Mid-late 1770s short sack and petticoat

 I've always loved short sacks, aka French jackets.  I find garments with watteau pleats to be a joy to wear.  There's just something about the "flying back" (a quote from the mid 18th century), particularly in silk, to be a sensory delight.   I'm particularly fond of the later short sacks from the mid 1770s and later.  They are shorter and don't have sleeve ruffles, often opting for sabot cuffs or rows of ruched trim.  Here are a couple of extant examples of this style, both from that period:

1778 French fashion plate

You can find more of my research on short sacks here.

The short sacks seem to follow the same construction as the earlier sack back gowns--no waist seam with stacked inverted box pleats at the side.  You can see this in the second photo above.  This is the same construction as the JP Ryan pattern which I used for this gown.  JPR patterns do not use period construction as they are entirely machine sewn.  They also don't follow an 18th century construction sequence.  I attempted to make that gown using 18th century hand sewing techniques.  The one thing that was a pain to me was the construction of the lining with that pattern.  There is an adjustable back with ties in the lining which seems totally unnecessary to me.  I've seen some extants that have a similar lining, some other that have lining that laces in the back to make it adjustable and some with just a plain lining with a plain back,   It seems to me that pregnancy would be the main reason to want to let the lining out to increase the fit.  I measured the width of my lining in my gown with the ties adjusted to fit and just cut a solid back.  I also eliminated the front under stomacher structure which I also didn't care for, choosing to line the bodice as I would an English gown.  I also cut the jacket 4 inches shorter than the pattern.

I had 7.5 yards of a striped taffeta from the $7 yard silk bin at G-Street.  It's rare to find any taffeta in that bin--usually it's full of China silk, georgette, or dupioni.  It just screamed to be made into some type of sack back garment.

I tried to be very conservative with cutting.  The stripes are very symmetrical and it was easy enough to cut the fronts and sleeves to match.  The back required a little more planning in order to get the wide stripe to land in the middle of the top pleat.

Once the back pleats were pinned, I basted them in place to make sure they didn't migrate when stitching.

The next part of the plan was choosing how to deal with the sleeves.  I wanted a sabot sleeve--which has a shaped cuff that goes over the elbow with ruching or pleated trim.  The L&S Fashionable Gown pattern has these sleeves so I used the cuff pattern and adjusted it a bit to fit my sleeve.  I cut the trim a bit wider--about 2 inches finished after pinking with scalloping shears.  I also made sure to apply fray block on the wrong side of all my trim for this project.  I wasn't sure if pleated trim would work with the stripes but I chose to use it anyway.  I like the way the cuffs turned out.

I pinned the cuffs on to make sure they were positioned in the right place as they had to fit correctly over the elbow.  Then they were stitched in place.

Next up:  Trim.  I cut more crosswise strips for trim, cutting them wider than the cuff trim.  Finished width is about 2.5 inches.  I pleated two at the same time so they would be symmetrical and match--one for each side of the front.  The pleats were just pinned in place. I needed to cut a tiny strip to fill in a gap in the back of the neck.    I made the stomacher and cut more trim the same width as the jacket trim.  All  the trim was pinned on the jacket and the stomacher.

The trim was stitched in place, stitching only to the folded robing on the jacket front.  Once the trim was on, I tried the jacket on to check the placement for the lacing strips which I constructed like those in this post.    Once the lacing strips were in, I made a 4-loop breast knot out of some coordinating green silk taffeta.   The jacket is now complete!

Next up--petticoat!  This outfit is being worn over a late 1770s bum pad which also has some side padding instead of pocket hoops which are more commonly worn with ball gowns or earlier sacks.

I cut the petticoat panels--2 panels the full width of the 56 inch wide fabric.  I wish the wide green stripe (the one on the back pleats of the jacket was centered, but it wasn't and the fabric isn't wide enough to try to center it for this project.  Some creative seaming might have done the trick for a petticoat to be worn under a gown but not for a jacket.  I stitched the side seams and pinned then basted the pleats.  Here is the petticoat with the jacket.  It still needs to be leveled at this point and is just pinned at the sides.

Once the petticoat is leveled and hemmed, I will cut wide trim strips, pink them and fray check them.

I leveled the petticoat to be worn over a late 70s/ early 80s bum pad.

For the petticoat trim, I cut 4 crosswise strips of matching fabric 8.5 inches wide, pinked/scalloped the edges and used a tiny artist brush to coat fray block on the wrong sides of the scallops.

There's no way to really pleat this fabric with even pleats to show off the stripes.  I basically pleated it similarly to the narrow trim on the jacket.  My original plan was to tack the pleats about an inch from the top and an inch from the bottom (they extend past the petticoat hem about an inch).  I would have to press the pleats flat to do that which I didn't want to do.  I thought I might just tack them at the top for a ruffle but decided to go with my original plan, also tacking them in the center as well.  I like the added texture of letting the pleats poof out.  I ended up using 3.5 of my trim strips.

Here's the finished outfit.  It still needs to be steamed and it needs some under petticoats.  

I've very happy with the way this turned out.  I did make a floofy bonnet to wear with it:

I may make some light sage green mitts using the embroidery pattern from the 1772 Ladys Magazine.  

I'm pleased with the way this turned out and I need to get a proper photoshoot.  I'll edit to add those photos.  It's just been too cold lately.

I hope to make a summer short sack based on the French fashion plate above using a documented print with sheer trim to wear in July.  

Here are some pics from Montpelier Mansion in Laurel, MD.