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Now we need the the skirt legths that your helper has written down during the last fitting. Those were from waist to floor, so first subtract roughly a hand's width - the skirt shouldn't hit the floor, after all - to get the actual front and side skirt lengths that you'll use from here on.

The petticoat, or rather the jupe (in contrast to petticoats as undergarment), is pretty straightforward: A rectangle the width of which corresponds to the side skirt length, the length depending on the skirt width you need, but at least 3 metres.

Be economical: If you're wearing pocket hoops like the ones on this site, and your fabric is 150 cm wide, use two widths of fabric and be happy with 300 cm skirt circumference. If your fabric is only 90 cm wide, use four widths (=360 cm skirt width). Having more than 3 metres skirt circumference is good, but not necessary. You could also use a 3 metres long piece of 90 cm wide fabric if the fabric is not patterned.

If you're on a budget, piece the jupe together, using cheap fabric for the top 25 cm at the sides, more round the back (down to 40-50 cm up from the hem). This should be safe even of you decide to wear the robe "retroussé dans les poches", i.e. the robe skirt pulled through the pocket slits as commoners were wont to do, e.g. this lady painted by Chardin, or if the wind is high.

When sewing the vertical seams, don't forget the pocket slits. If you make up the jupe of two or four equal parts, simply leave 20-25 cm open at the top of the seams. If you use three parts, one slit can be in the seam, the other must be cut into the fabric and neatened with a strip of top fabric.

Now there are two possibilities:

Either you pleat the top edge, sew it onto a waistband, and make up for the difference of the side and front/back skirt length by cutting hem straight later, after having had it marked by a helper. This is a modern method and requires an additional fitting session. The curved hem is a bit more difficult to sew than a straight one.

Or - this is the period method - you make a straight hem first, then cut the length difference out of the top edge. Since the robe covers most of the jupe, any inaccuracies in the hem-to-floor distance are mercifully hidden.

For the period method, you need the front and side skirt lengths that your helper has noted during the last fitting. Close all vertical skirt seams to form a tunnel and turn the hem. I'll assume that you're making the skirt out of two 150 cm widths of fabric. Place the skirt flat on the ground, left side out. The CF is in the middle, faces up and lies on top of the CB. The side seams form the edge. Measure off the side skirt length from the bottom of the side seams up and the front skirt length from the middle up, along the CF/CB.

Mark a point halfway between edge and CF on either side. From each edge to that point, the upper skirt edge runs straight. Between the points, you form a dip in the upper edge as seen in the sketch above. The dip is deepest at the CF/CB, so that the distance from hem to dip corresponds to the front skirt length. It tapers out towards the sides. Now you have three different possibilities:

1. You cut the surplus away, which gives you a new upper skirt edge to work with.

2. You make vertical cuts so that you can easily fold the surplus fabric down (see sketch below)

3. You don't make any cuts, only folding the fabric away.

The first method is the easiest, but not very economical. If you're piecing the petticoat together out of cheap and fashion fabric, that's OK. If the whole skirt is made of the top fabric, method 2 and 3 are more in the spirit of the period. Back then, it was not uncommon that one single metre of fabric cost as much as the seamstress got for her efforts. If the skirt stayed in one piece, you could later have it changed to follow a new fashion or have an altogether new garment made from it. A 100x300 cm rectangle of fabric is not to be sneezed at.

At a museum, I had the opportunity of examining a piece of silver fabric (awfully expensive stuff with real silver in it) that had once been a skirt. It was a rectangle with vertical slits, about 15 cm apart and 25 cm long, and slight crease lines. The slits had me stumped for a while, but then it dawned: The slits allowed allowed the fabric to be folded down to form the very kind of dip that we need.

The third method is even more economical since you don't cut into the fabric at all. You simply fold the fabric away to form the dip. Of course, the folded-away fabric cannot lie smoothly inside, so forming the new edge and pleating it isn't quite as easy, especially if the fabric is stiff. This is probably why the silver fabric was cut. If the fabric is pliable, the only time you'll regret choosing this method is if you have to iron it.

Whichever method you choose: The dip should gently curve around the bottom, then slant upwards and gently taper out as in the sketch above. Part of the gentle tapering out can go on beyond the aforementioned points halfway between CF and edge. They're only a guideline. In case of method 2 or 3, baste the folded-away fabric along the fold line to form a new upper skirt edge.

Pleat the (new) top edge from the CF towards the sides, the folds facing the side. Same in back. It's a good idea to make the pleats deeper as they approach the sides as more width is required there to go over the panier. It'll take some adjusting until the front and back skirt edges add up to the waist width you need. It doesn't matter if the front and back aren't exactly the same width as long as they are roughly the same, the back wider than the front, and add up to the waist width.

A two-piece waistband makes adjustment easier: The front and back of the skirt are each sewn to a piece of waistband which is long enough to go all round the body and be tied in a bow. You put on the jupe as if you were tying on two aprons: Pull the waistband of the back part around to the front and tie it there, then tie the waistband of the front in back. That way you don't have to adjust the waist width all that exactly. If you tend to lose and gain circumference on a monthly basis, as some of us are wont to do, this will take care of it.

The trimmings should be attached last, after the hem is finished, especially if they are to run parallel to the hem.

Next step: Variations

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