Petticoat Bodies

Cassell's Household Guide, 1870

We now arrive at petticoat bodies. Under high dresses these should be made high. They are to be cut and made in every respect like a dress-body, which we shall presently describe. Pipe the neck, armholes, and waist, for a dress. Cut a basque to fit the figure in three pieces, one back, and two fronts. Fig. 11 shows one of the fronts; Fig. 12 the complete back.
Fig. 12
Stitch them together, hem them all round. Run them to the piped edge of the body. Take an inch-wide tape, hem or run it over the piping and down to the body on the wrong side. Or the body may be made like a dress in a band. Do not then pipe the edge, but run on the basque. Line with tape as before.
The set of the body depends on plenty of buttons in front. These should be from five to seven, between a sixpence and a shilling in size. They cannot be too close; they may be too far apart. The piping of the neck may be hemmed down narrow, or run over with a narrow, soft, twilled tape. The sleeves are short, and cut on the cross. Stitch them together. The hem must be turned over and fulled in. The sleeve should fit the armhole easily. Stitch it in.
Fig. 10 is a pattern for the sleeve. Fig. 7 is the body

A low petticoat body may be cut from the same pattern, by the dotted line A to B, and piped round the top; or by Figs. 6 and 8, in which it will be seen that the side-pieces are put in as backs are put on, either above or below the arm. Low dress bodies should always be made in this way, and not with darts.

Fig. 8

Again, some persons wear the front of body straight, as in Fig. 5; some, require the front rounded, to fit like Fig. 14.

Fig. 5 is an example of a high 'body made with side-pieces, which is considered a superior cut, and looks particularly well on a stout, short-waisted person. We are, however, here trenching on dressmaking and shall have occasion to refer back to these diagrams.
Fig. 5

Fig. 13 is a very pretty pattern for a petticoat body under a muslin Garibaldi. It is edged with a row Maltese insertion, and above that a row of Maltese lace in which blue velvet ribbon is run to draw the top round the neck. The sleeves correspond in every particular with the top of the body. Muslin embroidery may take the place of the lace.
Fig. 15 is a camisole underbody. This is cut precisely like the top of a chemise. It is placed in a band at the neck, where it is not fulled, but cut the size of the neck. The band may be plain or embroidered, but an embroidered or lace edge is de rigueur. Fell the side seams. The sleeves are not added, but cut in one, a corresponding one is in front. The latter has a central hole to admit a tape, which is inserted all round and draws the camisole to the waist. A camisole makes the figure look fuller than a bodice.

Fig. 15
To a slight figure it is an improvement, especially if bodies cannot be got to fit very well, but it has a tendency to enlarge the waist by its folds. It should, therefore, be of the finest material. When desired to increase the fullness of the figure, have the camisole well starched, which will keep out the upper portion of the figure, whilst the lower part, by its fineness, will yield under the dress. The dress, with body and skirt separate, by the use of two bands, tends to enlarge. To keep the latter small, therefore, have both sewn on one band, or have the under-skirt on a sloping band for a short skirt. In a long dress, especially of silk, the length of the waist generally admits of the skirt falling a little below the bodice. The waistband unites the two.