Leggings
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| Caldwell legging...small pieces at bottom are what's left of stirrups |
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| Caldwell leather leggings...little cut out on bottom lets leggings tuck into mocs |
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| Foster leggings 1790's buttons may work like hook and eyes to keep them tight |
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| New Brunswick leggings...same little tab cut out on bottom |
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| 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)
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| Pin & sew stirrup on inside fold of legging |
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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
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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!
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| 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)
http://shirttailmess.blogspot.com/2017/08/to-ape-manner-of-savages-or-if-james.html
A lot of legging stuff
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| Garter at the ankle to keep legging closed and snug |
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| Section left unsewn, could be closed with hook and eyes but I simply use a garter to keep it shut |
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| stirrup passing under foot. keeps legging inside moc/shoe and brush out |
A lot of legging stuff
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