am away for the weekend and will be wearing the petticoat multiple times before being able to wash it.

Eta:  I am obviously not going to get the results of a farthingale, not do I want to, but would just like to stiffen it up a bit for shape. 

[Orphena]

Ok, that helps!

Again, I'm going to suggest a starchless solution - not because I think that starching is not the answer, but simply because I have an alternate idea - again, this stems from the fact that I've never starched anything, so I am going to let someone with more starching experience suggest that solution!

I would think that the outcome that you desire could be accomplished in another way. If the waist of your petticoat is a drawstring, I would suggest pulling more fullness to the back. If it is a waist band, I would try including a vertical tuck in the skirt at around where each of your pelvic bones sit, pulling the front of the skirt flatter - you can do this with a pin, or a few stitches with a needle and thread.

Another solution I can think of would be to add extra stiffness into your skirt - perhaps another channel with cord - perhaps a stiffer cord (I used a poly rope - bright yellow, completely not historical, but who is to know?), or even, as an act of desparation, a very long cable tie that slips into place across the front - I would say above your knees to keep the skirt flatter, and less likely to bell out of the split.

I would guess that starch might be more trouble than it is worth - but I'm interested to hear what others may say!

Good luck!

[gem]

Oddly enough, I actually stumbled across a blog post on this exact topic not too long ago:

http://frolickingfrocks.blogspot.com/2013/03/1830s-1840s-underpinnings.html

Scroll down and you'll see the instructions.

I, too, have absolutely ZERO experience with this, but I'm working on a project where I need to add a little more crispness to a skirt, so I'm trying to learn what I can. Unfortunately, most of the starch + sewing discussions I've seen are about making the fabric behave while you sew it--after which you promptly wash the starch out before wearing the garment. I've not found a great deal of information on starching THEN wearing, like when dry cleaners starch a man's dress shirt.

You might also take a look at CenturiesSewing's video ruff tutorial, where she talks a lot about starch: http://www.renaissancefestival.com/forums/index.php/topic,19133.0.html