You need a petticoat (or 2 or 3)! Here's my most recent vintage creation, a petticoat from Vogue, Special Design, #4010 which includes a petticoat:
Here's what a petticoat can do for you:
My vintage Advance dress without petticoat:
Now, with petticoat:
I made the petticoat a little differently from the pattern instructions. I've used china silk underlined with silk organza for the yoke - no scratchy net, thank you! I've also faced the hem closest to the skin and the center back seam with satin ribbon for wearing comfort. The pattern indicates that two bottom ruffles should be cut out, layered together and sew on as one. I tried that and didn't like the result, so I took them apart, made one ginormous ruffle out of the pieces and attached that! The result was exactly what I was looking for!
For more details on construction and interesting comments from those who actually wore petticoats in the 50's and 60's check out my blog! Scroll down for the posts from the beginning of the week for so you don't miss all the petticoat posts.