My girl Emalie has been a bit envious of her cousin Dottie and all of Dottie’s new clothes. So I made her a new dress, and decided to make her a corded petticoat based on an actual child’s corded petticoat my daughter wore when very young. Corded petticoats were handy and didn’t take the place of a cage crinoline. Children could wear them because there were more forgiving, withstood wear and tear, and they could be laundered more easily.

Anyway, if you would like your dolly to have a corded petticoat, here are some simple instructions. Keep in mind that Emalie is about 10” tall and her waist is 6” around. You may need to customize measurements for your doll.

Supplies

Medium weight white cotton fabric – 22” x 10.5”

Waistband – 1” x 6.5”

White crochet cotton (I think it’s called Sugar & Cream, I’ve lost the wrapper)

Needle & thread

Start by cutting your skirt and waistband. Set the waistband aside. Next cut 5 22” lengths of crochet cotton.

Lay the skirt fabric flat and measure 2” in from one long edge. Fold the fabric so the other long edge stops at that point. The doubled portion is where the cording will be placed and the single layer will be gathered to the waistband. The longer side of the fold is the outside, the shorter side will be on the inside of the petticoat.

Beginning in the fold, place one of the lengths of crochet cotton all the way into the fold. Stitch through both fabric layers very close to the cord.

Create your next channel by stitching 1/2” from the first stitch line. Then place your cord, and stitch again through both layers, encasing the cord. Repeat this process with the next three cords until you have 5 cords.

Fold under the raw edge of the shorter side of the skirt fabric – the inside piece. You will fold this edge so that the raw edge is enclosed. Stitch with a small running stitch.

I chose to make the back seam a French seam so the edges would be clean. To do this, trim all ends off the cords and tidy up the edges. Match the edges wrong sides together, making sure the cords line up. Stitch, leaving about 2” for the opening.

Turn the fabric right sides together and stitch close to the raw edges inside of the seam. Once completed all the raw edges will be encased in the seam. Finish the back opening in the way you prefer. In this case I whipped it.

Run a gathering stitch along the top edge, then place the waistband. Close with hook & thread bar.

I forgot to take pictures of some of the steps so I hope this is clear enough to proceed! If you have a better way to do one of the steps, please do what makes sense to you. ❤️