Fig Leaf Patterns 101 Gown c1771-1785, updated 2019
Updated 2017 with 8 new pages of 18th c focused sewing instructions and photographs.
The enclosed pattern is taken directly from the original garment and graded in two sets 8-28 and 18-28. Sizes are color coded and printed on 20 lb paper. Sewing instructions highlight the historical construction method, along with side bars for alternative construction. Many drawings and pictures accompany detailed instructions which are found in a spiral bound booklet.
Drafting this pattern for the staff of the Sumter County Museum for their use in interpreting dress accurately during Back Country Days in SC was the inspiration behind creating the Fig Leaf Pattern line. All patterns are taken from extant garments in either private or museum collections. How the original was cut and sewn is recorded in detail so that you can recreate the garment in period techniques. Included is how to update the gown from the 1770s to the new look of the 1790s, a sewing technique many women used.
All patterns are printed when ordered. This allows me to make updates to information and corrections as you the sewer find them. I encourage the dialogue between you and me as I am a one woman shop. I know a lot but I don't know everything about period clothing.
The original open robe gown was worn by Mrs. Elizabeth Allen Deas (1742-1802). Born in 1742 as the only child of William and Mary Keating Allen, Elizabeth grew up on a plantation in the greater Charleston, South Carolina area. She married John Deas in 1759. They had eleven children, ten boys and one girl. During the years from 1769 to 1771, the Deas family traveled to Europe and England. This dress may be of British origin. Elizabeth died in 1802 and is buried near Charleston, South Carolina.
The gown is hand sewn of lightweight ivory-striped lute string or figured silk. The bodice and sleeves are lined with linen. The bodice is closely fitted and was originally stiffened with two whalebone stays set at center back. A regular pattern of pin holes along the center front edges suggests that the dress originally was pinned or stitched closed. The separately cut skirt is set into the bodice with half inch box pleats. The sleeves are three-quarter length with a vertical dart at the back of the elbow and a horizontal dart on the front of the sleeve at the crook of the arm. The sleeves are finished at the elbow with box-pleated self-trims.