Chaotically Starching My Victorian Petticoats
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- čas přidán 5. 09. 2024
- In the mid-1800's, they liked big, puffy skirts. But how does one get big puffy skirts before the invention of the hoopskirt? You wear super heavily starched petticoats of course!
In this video, I will take you through the steps I used to starch four of my petticoats at once -- a corded petticoat, a multi-tiered ruffled petticoat, a single ruffled petticoat, and a ruffled bustle petticoat.
Once you've starched your petticoats, they will literally stand up on end (hence, the pettighosts). And when you have finished, you will have lovely, crisp petticoats, and wonderfully puffy skirts.
Check out the rest of my 1830's project at this playlist: • Plaid 1830's Dress
Materials needed for four petticoats
Powdered corn starch (I used 16 oz)
Water (16 cups boiling, plus additional hot water)
A large pot
An even larger pot or basin/tub of some sort
Petticoats
Clothesline or hanging place of some sort
An iron with steam capabilities
This is the tutorial I used to start out with: thedreamstress...
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If I may, I have a little trick that makes this a lot easier; instead of mixing in the cornstarch into the cold water and getting it to the boil, you measure the entire amount of water needed into your pot. Then you take out some of the water into a bowl of some sort, put the lid on your pot and get the water to the boil. In the bowl, where you have part of the cold water, you mix in the corn starch, and pour that mixture into the boiling water whilst stirring it. It will go off the boil, but since the amount of cold water and cornstarch you added is relatively small, it comes to the boil again quite quickly. So, no ages of stirring and it is much quicker since you can get the water to the boil with the lid on. I hope this helps.
I normally have a pot heated and then just use the kettle for the water.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing this!
I think that was the idea behind the recipe on the dreamstress page, and by multiplying it by four, it wound up having way too much water! I'll definitely try boiling less next time.
Yes,that is very similar to how to make gravy with cornstarch.
@@LadyRebeccaFashions Also, don't be afraid to use a measuring cup of water in the microwave while you've got the kettle boiling and stuff in the pot heating up. Using hot tap water for everything but the initial corn starch mix would work too.
Chaotic historybounding is honestly the mood of the decade.
Poor Lion was probably thinking......" We have guests I have to say Hello to them"
I was afraid Lion was going to tinkle on them as they stood ☔🐕.Glad that did not happen.
Nothing is more satisfying than the CRUNCH of starched petticoats! And they truly do wonderful things for the silhouette!
I will admit that I'm not likely to use this for petticoats...but I might use it for Halloween decos and make ghosties that will stand alone without a frame. That looks like so much fun!
Be careful storing your starched petticoats for an extended period. Silverfish LOVE cornstarch and then continue on to fabric!! I loved your video and have starched, mostly table linens for more than 50 years. You got the method and production spot on. Don't you feel sorry for the Victorian laundry maids from the past? Best wishes and congrats on such informative content.
Good to know! I don't know if we really get silverfish here, but how do you recommend storing them? And yeah, a laundry maid would have had just the worst job.
@@LadyRebeccaFashions ,...silverfish don't like the scents of citrus, cinnamon or lavender. Get your hands on some quality essential oils, put a very few drops on a cotton ball or look up a DIY Ess. Oil Sachet and you could deter Silverfish as well as all other types of pests. ...plus, keep your garments smelling fresh. Plus, such sachets would be HA, too.
@Lady Rebecca Fashions, the Victoria's used a pomander to protect from moths etc....maybe you could make one
Oh good - I have some lavender essential oil, so I'll use that.
@@LadyRebeccaFashions Or if you have a cyder chest or hanging cyder chest, then no bugs at all.
This brings back memories of my mother starching our clothes before the widespread availability of Spray starches and fabric conditioners. She does this to all our 'Sunday's Best' and School uniforms. She thought me to starch and iron clothes when I was a kid, and there is such a soothing feeling as your iron goes through the crisp-crackly starched clothes.
Starch + water = ooblec, a non newtonian fluid! I only bring half the water to boil, then add the rest of the water after the starch is done boiling. Takes too long otherwise!
Non-newtonian liquids for the win! XD
I cackled when I saw your petticoats standing alone.
Just imagine Laundress used to be one of few professions women could have in Victorian times. And they got paid very little for it. I'm assuming that starching huge petticoats was part of the job. It must have been so back breaking having to do that everyday.
I just laughed out loud at the sight of the standing petticoats :)))
My mom used to starch my sister’s nurse uniforms but she bought big jugs of liquid starch and just added it the the final rinse.
WOW! I can't even imagine how heavy that big one was! You are lucky it didn't pull down the shower rod! They all looked so nice when they were dry. Many years ago, my Mother used to use argo starch for my Dad's dress shirts. She would soak them and then hang them up to dry, then iron them. They always looked so nice afterwards. This was fun to watch for me, but I imagine it wasn't to much fun for you. Thank goodness it's done for a while!
Nikki Leem has a good video too. This project is on my list after my move.
I'm so glad that you've covered this in a video :D
I had to laugh at the solid cornstarch mix! HI! To your Mom!!
A whisk is my go to when making anything from pudding to gravy, no matter the thickening agent. Rule 1: never step away from the stove or stop stirring until the the appropriate texture is achieved, and the pan off the heat. My grandmother made her living as a cook, and she taught me. Now i am a greatgranny, and passing my Gramma Murphy’s wisdom on to you.
Petti-ghosts are so magical.
on another fun tip, mixing the cornstarch creamy thing with things like cocoa powder or sugar makes a delicious pudding
An alternative to startching I have used as an experiment for making tiered petticoats is using a medium weight muslin with super stiff sew-on interfacing on every frill and the frills are hemmed with thick horsehair braid. The base layer isn't stiffened with interfacing but is stiffened with rows and rows of horsehair braid to make it stiff but pleatable and it works well but I've yet to try and wash it since it's really huge.
When I do curtains, i pour it into the rinse cycle of a topload washer, let it agitate and spin out. Iron straight from the washer and those curtains hold their shape for a long time. Easier than a sink and ensures everything is thoroughly saturated
When I was a kid we used a old GE electric ringer washing machine to do tie dye . I also remember at the laundrymat they had a hand crank rubber roller ringer attached to their sink. I liked to play with it when there. My mom aways said "GET AWAY FROM THAT! That's not a toy. " I wonder it they still make new hand crank ringers ? I just may go and look on the interwebs . Just for fun.😁 I suppose one can make one using a rolling pins.
I'll be darned I saw a laundry ringer on Amazon . There seem to have every thing.
I "starch" (maybe more accurate term would be stiffen?) my crochet doilies that have 3D swans or other motifs with sugar water. Equal measure of water and sugar(more sugar added, the more stiff end result), heat the mixture to boil (so the sugar dissolves), dump the dry doily in and then wring it out and stretch it on styrofoam etc with pins. if the sugary water isn't wrung out of the doily properly, it will get a light sugary dust (little like the tiger flakes :P). I don't know if one could starch doilies.. maybe i should try that next time :)
Are bugs not attracted to the sugar water?
@@LadyRebeccaFashions Not really. At least I have never noticed flies or other bugs on my white doilies (one of my nephew I have caught sucking on a swan though :P). Might be that we don't generally have that many bugs indoors, idk.
Very good timing - my pack of Kershaw's laundry starch arrived last week and I've been staring at it every time I walk into the utility room! I only have the one to starch (1890s trained) but another one on the sewing list for a recent completed 1911 skirt. Now there's good reason for more starchy procrastination! 😂🧵
Pettighosts. Lol that was great. Thanks for sharing this! Quite helpful.
The petticoats be standing
Hanging out in the sun works the best
That gets difficult in the Pacific NW!
we use milk frothers and immersion blenders in the dye world...for the tough to mix thickeners...thanks for showing us the "rookie" mistake.
At the beginning, you made oobleck! from Dr. Seuss!!
This is good info for me since I will be needing to starch some petticoats soon.
I don't know if this fits here but anyway. Growing up, one of my best friend's mothers was a true Southern belle from the 1950's. She wore the really poofy petticoats a lot. Instead of starch, she used sugar water to stiffen and "poof" her petticoats.
I don't know if this is a "Southern" thing or a "her family tradition" thing, but she did it for her daughter's wedding petticoats and they did "poof."
But, just thought I'd mention.
I can’t tell you how charming and cheering I found this. Years ago when I was a little bit I used to help my ma with the washing , beware the mangle, and the starch had a blue tinge. Was this a UK thing? The ghosts were beautifully starched!
No my mom used to buy big jugs of liquid starch and it was definitely blue. I don’t know if it still exists but we definitely had it in the States.
I just checked and it does still exist. My brothers used to add it to the final rinse for their jeans too. This was in the 70s.
Bluing used to be very popular for keeping whites brighter.
I remember, too. I used to "help" by sprinkling water on the dry clothes. The sprinkler was a bottle with a screw-on metal lid that my mom punched holes into with a nail. She laid the clean dry clothes out flat on a table with a Formica top, we sprinkled them uniformly, and then she rolled them up tightly and put them into a large plastic bag, or several smaller ones. If she couldn't "do them up" at once, the bag(s) stayed in the refrigerator until she could. This was in the late 50s and early 60s.
We also use it in the Philippines back then! We call it tinà (pronounced as Tina with a glottal stop on the a) which means dye and is separate from the gawgaw(starch). It comes in liquid and powdered form. We use it on white garments to make them appear more white. This tinà, along with the cooked starch (gawgaw) makes our whites looking new and fresh.
Thank you for this! I have always wondered how to do this.
If you have an open ceiling in your laundry area you can make a sturdy hanging line with wood. I took some left over 2” X 12” cut three pieces and a hole in one end to hold the doling. My room is small so I put the doling through the wood first then screwed the wood to the joists. One part hangs over my sink so dripping things go there. It’s great it never bows or moves no matter how much weight I put on it!! Anyway it’s an option when hanging outside isn’t.
That's the same recipe I have used these last few years and I love it! Petticoats turn out just the right amount of starchiness every time!
That is so cool when they can stand up on their own
Hi this made my day, feeling happier now! That was so funny seeing them standing up on their own.
Thank you.
thank you for showing this as i have wanted to know for years. i live in Australia and the only starch i have heard of is Robin starch the instructions are poor so i have had guess quantities. i will now look up the site you gave us and see is i have the same results.
WOW Who knew? Pretty cool trick, so that's how it was done. Thanks so much for showing us.
Thank you so much for this video. Would you believe I had no idea how to starch petticoats, I know, pretty bad eh. Thank you again. So cute your mum rining.
Starched petticoats on their own make me think of cute lil ghosts 😂
I can't believe she doesn't have a real ironing board! We used to put my dad's dress shirts in a zippered plastic bag and sprinkle them with water the night before to dampen them and relax the wrinkles. Then you iron them the next morning.
My ironing table is so much more useful than a flimsy narrow ironing board! It's just not great if something needs to go around it.
You might get a salad spinner for spinning out starch water, one just for that purpose
I am so jealous of your collection
Get you an ironing board girl! Lol
I don't have room for one, and generally, my ironing table is so much easier/better!
@@LadyRebeccaFashions I certainly understand.🧡
Thank you for sharing this information and experimentation. I've saved this for when I'll need it.
I love this - seems so easy. Im trying this for my quilting fabric!
You need hanger loops on the inner waistband.
Now that you've mastered this technique, you can make ermine frosting, easy-peasy.
Thank you again for a great video. Appreciate you.
This was interesting! I don't have any petticoats to starch! I need to make one. Or 3...
Petighosts 😂
Now that's a great decoration for Halloween; a garden full of pettighosts :D Fascinating watch for me, having never starched anything in my life!
This was a lot of fun. Does modern spray-starch work for this type of starching at all?
Not at all. Spray starch is pretty much only good for men's shirt collars and cuffs.
Good to know regular corn starch works! I probably wont try starching 4 at once, but I am glad to know it can be done! I firmly believe in hanging things from the shower rod and putting a fan on them. Lion had some questions about the new people in the living room! XD
Super helpful thoughts a week post-filming: would having an electric kettle with freshly boiled water on hand by the wash sink have helped? Or maybe using 2-4 pots of starch to keep it more proportioned/warmer longer? Would making chicken-wire forms be helpful for drying?
You know, I hadn't thought of using the kettle, but that might have been quite helpful! And yeah, I think chicken wire forms might have been an idea too, though they'd have to still allow the petticoats to stay off the ground.
@@LadyRebeccaFashions Yeah, I was thinking a standing cone type shape. Cause then you can stick a fan inside it and get good airflow. Also having it be taller than the skirt would keep it off the floor. Might be worth playing around with someday.
I remember my grandma starching all he slips and dresses for the week on Saturday. The slips would stand up around the house. Every one had to be ironed She used a commercial starch. I loved the smell of laundry day.
What fun ghosts👻 thank you for teaching me something new💜 I wonder how this works on lace collars... I'm going to try it😊
I would say you'd probably want to use a mixture with a lower percentage of starch, but it should still work well!
@@LadyRebeccaFashions thanks for the tip😊
Gotcha, don't starch your clothes, or you get ghosts in your house
this is great!
I’ve never used corn starch but I have starched my cotton lace with potato starch. The potato starch is transparent so it might be better for coloured garments. I bet ironing all those ruffles wasn’t easy! I wonder whether it was really necessary to keep the starch hot? It still maintains the goo-like state when cool.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this but the blog you linked to is from New Zealand, and NZ and Australia use different cup measurements compared to America. NZ and Australia use 250ml cup measurements, so this may have affected the ratio of your starch to water. Plus the cup measurements of starch the blog used may not have been the same as the weight of starch you used. Just an FYI to explain why your starch mixture was much thicker than you were used to.
Wait, seriously? As if metric vs imperial wasn't bad enough, a cup also can mean two totally different things?! 😳
@@LadyRebeccaFashions Yep, it's really annoying, especially when baking, because you need to know otherwise the ratios of everything is out of whack. Cause, seriously, what measurement is a stick of butter? We don't have that here. And another thing, Aust & NZ use a 20ml tablespoon (5ml teaspoon, that at least is the same everywhere), which affects things even more.
Holy crap WHAAT?! I live in Canada and our cup is also 250mL! This is suuuper good to know and explains why plenty of my baking attempts haven't gone well. Thank you so much for this information!!
I would love a pattern for that blouse!
Yes! That would be great. It looks beautiful and is so flattering.
I immediately did some rewinding just to look at that wonderful blouse. And you use it to work in it...ghasp.
I wish I could give you one, but the blouse was from Target last year!
That’s easy find a pattern that has a similar style/look and a similar fabric. Then watch Bernadette’s lace insertion video! I think she also has a link to where she bought her lace.
Thanks for all your responses!
I think the blouse looks a good deal like the Folkwear Gibson Girl bodice pattern.
Never needed to starch anything in my life, but wow do those skirts look like pretty ghosts all starched up. :}
I wonder it they had a frame that they would put the starched petticoat on, kind of like a dress form to dry them ?
I think hanging them out on a line was more common. Because otherwise, you'd have to store the frames in between.
Could you of put them in the washer just on a spin cycle at the end to get out the excess water? I hope you can get a bigger place to do you wonderful dresses, and that would fit a full size ironing board. Please show some more real time sewing action. I love the dresses, but would learn more watching the technique. Loved watching you do the cording (with yarn, who would of thought) and the pleating.
I'm actually not sure my washer does just spin cycle, but also, I've heard that the starchy water is bad for your machine.
Nooooo! Just think of what will happen to the pipes!
I would run a cycle afterward to rinse everything away.
@@debbiel7736 probably not. Notice how hard it set that she couldn't stir it. It would congeal in bends and other stuff would stick to it eventually clogging up the whole system.
@@debbiel7736 I should add that in the last few year we spent about $10k in redoing our plumbing all through the house and out to the sidewalk. The water now runs out of the taps and into the sewers without problems and yearly routering of the out flow
Whenever I make petticoats I cheat and use tulle petticoats because no o es going to see them, and if they are I can just whip up a really quick cotton one to go over it for that scene
This is a SUPER helpful video! Thank you so much! Do you have any estimate for how soon you will need to do this again? Like how quickly does the starch come out without washing it? Thank you again, loved the video as always :)
I've found that I only need to re-starch after washing. And thanks! I'm glad it was helpful!
Hahaha!! So funny!!😂
OMG I want this now!
For next time Nikkie LeAm has a video on starching her petticoats.
Pettighosts! 🤣🤣🤣
Was starching petticoats common throughout the 1800s? I've only really heard people talk about in relation to the 1830s.
Currently sewing two 1890s petticoats and wondering if I should plan to do this as well.
I was wondering the same thing!
I made a 1860s petticoat... so I dont know weather or not to starch it?
I don't know that I've heard of many costumers doing it for the 1890s, but I have a feeling the ladies then did it. Mostly, I think it's an 1830s-1860s thing for costumers, but then again, in the tutorial I used, she was starching a 1910s petticoat!
Just curious as to why you used corn starch rather than Purex Sta-flo laundry starch, which you can get at Walmart?
I've never actually used laundry starch - only ever corn starch. So it didn't even cross my mind!
Hi, I'm allergic to starch so I used sugar water to starch my petticoa vs
We used to starch my Dad's suit shirts, but it was never like this. Mom would mix up some starch and hot water in a Mason jar, and shake it a lot to get the lumps out. Then put it into a laundry sprinkler bottle, and shake it over still-damp washed shirts. Then iron. Imagine the housemaids or slaves having to use heavy non-electric irons heated on a stove to do the ironing for a house-full of women back in the day. What awful drudgery, just so women could dress up and look all poofy.
First, get an ironing board. Clothes made with natural fibers need to be ironed. Press them when slightly damp. You will get better poof from the peticotes and a better line lay with your natural fabric costumes.
My ironing table works great for pretty much everything, so I don't need an additional ironing board taking up space.
How do you store starched petticoats?
I hang mine in garment bags, but I've just been given the advice to put a sachet with some essential oils like lavender in there, since silverfish are apparently attracted to starch.
What type of cording do you have in your corded petticoat Rebecca? I've been wanting to make one but all the cord I can find seems a bit thick
I think I did this one with cotton yarn, but I'm not 100% sure. (I made this in 2014 I think, so it's been a while). For bodice cording, I use thicker yarn from joann's.
My question is, how do you store these edifices once they've been starched??! Yikes!
I just hang mine in garment bags, but I've been told I should put a little sachet with some lavender essential oil in the bags, to keep bugs away from the starch.
@@LadyRebeccaFashions Do they require an entire closet of their own?! Lol but no it's good to know garment bags work. The essential oil idea is clever too. My mom walked in while I was watching the video, asked what was happening, and when I explained she said "Well no wonder mice used to eat people's clothing! It was coated in food!"
@@StitchAndNine I built a walk in closet in my garage, but I can still get multiple petticoats into one garment bag.
Thank you!!! I was kind of intimidated by starching, but it looks definitely do-able!
Can you use modern starch?
How do you care for/store them after they’re starched?
Do you mean liquid starch? I believe that will work, too, though I'm not sure if it would be quite as starchy. Spray starch will not work.
And I hang mine in garment bags in the closet. Once you wash them again, the starch will wind up coming out.
Very floof