Description:
Woman's bust improver or bosom form, entirely hand sewn, dating to the mid-late nineteenth century. Made of bleached linen, two primary pattern pieces are hand sewn together around the perimeter of the undergarment, which would have been easily laundered when needed. A single mother-of-pearl button on the center front (with corressponding handworked button hole) opens to insert or remove wadding for an increase or decrease in size. There is only one large chamber inside (the garment is not divided into a right and left side). Horsehair survives as the wadding in this example, although it is likely not the original stuffing. A softer material, such as cotton, would have been a likelier choice. The material is gathered along the top and bottom over each bosom, especially in front, to accomodate for the increased size. There are horizontal seams over each bosom area as well, both front and back, that shape the fabric that also allow for an increase in width. While not necessarily the goal to increase the wearer's bust per se, an undergarment such as this may also have been inserted to smooth out the line at the chest under the fashion garment, hiding the area between the top line of the corset and the wearer's chest, akin to a corset cover. While most bust improvers date to the turn of the 20th century, this is likely an earlier example, dating to an increased rigidity in women's corsets around the middle or later part of the 19th century.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2012.20.1 |
