V351: How To Make the Simplest 1920s Slip

Yesterday I showed you some original 1920s slips, and now today it’s time to show you the results, as promised, of my own little project.

Here is my finished slip – the successful one:

Boring? Yes.  And yet I’m dang proud of this, primarily because my first attempt suffered from bad fabric choice (yep, I’m still making rookie mistakes):

The Horror! The Horror!

Ladies, make your 1920s slips out of very thin, drapey, soft, silky fabrics like silk charmeuse.  Do *not* make your slips out of bridal satin.  Ever.  No.  Bad.  You don’t want body…you want slinky drape.  You may be tempted to the modest opacity and slick surface of a satin, but resist!

Now, onto the pattern.  Luckily, 1920s slips are geometric.  There is little to no shaping, and though godets and gathered sides were common, you can make a slip from simple gored panels, like I’m going to show you right now.  You just need a little patience, perhaps some courage, and some light math skills.

*The front and back piece are the same, yippee!  Also, very important – you MUST add ease, especially to the hip.  You do not want the slip to stack up on your hips, but to hang gracefully down, unhindered.  Add at least 2″ of ease over your hip measurement.

*Make sure the strip for the top binding is the same length as your high bust + ease measurement. Larger ladies, you may need to join two strips together if you fabric is not very wide.

*At this stage, if you wish to add pintucks or lacey bits to the slip, go for it (pintucks before the top binding!).  Pintucks in particular are a good way to take up any excess in high bust.  Try your slip on and see if anything needs to be taken out.  Pintucks were used in both the front and back on original slips.  You will see I have 4 pintucks on the front of my finished slip.

Once again, this is just the way I constructed my slip.  It is neither right nor wrong, and if you have a preferred method of doing things, by all means, stitch in the way that is comfortable for you!

Also please note that, in general, 1920s slips are most flattering to boyish figures with small busts.  Many curvaceous women in the ’20s wore corsets, girdles, and bust-binding devices, to achieve the tubular silhouette.  If you try on your snazzy new slip and find it horribly unflattering, you may wish to bind your chest (an Ace bandage works), to flatten it.  Remember, too, that this is an undergarment, and is serving a purpose – be sure to try your whole ensemble on together before determining if you love or hate your new slip. 🙂