Casgliadau Arlein

Petticoat worn by Mary Harry of Pontyberem on cruises and travels abroad, 1920s-30s.

Made from cream cotton sateen; sleeveless, with lace frill at hem and centre back slit with six metal hooks which fasten onto small holes on the opposite side; the top most hook fastens onto a stitched loop. The small holes have been finished with hand-sewn stitches.

Main body of petticoat is made from two pieces, front and back, with seams at shoulders and sides and with two triangular inserts at each lower side seam. These serve to extend the fabric as the full width of the woven fabric wasn't wide enough. The selvages can be seen in the seam allowances indicating that the full width of the fabric is 75cm.

There are two vertical darts on either side of the back which take the form of stitched pleats: the ends of the darts are unstitched and the pleats are left to splay open. On the front, there is a central dart (which extends all the way to the neck) and a shorter dart on either side: here, the excess fabric has been trimmed away with a pinked edges.

The frill is made of a 6.5cm wide strip of bias-cut sateen which is gathered unevenly along the top and has a 3.5cm wide strip of bobbin lace machine stitched along its lower edge.