A c. 1877 Natural Form Bodice

A natural form bodice made of a silk/wool blend. The brown ground and tan stripes are wool, and the green and blue stripes are of silk. It's lined with two different fabrics, a smoothly woven white cotton and a coarse natural colored linen and sewn with a combination of hand and machine sewing.. The bodice was originally boned with 6 bones, one on each dart, one on the center back, and one below the buttons. Only the center back bone remains. It closed with 13 buttons, which were later cut off. There was some sort of decoration, possibly buttons, sewn along each side of the front opening and the cuffs, but it's been cut away. The measurements are: bust 36 inches, waist 26 inches, center front to waist 14 inches, center back to waist 15 inches, center back to bottom 22 1/4 inches.

The stripes emphasize the curviness of the bodice.

The center back seam is split and pleated just below the waistline.

Details of the buttonholes and the stitches that remain next to them. A few stitches remain next to each buttonhole.

Left: A strip of matching fabric covers the collar join. The collar is self-lined and was sewn to the neckline with the right side of the collar to the wrong side of the bodice. It was sandwiched between the bodice and binding. It was then folded to the outside, and the binding was sewn down with a nearly invisible whipstitch. Right: The pleats lie quite flat and would sit nicely over the smooth skirts of the late 1870s.