Boy's Silk Petticoat, Part 3 of 6

Petticoats were worn by young boys and toddlers who had not been breached, and could be shortened after the breeching ceremony, as seen here in Bronzino’s 1545 portrait of young Giovanni de Medici. The Petticoat is the toddler version of a man’s jerkin or doublet. It can be the outermost garment or a coat can be worn over it. Most petticoats before 1570 were cut in one piece from neck to hem and belted at the waist, after 1570 more have a waist seam, but that is a generalization not a rule. Sleeves could be sewn in or tied on. Horizontal stripes outnumber vertical stripes for both men and boys from 1530-1580. There are a few examples of appliqued ribbon creating the horizontal lines in combination with slashes or decorative cuts in the silk. 1-3 buttons at the cuff was average; and self-fabric or threadwork buttons were most common, though metal was used occasionally. Many had buttons down the front, though some closed with hooks & eyes. Cuffs could be plain or decorated with slashes, tabs, vents or lace. The majority of boy’s petticoats button from neck to hem, and could be left open from the waist down if the boy had another garment underneath. The petticoat served a practical purpose for young boys. They made dressing and undressing easy and toilet training was much simpler than it would have been in the contemporary men’s garments. Just imagine a preschooler stuck in overalls and a onesie and you can guess the inevitable result. Petticoats were the practical answer to that most basic problem.
I altered the pattern for a man’s doublet/ jerkin with a skirt on pg. 61 in The Tudor Tailor and followed the basic instructions in Tudor Tailor and Tudor Child.
The petticoat is made from white silk with red stripes, lined with linen and interlined with cotton twill.
I chose plain cuffs as I want to be able to put lace cuffs on if he wears it with a different shirt.
This garment is partially machine stitched and all hand finished. I flat lined and sewed the long seams on the machine with cotton thread, and hand finished anything that could be seen on the outside with linen and silk thread.
The skirt edges were folded over and whip stitched, then the lining pinned on and slip stitched, eliminating the need for topstitching.
The body and lining were hand sewn around the edges with a back stitch, turned and topstitched; if I were to do this again I would turn the edges under and slip stitch the entire garment. Sleeve cuffs were hand sewn and turned, no top stitching.

The skirt was cartridge pleated to the outside with whip stitches and then finished and set in place by stitching it to the lining with linen thread. Straight seams were backstitched.
I added braided trim to the front sleeve seam. This should have been done before the sleeve was stitched in to the armhole, but it was a last-minute decision because the stripes didn’t line up perfectly.
Buttonholes were worked with linen thread, Gunterman’s red silk thread and red cotton embroidery floss for cording.





The buttonholes on this doublet from the 1580’s, owned by the Met, are worked in a similar technique. (I cannot find this link for the bibliography, my apologies)
The buttons are reproduction pewter; the originals are brass though pewter was available. There ought to be twice as many, but I used everything I had on hand. There is room to fill in the spaces at a later date. I had originally planned to make threadwork buttons for this but ran out of time.

The petticoat should have a small belt or silk satin sash to cover the waist seam, a simple wide ribbon will do. I do not know if the sashes were fixed at the back of the originals, but I highly recommend stitching things on that you don’t want lost, toddlers are famous for reducing objects to their component parts and leaving things scattered everywhere. I did not have time or appropriate materials to make this, so I have left it out entirely.