Get our pattern and make yourself some Fall-Front breeches.

Full-size paper patterns with complete instructions and historical notes for fall-front breeches circa 1770s-1790s based on extant examples. Fits waists 28"-50". All sizes included in one envelope. Embellishment suggestions included.

Suggested Fabrics:
wool, heavyweight silk
lightweight silk or linen for lining

Yardage Requirements:
outer material & interlining: 2 yds at least 60" wide
lining: 2 yds at least 60" wide

Notions:
thread
3 - 7/8" buttons for waistband
4 - 5/8" buttons for fall closure
10 - 5/8" buttons for leg closure
buttonhole floss

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Below is an excerpt from the historical notes you will receive as part of this pattern:

1770s-1790s Fall-Front Breeches

Breeches from the 18th century look very strange to the modern eye. They’re short; they’re baggy; they’re really not terribly attractive. They hide a good figure and exploit the flaws of a less-than-perfect one. So why did men in the 18th century wear such things?

The simple explanation is that breeches were not the focus of anyone’s attention in these decades. From the late 17th century, breeches were not really seen because of the length and volume of the skirts of men’s coats. Indeed it is sometimes difficult to see any evidence of the shape or even colour of a man’s breeches until cut-away coats came into fashion in the 1770s. So breeches were baggy because that made them functional. They didn’t have to look good.

In the early decades of the 18th century and lasting until the 1740s, even the bottoms of the breeches were obscured by the practice of wearing one’s stockings rolled up over the kneebands of the breeches. By mid-century, however, stockings began to be worn under the breeches and the kneebands sometimes acquired a buckle and functiones as a second garter to keep the stockings unwrinkled on the lower leg.

Unlike the breeches of the previous century, however, breeches in the 18th century were not gathered all around the waist into the waistband. The fronts were generally smooth and only the voluminous backsides gathered. In the 1730s slashes were added over the hip bones which allowde access to a front pocket. Side seam pockets still persisted in the design. Breeches of this period were adjustable through lacing at the center back of the waistband. This allowed a man of expanding girth to get a little more mileage out of his pants. Breeches were meant to be worn low on the hips so the proper adjustment of the center back lacing was essential.

In the late 1760s the fly opening was replaced by a fall. Waistcoats had shrunk to hip length by this time and coat skirts were beginning to narrow and a great deal of the lower body was being exposed for the first time. The fall front provided an attractive, clean line and would remain popular among non-fashionable men until the 1830s.

Breeches could match the colour of the coat with which they wore worn or contrast in fabric as well as colour. Breeches were worn in silk, wool, and linen, as well as leather for working men.

Denis Diderot’s Encyclopédie shows a pair of breeches drawn in 1762 sketched at right. You can see all the elements that are included in this pattern: the side pocket, the front fall, the center back lacing, the buttoned legs and applied kneebands. The rest of the illustration shows how to cut these breeches out of a single skin of leather. You will note that the illustration at right has no center front seam. It is also lacking inseams. The author calls the fall-front style “Bavarian” indicating that it had its origins in what is modernly Germany.

Another 18th century illustration from Diderot, shown at left, shows the fall in its down position. This reveals how the buttons were arranged underneath.

There appears to have been a small amount of variation in style in fall-front breeches. Some styles eliminated the side pockets and instead covered them with the fall. Some 18th century pattern books show how to cut the breeches without seams. Above are sketch of three pairs of breeches, all worn by ordinary men during their daily lives. The pair on the far left date to 1765-85 and are made from white linen/cotton dimity. They are strikingly similar to the breeches in this pattern. The middle pair date anywhere from 1785 through 1825 and are made from cotton velvet and lined with leather. The pair on the right are made from tan Chinese “nankeen” cotton and date from 1785-1815. As we can see, the two pairs middle and right have broader falls and appear not to have separate pockets underneath them.

A pair of breeches from the 1760s pair of a three-piece suit in the Collection of Colonial Williamsburg (shown front and back at right) demonstrate how little difference there is between the breeches of common men and those of the wealthy. Only the fabrics are different.