The bodice pattern is a pair-of-bodies from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion. After I scaled it up, it wasn't too difficult to alter it to fit. I lined it with the pumpkin cotton, and interlined it with sage green duck cloth that I had left over from my corset (don't gag on the colors, you can't see the interlining anyway). The front is closed with five metal clasps because, well, I though they looked cool and they were quicker to put on then hand-bound eyelets or hooks and eyes. Even with cable ties at the edges, the bodice still gapped, so I whipstitched a piece of the green in as a placket. It kind of makes it look like you are wearing a kirtle instead of just a petticoat.
The skirt is sewn to the bodice, and has an eight inch opening down the front where the bodice is open. I intended for the skirt to be kept up in the front, so I wanted gores, but I also wanted the pleats in the back. So, I used two gored panels in front, and three rectangular back panels the width of the blue fabric. Diagram
I cut the pumpkin and the blue at the same time, making the peices exactly the same. Then, I sewed the lining and the outside skirts individually and attached them along the hem right sides together. When I turned it right side out I had my finished skirt ready to attach to the bodice. I pleated the back panels with rolled pleats. I liked the way the back had some bounce to it. but the front was nice and smooth.
The underskirt is just a quickie drawstring of two sixty inch panels. I had to do a little piecing to get it to work with the length, which only made trouble because I had to do math at two in the morning.
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