Bodice

Bodice or corset. Silk 1760's French or German made. Boned linen bodice covered in white brocaded silk, with polychrome flower detailing. Bodice and sleeves trimmed in gold lace.
Catalogue note by Natalie Rothstein: White satin (now discoloured) with a floral pattern alternating in terracotta (faded) and light green (ditto) i.e. in changes - only two pattern wefts whose colour is changed as required. The sleeves are lined with a coarse red linen, the body with white linen. Material incomplete.
Sleeves are open at the outer seam with red raw silk tape ties; waist tabs are covered in silk at front and linen at back; moderately boned throughout; there is a reed rod curving across the front of the bodice just below the front neckline edge; a narrow silk braid in the colours of the outer fabric trims the front waistline and centre front waist tabs.
Each half of the bodice foundation is made from 4 sections which have been worked and boned separately then whip stitched together; the boning channels appear to be running stitched – or spaced back stitches? A piece of the same red-brown linen as lines the sleeves and covers the centre back of the bodice has been applied inside the front of the bodice in a half-circle shape from the neckline, there appears to be some form of light padding underneath it, it has been sewn to the foundation with spaced whip stitches; the sleeves were made up separately from the bodice and joined to the armhole with whip stitches; the sleeve seam appears to be lapped and slip stitched on the silk and lining layers; the silk used to cover the bodice has been significantly pieced, though quite carefully in some areas; the perimeter edges of the sleeves are finished by turning the raw fabric edges in towards each other and sewing with small, spaced whip stitches from the lining side; the perimeter edges of the bodice have been finished by turning the outer layer over the raw edges as a binding and sewing down to the foundation with spaced whip stitches; the sleeve ties have been rather roughly sewn on top of the sleeve lining; the waist tabs are cut in one with the bodice foundation, but covered separately on the right side of the garment, with the tabs being covered first then the silk layer of the body applied after, then lapped and sewn down with small running or back stitches.