Dress accessories: petticoats

Depending on whether the horsehair braid hem method gives sufficient poof to the skirt portion of the dress, I may need to wear a petticoat of some kind. From a particularly fluffy one I tried on at Re/Dress a few weeks ago, I know that it should at least have more fluff around the hips, to look more like a bell, rather than a triangle.

Sock Dreams sells a few different styles ranging in price from $16-$35, and they have free shipping. Many of their styles even come in red. The annoying thing is that for many of these, the product photos are arty but not that helpful to getting a straight on view of the petticoat's shape.

BurdaStyle has a tutorial for making a simple three-tiered petticoat:

I'm pretty certain this is the tutorial used in the Petticoat Sewing Class offered by M Avery Designs (the same sewing studio right in Hoboken that I mentioned has open lab hours). The class goes for 2 hours and costs $25 on top of the materials (including 9.5 yard of tulle. 9.5 yards!).

I've been spending a good amount of time lately updating my Ravelry account (social networking/project management site for knitters/crocheters, basically) because I've been on this whole organizing/labeling kick, and this knitted bloomer pattern is in my queue:

Hmm, they look a little ridiculous in that photo. Well, they probably are rather ridiculous in real life too, but! I have loads of red Tahki Cotton Classic yarn sitting around anyway, and it seems like a relatively easy knit, and if you're like me and have round thighs that rub (and therefore chafe) when it's really hot like, like it was all last summer, bloomers/pettipants are a godsend. Srsly.