The most popular type of bust support worn by women in the Edwardian period and 1910's was the corset-cover style brassiere. The low mono-bosom look was in vogue at this time, and this type of brassiere was not meant to lift or separate the breasts, but instead to confine and smooth the bustline and the ridge of flesh that sometimes appeared at the top of the corset. These brassieres were also designed to replace corset-covers, and they were often decorated with lace or embroidery since they were frequently visible beneath the sheer lingerie dresses and blouses that were so popular during this period.

Two of the most common styles of bust support were the surplice-back brassiere and the hook front brassiere. For this article, I will share patterns and construction notes from two 1910's brassieres in my collection that exemplify these styles. Both of these brassieres are humble garments designed for daily wear, and their condition is not the greatest, but they provide useful information that will help costumers and reenactors better understand and recreate appropriate foundation garments from this era.

Surplice-Back Brassiere

Surplice brassieres were a popular option during this period since the bottom of the garment closed with a wrap-style construction, and the adjustable ties at the waist made it much easier to fit a variety of figures. This type of brassiere does not offer quite as much support as the hook front model (discussed below), but it does include boning on the front seams to help smooth the area beneath the bustline. This brassiere does not contain any markings, but the garment appears to be mass-produced judging by the use of a chain stitch on the bottom binding that is not typical with home sewing machines.

Pattern

The surplice-back brassiere that I am discussing for this case study fits a 40" (102cm) bust, and the waistline is adjustable. It is made up of six pattern pieces, and I have added seam allowances to the pattern to make construction easier. I have also added leveling notches to help line up the pieces in assembly. The notches either line up to each other, or in the case of the front yoke, to an adjacent seamline.

PDF Pattern for printing

Materials The brassiere is made of thin, white cotton that is similar to the material used for petticoats and chemises. The side panel is made with a double layer of fabric to act as extra protection from perspiration. The top yoke on the front neckline is made of machine-made eyelet fabric that has been cut so that the decorative scalloped edge of the fabric can be used for the top edge of the brassiere. The armholes and top edge of the shoulders and back neckline are edged with scalloped trim that is finished with a buttonhole stitch. The edges are all bound or faced with bias strips that appear to be made out of the same fabric as the body.

Seam finishes

All of the body pieces are machine sewn together with flat-felled 3/8" (1cm) seams. The bottom edge has a narrow double-fold binding over the raw edge of fabric that is ¼" (6mm) wide. The top edge and armholes of the garment are finished with a ¼" (6mm) bias strip that acts as a facing. This facing is sewn to the outside of the garment, and it is topstitched on both sides of the bias strip. The scalloped trim is sandwiched between the bias facing and the body fabric, and it stops 5" (12.5cm) above the bottom of the surplice closure. The shoulder strap of the brassiere is cut narrow so that the scalloped edge of the trim will line up exactly with the scalloped edge of the front yoke that is made of eyelet.

Closures and fastenings At the fullest part of the bust, there is a button closure at the back of the brassiere. There is a ¾" (19mm) long loop made of cotton cording sewn beneath the scalloped trim on the left-hand side of the brassiere. On the right side, there is a 1½" (38mm) long piece of ¼" (6mm) wide cotton tape that is sewn under the bias facing on the outside of the brassiere. One side of this tape has come undone, but from looking at other 1910's wrap-style brassieres, it is safe to guess that this tape originally held a button or toggle and the free end of the tape was secured beneath the facing.
At the bottom of the surplice back, there are 19" (48cm) long ties that are made out of plain-woven cotton tape. Where the tapes attach to the bottom edge of the brassiere, the fabric is folded under twice, and the tape is tucked under the fold and attached with two rows of stitching. When wearing the brassiere, the back button is hooked first, and then the tapes are bought around to the front of the body and tied.
There is also a 3" (7.5cm) long piece of cotton twill tape that is ¾" (19mm) wide attached to the bottom of the brassiere at the center front. Judging from other surviving examples and period illustrations, this tab originally held some sort of metal hook that attached to the busk of the wearer's corset to keep the brassiere from riding up, (an example from Symington's with a busk hook). This piece of tape is folded under the binding on the inside and sewn down with two rows of stitching.
Boning The three seams on the front of the brassiere between the center-front and side-front panels contain flat steel boning that is 6" (15cm) long and 3/16" (4mm) wide. The boning is placed inside of the flat-felled seams and is not removable, but one piece is visible due to a break in the seam's stitches. The boning has a slight curve to it so that it bows in toward the wearer's body. I am unsure if this curve is due to wear, or if it was intentionally bent that way in manufacturing.

Hook-front Brassiere

Another popular style of corset-cover brassiere fastened in the front with concealed hook and eyes. This method of closure results in more equal tension down the length of the garment, which provides more support and compression to the bust. The drawback is that it requires more precise fitting both in the bust and the waist, which was a difficult challenge for these early mass-produced garments. My hook-front brassiere was made by the Model Brassiere Co. and it is marked with the number 553-40, which probably refers to the model number and size. The original owner made a number of alterations to this garment to customize it to her figure, which provides an interesting glimpse into the ways that women in this period managed to fine-tune these garments to customize the fit.

Pattern

The pattern for this hook-front brassiere is made with five main body pieces, plus a top yoke created with long strips of lace that are mitered at the corners to fit the neckline. For this pattern, I have divided the lace section into front, shoulder, and back pattern pieces to better show the shape of the lace neckline when sewn. In its original, unaltered state (as shown on the pattern), this brassiere has a 42" (107cm) bust and a 34" (86cm) waist. There are a variety of seam finishes used in the construction of this garment, so I have added appropriately-sized seam allowances to aid in construction. 

PDF Pattern for printing

Materials

This brassiere is made out of off-white lightweight cotton that is similar to the material used for petticoats and chemises. A second layer of this same fabric is sewn under the arms to create a dress shield to absorb perspiration. The neckline is bordered with 1½" (38mm) wide machine-made lace with a medallion pattern. Above this wide lace is a row of 1" (2.5cm) machine-made beaded edging with a double row of chain-like ovals. The top row of ovals creates a scalloped edge, and a narrow cotton tape is threaded through the ovals to act as a drawstring for the top edge of the brassiere. Around the armholes is a third type of cotton lace with a scalloped edge. The edges of the garment are bound or faced with narrow bias strips that appear to be made out of the same fabric as the body.

Seam Finishes

The front four body seams between the center-front and side-front, and the side-front and side panels are sewn with 3/8" (1cm) flat felled seams to accommodate boning. The back pieces are sewn together with smaller, ¼" (6mm) flat felled seams. The bottom edge has a narrow ¼" (6mm) double-fold binding covering the raw edge of the fabric. The armholes are finished with a ¼" (6mm) bias strip that acts as a facing on the outside of the garment. This facing is topstitched on both sides of the bias trip, and the lace trim is sandwiched between the bias facing and the body fabric.

The lace yoke is laid over the raw edge of the body fabric and attached with a zigzag stitch. There is nothing to conceal the raw edge of fabric at the yoke inside of the garment, and although there is a mild amount of fraying, it has held up surprisingly well for a 100-year-old garment. The strips of lace in the neckline yoke are laid on top of each other and sewn with a zigzag stitch. The center-front edges are finished with a facing strip that is 1¼" (31mm) wide. The dress shield under the arm is also sewn onto the inside of the garment with a simple zigzag stitch and the edges are otherwise unfinished.

Closures and fastenings The brassiere is closed with a 9½" (24cm) long strip of commercially produced hook and eye tape. The hooks are on the right side beneath the center front facing, and the strip of eyes is sewn on top of the left side opening. Both strips are attached with a singe row of stitching about an inch away from the center-front edge. At the bottom of the right side of the center-front opening is a 3½" (87mm) long piece of cotton twill tape that is ¾" (19mm) wide. This strap is designed to attach to the wearer's corset busk to keep the brassiere from riding up. Instead of using a specialized hook for this purpose, this brassiere uses a simpler method. The tape passes around one of the busk hooks on the corset and then snaps closed at the bottom edge of the brassiere.

Boning The boning for this brassiere has gone missing over the years, but we can see where it was intended to be used thanks to four small buttonholes placed over the front four seams. These buttonholes are positioned on the inside of the corset on top of the flat-felled seams, about 1" (2.5cm) above the bottom edge of the brassiere. These buttonholes allowed the boning to be removed for laundering. Unfortunately, I do not know how long the original boning was or what it was made of, but I have replaced the missing boning with four pieces of 6" (15cm) long plastic boning to replicate the look of the original boned garment.

Alterations

This brassiere was altered multiple times over the years to adjust the fit. Although I have removed these alterations for my pattern, I wanted to document them here so you could see how women in the past customized the fit of their brassieres. Under each arm in the side panel piece, there is an irregularly shaped tuck that removes 5/8" – 3/4" (15-19mm) of fabric from each side. This tuck is sewn down with parallel rows of stitching that makes it look like another flat-felled seam.

At the center-back, there is a dart added to the bottom of the back panel that is 4" (10cm) high. This dart removed another 5/8" (15mm) from the waist measurement, and it was topstitched in a method similar to the flat-felled seams. On the center-front panels, there are faint traces of stitching holes where additional darts were added at the waist, but later removed. These front darts were 2¼" (56mm) high and 3/8" (10mm) wide.