A Guide to Drafting 19th Century Trousers

Are you tired of trousers that don’t fit you properly? Patterns typically are made to fit a wide range of people, so there will always be something not-quite-right about them, unless you do extensive fittings. The solution is to draft your own custom patterns, using five or more measurements.

Cutting a Silk Waistcoat

Today I worked on cutting out a silk waistcoat, drafted from Devere, 1866. I obtained the silk brocade from Needle and Thread in Pennsylvania a few years ago, and plan to wear this with my linen frock coat for summer. To start off, I drafted the proportionate waistcoat pattern with my personal measurements.

Coat Measurements

Before the first stitch is made, and before the drafting pencil ever touches the paper, measurements must be taken. When measuring, the goal is to obtain as much information about the client’s figure as possible. Since most of my work involves Devere’s Handbook of Practical Cutting, 1866, I’m using his methods of measuring.

Devere’s book is very descriptive in the measurements taken, but in the 1866 version, is lacking in illustrations. It took me a good while to figure out exactly what each measurement involved, and where it was supposed to be taken. Then, a couple of months ago, I came across some illustrations from Journal des Tailleurs, a French tailoring magazine published by Devere in 1858. It contained some beautiful illustrations of how the measurements were to be taken, but of course, had no accompanying text. So what I’ve done is take the text from Devere’s 1866 manual, and combine it with the images from 1858, as well as some diagrams from his 1856 edition. Hopefully that will make it easier for those of you trying to learn how to draft from his book.

Devere’s Graduated Rulers

I’ve been drafting patterns using a copy of Louis Devere’s The Handbook of Practical Cutting on the Centre Point System (1866) for almost two years now. Of the available drafting manuals from the Civil War period, this seems to be the most complete and easiest to learn.