Bodices

This late 1880s bodice pattern can be used to create tailored bodices of the period as well as can be used as a lining when other applied textures and designs will be added to the surface. Its lines are based on scaled drafts that were available in publications of the period.

Use the Bust/Chest tape and Length tape to draft the bodice as given. The waist is made as a proportion of the waist to allow for everything to fall into the right positions. Waist adjustments can be made anywhere that there is a wide allowance shown.

The wide allowances at the side seam are C-i in width. The narrow allowances are C-1/2. The wide center front hem is C-ii in width.

This style of 1890s bodice is mostly used as a lining or foundation over which other layers are added. Those layers would obscure the complex seaming of the more typical lines of an 1890s bodice so completely, that there is no need for all of the various panels. You can also use this simplified shape as a sloper for designing other patterns using the flat pattern method.

The wide allowances at the side seam are C-i in width. The narrow allowances are C-1/2. The wide center front hem is C-ii in width.