English Gown Pattern Tips

Thank you for your purchase of the Larkin & Smith 18th Century English Gown pattern. On these pages you will find some additional content to help you with constructing your new gown. There are frequently adjustments made to any pattern including this one, these pages will walk you thru some of the more common changes needed to adapt a wide variety of bodies to an 18th century gown.

These same tips and techniques can be used for our 1770s Fashionable Gown Pattern as well as our Girl's Gown Pattern.

A little time consuming but highly recommend is to keep your original pattern intact and copy all of the pieces onto tracing paper or interfacing. This ensures you will never loose a precious piece, and if you have to make any changes and you make a mistake, you still have the original you can trace again and start over.  

I (Hallie) learned several years ago from a pattern making class to transfer my patterns onto Oaktag, and you will see the Oaktag used in the photos in this section. I then trace in pencil or chalk my pattern onto my cloth. This eliminates cutting off bits and pieces of your pattern over time and it also gives you a more accurate pattern piece to cut out. Paper sometimes distorts the fabric as it is pinned onto the cloth.  

If you are using the paper pattern, make sure you cut around all the pattern pieces before laying it out on the fabric. Cutting thru paper can sometimes make the pattern pieces a little less precisely cut. 

Be sure to check out the About Us section of the shop for information on Workshops and other Events.

Happy Sewing!