In the early eighteenth century, garments required only simple pattern pieces to achieve a smooth fit over the stays. The bodice and skirt were often cut in a continuous piece with pleats rather than seams used to shape the bodice (see figure 3. 6). Using fewer, hand-stitched seams enabled expensive fabrics to be unpicked and redesigned at a later date as fashions changed. Using elaborate stomachers2 made from a separate piece of fabric pinned into the front of bodices also dispensed with the need for darts in the front (see figure 3. 4). By the last quarter of the century bodice patterns consisted of a back panel, side back panels and wide front panels with no darts. Bias cut side and centre front seams allowed fabrics to be fitted smoothly over the stays (see figure 3. 14).
Figure 3. 3 The ladies’ own memorandum-book; or, daily pocket journal, for the year 1769 … By a lady. © The British Library Board.
Figure 3. 4 Blue and cream woven silk ‘open robe’ with ruched robings, a separate stomacher and replica petticoat 1750s. © Fashion Museum Bath.
Figure 3. 5 Silk covered stays 1770s, Italian. These stays would often be a visible part of the dress. Gift of © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1940.
Figure 3. 6 Pattern diagram showing the outer skirt and bodice cut in one piece without a waist seam in a mid-18th century mantua. The dress is open at the centre front with a separate petticoat, not shown. © Author.
Figure 3. 7 Gallerie des Modes et Costumes Français Desinés D’Après Nature 1778 {1787}. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, purchased by the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1938.
Figure 3. 8 Robe à la Française c. 1770, French. © The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York, purchase, Irene Lewisohn Bequest, 1961.
Figure 3. 9 Woman’s hoop petticoat (pannier), England 1750–80. Museum Associates/LACMA.
Figure 3. 10 Short hoop made from linen. Ties inside control the shape of the hoop. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Figure 3. 11 Fashion news, Magasin des Modes Nouvelles Françaises et Anglaises, 30 juillet 1787, 26e cahier, 2e année, Pl. 2. A. B. Duhamel, after Defraine, 1787 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Purchased with the support of the F. G. Waller-Fonds.
Figure 3. 12a and b Wedding ensemble 1780. Cream silk woven with small spots and small coloured floral motifs, possibly Spitalfields. The dress has a much narrower skirt profile and rounded hips, enhanced by a ‘bum roll’. © The Olive Matthews Collection, Chertsey Museum, Photos by John Chase Photography
Figure 3. 13 Shorter stays 1780–95 in brown cotton twill. Still high at the back with shoulder straps tied at the front. © Museum of London.
Figure 3. 14 The generic diagram shows the pattern pieces most often found in 1790s bodices; wide front panels extending under the arm to join narrow side panels and a narrow back panel. The centre front seam is cut on the bias to enhance the fit around the bust. © Author.
1800–1820
In the early 1800s fashion followed neoclassical lines with a more ‘natural’ silhouette. Lightweight cottons, plain and printed, and transparent muslins gave a simple elegance to dress. Bodices were very short, ending just under the bust and skirts were long and straight, sometimes with a short train at the back (see figures 3. 15 and 3. 18).
Rigid, heavily boned stays were generally rejected by 1800 and underwear became much softer. The manufacture of stays was simpler with no boning. A wooden busk3 inserted into a channel down the centre front helped to flatten the front and triangular inserts in the top edge lifted and separated the breasts (see figure 3. 16). Straps over the shoulders were still used to position these early precursors of corset correctly on the body. The young, or adventurous, sometimes abandoned stays altogether. Bust support was achieved by the addition of flaps of linen attached to the side seams inside the bodice lining and pinned together at the centre front (see figure 3. 17). Support was minimal but sufficient to create the fashionable high, softly rounded bust profile. Petticoats were straight, designed to give a smooth silhouette from under the bust to the hem of the skirts.
The cut of bodices was very simple. It was possible to use only two pattern pieces to create fashionable styles; a narrow back panel and a front panel that extended under the arm beyond the side seam position to the back (see figure 3. 19). Where the front and back panels met, they were joined with a bias seam that moulded around the back of the body, creating a smooth fit. Tiny darts, gathers or drawstrings shaped the front over the bust. The shoulder seams were positioned towards the back creating fabric on the bias over the shoulders. This enhanced the fit and gave an elegant, smooth shoulder profile. Initially bodices were fastened at the front but, ‘From 1804 bodices began to be fastened at the centre back with tapes or buttons’. 4
Figure 3. 15 Magazine of Female Fashions of London and Paris, No. 32. London, October, 1800, Richard Phillips, 1800. Rijksmuseum Fonds, Amsterdam. Purchased from the Flora Fonds.
Figure 3. 16 White cotton twill corset 1819–23. Supporting and softly controlling the body without boning but with a pocket at the centre front for a busk and straps over the shoulder to keep it in place. © Museum of London.
Figure 3. 17 Printed cotton dress with linen flaps attached to the side seams inside the bodice lining. When pinned together at the centre front, they form support for the bust. © The Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, England.
Figure 3. 18 White muslin evening dress with bugle bead embroidery, a high waist and a short train, c. 1804. © Fashion Museum Bath.
Figure 3. 19 Diagram showing a generic pattern for the short bodices in the early 1800s, consisting of two pattern pieces; a front which extends past the side seam to the side back and a small back panel. © Author.