The US Patent Office contains a wealth of corsetry patterns and information, thanks to the ingenuity of hundreds of corsetieres and corset manufacturers during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Today, thanks to the efforts of Google, that information is now freely available online to anyone who wishes to search through it.

Buried in those files is Patent 740930, submitted in June of 1903 by Emile Savoye and granted in October of that same year by the US Patent Office. Patent 740930 focused on a novel method for constructing corsets and the design Savoye submitted, along with his application, is stunning. In this article we will seek to learn more about this early 20^th century inventor and his corset, and begin our journey to recreating this beautiful piece for ourselves.

Who was Emile Savoye?

So who was Emile Savoye? That question turned out to be a bit harder to answer than I initially thought: I was unable to dig up much on this inventor outside of his patents. However, what we can glean from his patents is exceedingly interesting. Emile Savoye was a French citizen and corset manufacturer during the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. In the early 20^th century, when it appears that his patents were issued, he was living in Paris at 35 Rue du Caire[1]. During that time he patented several improvements for corsets with the US Patent Office. I was able to track down four US patents issued to him in addition to US Patent 740930. In addition to several patents issued in the United States, his US Patent number 845582 also mentions a French patent (Number 339,380) which corresponded with his US Patent 774,537 which was issued for a novel boning method for corsets[2]. Thanks to this, we can surmise that he also had at least one, and possibly more, French patents to his name as well.

Fig 4: Diagram of the lacing mechanism submitted for patent by Emile Savoy in 1901. Savoye, Emile. 1902. Lacing Device. U.S. Patent 704,381.

Savoye applied for four US patents in addition to Patent 740930 between 1902 and 1906; all five were issued between 1902 and 1907. All of his patents reveal a creative mind bent on innovation within the corset industry. While we will be discussing Patent 740930 in more depth later in the article, I think it is important to look at his other patents in order to gain further insight into our inventor.

Patent 704381 (Fig 4) was issued to Savoye in July of 1902 and involved a novel lacing mechanism to cut down on lacing wear[3].

Patent 774537 (Fig 5, Fig 6), issued in November of 1904 was for a novel placement method for boning designed to lighten the corset and result in a more economical placement of boning. In addition, it was intended to increase the comfort and flexibility of the corset by preventing the boning from digging into the wearer. One of the most interesting and innovative elements of this design was the use of tapes or ribbons to stiffen the bust area so that the corset would remain flexible without losing its shape[4].

Patent 786685 (Fig 7), issued in April of 1905 was for another novel corset design, drafted so as to prevent the seams from vertically intersecting the waist. It was also planned to be more accommodating method of cutting out a corset when taking into account changes in outline based on the size of an individual[5].

Finally, Patent 845582 (Fig 8, Fig 9) was issued in February of 1907 for two new corsets, designed so the entirety of the front and upper part of each corset half can be cut out in one piece. This was to ensure greater comfort for the wearer, ease of manufacturing, and also to more easily enable “continuous ornamentation” (i.e.: embroidery). It is interesting to note that these two corsets were also specifically designed for Savoye’s new method of boning from Patent 774537[6]. Creativity and innovation are evident in all of his designs and I personally found his boning method from Patent 774537 particularly interesting for its resourcefulness and ingenutiy.

Fig 5: The front view image showing the corset and novel stiffening methods Savoy submitted for patent in 1904. Savoye, Emile. 1904. Corset. U.S. Patent 774,537.	Fig 6: The back view image showing the corset and novel stiffening methods Savoy submitted for patent in 1904. Savoye, Emile. 1904. Corset. U.S. Patent 774,537.
Fig 7: Front and back views of the corset design submitted for patent by Savoy in 1905. Savoye, Emile. 1905. Corset. U.S. Patent 786,685.	Fig 8: Front and back views of the one of the corset designs submitted for patent by Emile Savoye in 1907. Savoye, Emile. 1907. Corset. U.S. Patent 845,582.
	(Left) Fig 9:  Front and back views of a second corset design submitted, along with the one depicted in Fig 8, for patent by Emile Savoy in 1907. Savoye, Emile. 1907. Corset. U.S. Patent 845,582.

The 1903 Savoye Corset: Patent No. 740930

From his patents we learn that Savoye was keenly interested in corset innovation as well as in improving the comfort and aesthetic designs of his creations. The applications for both Patent 740930 and 786685 particularly mention aesthetic reasons being important in design development[7].

Patent 740930 (Fig 1, Fig 2, Fig 3)  was applied for on June 16^th, 1903 and issued October 6, 1903. It focused primarily on a new way of cutting out the corset in order to achieve a more fashionable appearance as well as more flexibility in the corset itself and thus greater comfort for the wearer. In his application Savoy asserts that most contemporary corsets are made with all vertical seams and gussets.   He goes on to argue that because of this (most likely due to the pieces being cut on the grain) contemporary corsets lack flexibility which is important to the comfort and health of the wearer. He further claims that manufacturing a corset in this manner creates “an unstylish appearance brought about by the polygonal and broken shape of the seam-lines”[8]. He further claims that his new design overcomes these shortcomings: cutting on the curve to create a more graceful and stylish line and also lending greater flexibility to the final corset (most likely due to creating seam lines on the bias). Because of this gussets for the curves are no longer needed.

Fig 1: The front view image submitted with the patent of Savoy's 740,930 Corset. Savoye, Emile. 1903. Corset. U.S. Patent 740,930.	Fig 2: The back view image submitted with the patent of Savoy's 740,930 Corset. Savoye, Emile. 1903. Corset. U.S. Patent 740,930.

Fig 3: Detailed diagram of individual pieces of the corset submitted with the patent of Savoy's 740,930 Corset. Savoye, Emile. 1903. Corset. U.S. Patent 740,930.The corset he describes in his application is made up of 6 parts per half (excluding the band at the back) but he notes that some parts (such as 1 and 1a via diagram line I as shown in figure 1) can be cut in one piece as well. He also asserts that even though they are not needed, “gussets, plaits, and the like” could be incorporated into his design without deviating from the spirit of his invention[9].

Corset 740930 may very well add the comfort of the wearer with its curved seam design, although we will need to reconstruct it to fully test Savoye’s claims in that regard.

However, a brief survey of other corset designs patented in 1903 does support the innovation of Savoye’s design. Patents 720363, 732591, 736029, 744484, and 800957  are all constructed with their seam lines vertically intersecting the wearer’s waist. Savoye’s curved seam design is certainly novel compared to its contemporaries, but his claims that it is an improvement on comfort and aesthetic design require more proof. As I mentioned before we will be testing his claims regarding comfort by reconstructing the corset.  

Of the two claims, comfort is the most easy to investigate because we can make our own and try it out, although whether or not a thing is comfortable is ultimately dependent on the opinion of the wearer. Also, whether or not the corset represents an aesthetic improvement is definitely subject to individual taste, as beauty still remains in the eye of the beholder. It is, however, a quite different design from its contemporaries and the curved seams are certainly quite pretty in my opinion.

Fig 10: Corset submitted by Laura Lawrence for patent in late 1902. Lawrence, Laura. 1903. U.S. Patent 720,363.	Fig 11: Corset design submitted by Joseph Schufflay for patent in early 1903. Schufflay, Joseph. 1903. U.S. Patent 732,591.
Fig 12: Design for a new corset submitted by Theodore Schottlander for patent in 1903. Schottlander, Theodore. 1903. U.S. Patent 736,029.	Fig 13: A corset design submitted by Mary Ann Osburn to the US Patent Office in 1903. Osburn, Mary Ann. 1903. U.S. Patent 738,058.
Fig 14: Patent 744,484 was awarded in 1903 to Ada Case for a novel corset design. This image was submitted along with her application to illustrate the design. Case, Ada V. 1903. U.S. Patent 744,484.	Fig 15: A design submitted in 1903 by Catherine Trenholm for a corset designed to be more comfortable for fuller figured women. Trenholm, Catherine A. 1905.U.S. Patent 800,957.

Recreating the Corset

Now that we have discussed Savoye and his innovative design in detail, let’s turn our attention to recreating this lovely corset for ourselves. In this article we will work on first scaling up the pattern itself from the diagram that Savoye includes with his patent application, and then we will work on fitting the pattern that we have scaled up. In our next article we will double check the fit of our pattern by creating a mock up, and finally we will assemble our corset.

Materials Needed

• Graph paper
• Pattern paper
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• 2 yards of 60in wide canvas
• Pencil
• Sharpie or other marker
• Tape measure
• Scissors

Step 1: Print out a copy of Savoy's patent from Google. A pdf of the patent can be downloaded here.		Step 2: Trace the diagram of the pattern layout onto graph paper.   Take your measurements and write them down on the graph paper that you traced your diagram on. As a guide to what measurements I would want to take I used Cathy Hay's Corsetmaking Revolution guide.
Step 3: If you have difficulty tracing the pattern you can tape the original to a window and then use the light to better trace the pattern, as shown if figure 21.		Step 4: Using your measurements, determine an appropriate scale for the traced pattern in order to enlarge it to closer to your own size. In this case I determined that if each square represented a 3"x3" (7.5cmx7.5cm) square, the pattern could be enlarged to close to my size. Using that scale and my measuring tape I enlarged the pattern onto new paper.

Fitting the Pattern Draft

Step 5: Cut the new pattern out taking care to extend any overlapping pieces so that each piece is whole and complete.		Step 6: Cut all the pieces out of canvas leaving at least a 1" (25mm) seam allowance so that you have a sturdy base to work from.
Step 7: Assemble the basic body pieces. As this is only a rough fitting and resizing before doing the full mock up to ensure a proper fit you may assemble only half of the corset if you wish, but only if you are using a dress form rather than a model for the rough fitting.		Step 8: Pin your assembled corset draft to your dressform. Because you are not using boning in this step there may be some wrinkling around the bust. We will take care of this while doing the mock up.
Step 9: Begin pinning the pieces of your draft corset to fit. Also, draw in the top and bottom edges of your corset where you want them.		Step 10: Decide whether you want to incorporate any smaller pieces into larger ones, as Savoye mentioned in his patent. In this case, because of the way my bottom line was coming out during the refitting and the way the pieces were working together I decided to incorporate piece 1a into piece 2. It would have been possible to incorporate 1a into piece 1 as Savoy discussed in his patent, however I decided that aesthetically I really liked the way piece 1 looked by itself which was why I decided to incorporate 1a into 2 rather than 1.
Step 11: Trace your new seam lines, top edge, and bottom edge with a sharpie so that you can more easily see the new shapes of you pattern pieces.

Next time we'll double check the fit of the corset with a mock-up.

Endnotes