The Buffalo Trace 1765: Leggings...The basics

Leggings

Caldwell legging...small pieces at bottom are what's left of stirrups

Caldwell leather leggings...little cut out on bottom lets leggings tuck into mocs

Foster leggings 1790's buttons may work like hook and eyes to keep them tight

New Brunswick leggings...same little tab cut out on bottom

Messiter legging and "thing" double tie at top for attaching to belt. tab at ankle. and slit for passing garter thru

Ok so to dovetail in with a post by the Shirt tail mess guys I’ll cover some more info about leggings and legging construction. Thanx to those guys I now have to transcribe less period quotes on leggings. The legging was a native item of clothing that was quickly adopted by Europeans for wear in the American backcountry. The Legging is simply a tube of cloth/leather that was sewn to the shape of the wearers leg leaving a “flap” of excess material to the outside.

By the 1760’s leggings are often premade items used in the trade/gifts etc. So when a native/hunter purchased a pair of leggings from one of the trading houses in Pittsburgh they were getting a garment that was almost ready to wear. For example the Messitier leggings has evidence that a “merchant”stitch line was present and removed by the person who wore the leggings.

Ok so lets get on to making the leggings. I’ve included a chart of basic shapes of some of the extant period leggings to give people an idea of the basic shapes leggings came in. When you compare these to period images of folks wearing leggings you can see a high degree of standardization in the shape. This can also help folks shape their leggings as they pattern them out.

The pattern I’m going off of is based on the Cloth leggings owned by Sir John Caldwell (1770’s great lakes) what you’ll need:

1 yard Wool material (broadcloth,duffels etc)

Scissors, linen thread, pins (safety pins work best TRUST ME ON THIS) chalk, measuring tape and ruler. You may also want to use a large sheet of paper to make a pattern to make more leggings later.

1. Measure your thigh a hands width (3-4 inches) above your knee. This will be measurement A.

2. Measure from the spot you tookthe “A” measurement to the ankle bone. This will be measurement “B”

3. Measure the circumference at your ankle at the ankle bone this becomes Measurement “C”

Now lay out your meaurments of your paper/cloth like this:

By placing “B” in the center of your “A” and “B” masurment you’ll have a basic outline of the top and bottom of the leggings.

4. Now you will want to add “4 fingers” (3-4 inches) to both sides of your “A” and “C” measurments (this is what makes the flaps) Now draw a line to connect the ends of your “A” and “C” with straight lines and you have the outiline of your leggings.

**NOTE*** if you have larger legs you may need to add more then 4 fingers to give you wide flaps.

Now fold your legging blank in Half (along line “B”) and Iron.. Now pin your leggings together from top to bottom four fingers in from the outside of the flap. This will act as a temporary “merchant stitch”.

Slide your leg into the legging tube (this is why I recommend safety pins) and pin the legging as close your leg as you can from top to bottom. It’s important that the legging be tight. As in skinnier then skinny jeans tight. If your going to wear breeches or thick stockings with the leggings I recommend wearing them while you fit the legging.

A number of period descriptions comment on how tight the leggings are and this is also shown in the period artwork. Tight leggings also stay up better when wearing them. And they will loosen over a short period of time to a comfortable level.

Remove the legging and From the top of this line of pins do a tight running stitch following this line of pins. I put the legging back on evey few inches of stitching to make sure they still fit properly. Stop the line about 6 inches from the bottom of the legging (or stop at the base of your calf muscle) if you don’t the leggings get 100% harder to remove.

On the Caldwell leggings this is the point the leggings are closed by hooks and eyes for the next few inches. (see image) Hooks and eyes show up on a number of native sites The Foster leggings (great lakes 1790’s) have buttons on this area that may help closure. I simply prefer to do nothing to this section and tie it shut with a “garter at the ankle” as seen in accounts or the flaps of my moccasins.

A few other details on the Caldwell leggings. They have a “stirrup” of wool at the bottom of the legging. This helps keep the legging inside the moccasin when wearing them (a detail you can clearly see in a number of period images). The strap for the legging is sewn behind the rear flap . The Messiter Legging has a pair of wool ties for straps and there are images showing the strap in a “Y” shape (part of the Y sewn in front and behind the flaps)

Pin & sew stirrup on inside fold of legging

pin and sew other side of stirrup on the front flap next to your foot

Per Caldwell example pin/sew strap behind rear flap on legging

"Timeline guy" image you can see the "Y" strap on legging. also note legging so tight as to hold a knife sheath and tucked into moc flaps

possible "buttons" on the bottom of legging like foster example

With this basic pattern you can tweek it to the shape of any f the legging outlines I have shown. Also please for the love of god keep the flaps on your leggings. The flaps fold to the front (per the knox description) acts as 3 layers of material between you and the thorns/jaggers/briars etc. Please think past the 90’s fab of flapless and back into the 1760’s reality of flaps. Do it for the Children!

Legging sewn up and ready to wear Scrap material can be used as garter at knee and ankle

I’ll post more on decorations (ribbon work/beads etc) later common colors listed in the Fort Pitt ledgers are Blue, Green, WHITE, purple, red and did I mention white? If you purchase 1 ½ yards of wool cloth this should cover both a pair of leggings and breechclout. If you cut carefully 3 yards of cloth can give you a breechcloth, leggings and matchcoat. So for like $75 you can knock out a majority of asimple backcontry/native kit (even if you use Kochan wool you can have an inexpensive kit)