Regency long breeches - Jane Austen Festival

As well as the Regency evening full dress knee breeches in silk, I am also making J-L another pair of long breeches in a caramel colour.

I really want to make a pair of buckskin breeches, but I have yet to find a source for it, there isn't one in Australia sadly. If you know of one, I'd appreciate you telling me about it in the comments section below. Buckskin was meant to be the most comfortable fabric to have your breeches made out of, gentlemen lived in their buckskin breeches, as we do in our denim jeans today. They were meant to be incredibly soft, yet strong and the more you wore them, the more comfortable they became, yep, just like jeans again!

But as I don't have any buckskin, I am using a heavy weight chintz or polished cotton for these breeches that was in my stash.


I showed how I created the drop fall for the breeches in the knee breeches post, but I forgot to talk about adding in the back gusset and the waist band. So I will cover it here.

This is the shape of the waistband when the centre back gusset is added

Another shot showing the left side of the waistband

Right shot of waistband

To find where your waistband gusset will be inserted into the back seam of the breeches, pin the waistband and gusset section to the trouser back seam BEFORE stitching up your breeches back seam. Mark the spot, unpin the waistband, stitch back breeches up to your mark

Now stitch your front and back breeches together, both inside and outside legs.

Next put the pleats into your back breeches, depending on your pattern suggestion, I wing it, rather than marking them out. To do this I pin the waistband onto the front of trousers and around to the centre back. The excess in the back trousers is then turned into pleats and then I do this for the second side. I find this is quicker than marking and yes there is a small 'fiddle factor' but less than pencil marking the pleats and thenstill needing to fiddle to get them sitting nicely on the band.

Back of breeches with waistband, gusset and pleats

I do love these baggy breeches!

 I love these front fall trousers, sadly though I forgot the fob watch pocket again, d'oh! Ah well they are also in J-L's waistcoats.

Front fall, I ran out of my fashion fabric and had to use another piece for the inside waistband, no matter as its hidden.