PETTICOAT TAILS

In the Georgian era, our ladies of the day, would have worn several petticoats especially in winter. As most of the world of our members are in snow at present, the idea of creating a layered flip book with frilled accents came to mind.

This idea of The Paper Outpost lady, on Youtube, appealed to my sense of not wasting any scrap of paper. In this video she uses old book pages. For our swap though, I would like you to also use YOUR OLD ENVELOPES received from older swaps if you have any handy. Most of us can’t bear to throw out the pretty envies we have received and stuff them in our journals just because they are so pretty. But they are also gathering dust or filling our shelves or drawers. Choose either the front addressed side or the reverse of envelope, cut down the seams to separate making 2 sheets = 4 possible surfaces to use. Then use as required. If the addressed front is being used, please blank out the address & name with gesso or some toning acrylic paint, or place an image over it. We want these flip books to have a Regency Georgian feel.
We also generally have a modicum of paper doilies floating about the kitchen (or even cup cake papers see the tartan check on the image). I wanted to make this swap as feminine and pretty as I could manage with what I had at home. So the thought came to me, why not dress up our papers, book pages/envelopes as though they were ladies paper petticoats – with the frills.

Petticoat frill - Basic how to: Take a separated envie and choose a suitable doily you will only need to use the cutwork edges to enhance like lace along the narrow bottom of your envelope, glue stick to adhere. No doilies at home? Some quick folds then concertina folding of a narrow length of pretty colour paper, then cut triangles and notches, will have same effect.
IF you are lucky to own serrated scissors like Fiscars paper scissors, you might use them to cut pretty petticoat effects to the base &/or sides, of your pretty papers. I do hope you will enjoy this exercise.

Use some pretty tape, cotton or narrow ribbon through the two holes at top. I have envisaged a DL long sized envelope to send in for your measurements. So your flip book = roughly 3½ inches X 8 inches long.

The image shown is the one I made and you might recognize your own envelope hiding amongst the throng. I used 4 in this sample along with stray bits of other papers.

I hope you will like to join in making your partner a personal petticoat tail confection. And it is great way to keep a tidy use of any extra envelopes you may have in future, for your own additions to your journal.

For a general guideline on how to make the basic paper tip in, exercise, here is the link to start you off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUXwlneddmo

Any queries do write below or send a pm message

Jane, Anna, Nickalli,