Marie Tucek and Luman L Chapman, Early Brassiere Innovators

Another early brassiere, this one from 1820, from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum.

MARIE TUCEK

Marie Tucek early saw the need for something to hold up the breasts when the corsets were not supporting them anymore, leading to straps from the shoulders.  Here is her patent.  She explained that this bra was meant to take the place of the corset when wearing empire style dresses.  She also explained that it could be made of sheet metal or cardboard which was covered with silk and bent to the body!


I could not figure out which Marie Tucek she was in New York in 1900, 1910, or 1920.  All the Marys and Maries were either not employed or cigar makers, so evidently, Marie's invention did not prove profitable for her.

LUMAN L CHAPMAN

Luman L Chapman, in 1863, also proposed an alternative to the corset, addressing the need for comfort, avoiding pokey metal springs, and making it easy to put on without help.  This looks pretty comfortable, but the "puffs" are more suited to canteloupes.

I found "Lewman" L Chapman, age 40, born New York, physician, living in Camden, NJ in 1850.  With him are wife Harriett, 27, born Louisiana, daughter Louisa M, age 10, born Mississippi, son Lewman L, age 7, born Missouri, daughter Unis R, age 6, born Pennsylvania, and daughter Harriett, 9 months, born Pennsylvania.

Lewman, or Lowman, as he was called in 1860, must have decided that being a travelling physician was not much fun anymore, and at age 52 was listed as an editor, still in Camden, New Jersey.  Living at home were wife Harriett, daughters Lucy and Harriett, a new son named Vetruvivus, age 6, and David W, nine months.

In an 1867 Philadelphia city directory Luman L Chapman was listed as a corset maker, and also in 1870.

In 1870 Lewman was back to being a physician in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Maybe the Civil War had something to do with that.  At home were Harriet, Lucy, Harriet, Mary, age 12 (where did SHE come from?), and Margaret, age 8, born in Pennsylvania.

I did not find the family in 1880, but burial records indicate that a Luman L Chapman was buried in Mount Morian Cemetery in Philadelphia in 1884.  From 1874 through 1893 there was a Harriett M Chapman in the Philadelphia city directory under corsets.  This may have been Luman's daughter.  She is listed again in 1908, but with no occupation.

HARRIET M CHAPMAN

Harriet M Chapman had her own patented corset in 1875.  This is probably what she was making for all of those years.  It's got an inner, adjustable belt for "corpulent persons".

Brassieres of the 'Teens

The layers involved in getting dressed in the years from 1910 through 1919 involved the following items (and more):

Chemise

Corset.

This is not my 'teens corset, but you can see it in the picture below.  Just using it for an example.

Below you can see an authentic 'teens corset.  Note that it sits below the bust, making a brassiere necessary.  I did not have a brassiere when I modeled this--but I did not really need one at this time. :)

And, as corsets got lower and lower, a brassiere.  This model has a hook at the bottom with a hole to fasten to one of the studs on the front of the corset to hold it down.  The hook at the bottom was to match a hook on the skirt to keep the skirt in place.

The back of the brassiere had hooks and eyes and elastic, which has been doubled over and sewn together on this one--probably when it lost its stretchiness.

Here you can see the places where bones were inserted to keep everything smooth and the owner made some very nice repairs when the underarms wore out.

This is how the hook attached to the corset stud.

Depending on the time of year and how sheer your slip and dress were, bloomers were also worn.  Here is a beautiful heavy silk satin pair with an elastic waist. When corsets disappeared and girdles appeared, bloomers were worn more often.  I'll show more in a future post.

There's a little extra reinforcement at the knee and look at that beautiful insertion, lace, and little flower.  These are unsold old store stock.

Medieval Linen Brassieres!

I read in the paper today that there has been a unique discovery of pieces of medieval garments used as wall filler in an old castle in the Tyrol.  Naturally I went online to see if I could find out more about it and find better pictures.  Unfortunately, the archaeologists aren't sharing the pictures--probably so they can write some papers about the garments, but this website gives a really good description and explanation of the finding of the garments.

You can see remnants of needle lace on the edges, and here is a link showing how that needle lace was made.

(I had to go back and repair links and missing pictures for this post in 2021.)

More Early Brassieres

I just ran across this wonderful vintage Pathe film with instructions on how to make a "camisole".  Isn't it cute how the model puts the finished bra on over her camisole?

That got me thinking that I haven't showed the rest of my early brassiere collection.
Here's a pretty homemade one.

It's light yellow silk, but may have been pink at one time.  The filet lace is handmade and cream colored.  The straps are grosgrain ribbon.

Here's the back closing.  The maker added some elastic as she gained a little weight.  That's hook and eye tape.

Check out how the maker folded and stitched the lace to make a tight fit.  She didn't cut the beautiful lace.

1940's Yarn Sample Book

While going though some old magazines from my stash today I ran across this F & K Yarn Company sample book.  There is no date on the catalog, but it is from the 1940's, judging by the fashions.  It looks like they were pitching door-to-door sales by housewives here. I suppose they had "Yarn Parties" and pooled their orders.  Anyway, it's fun to look at the amazing variety of wool and silk yarns that were available at the time.

I couldn't find anything on the F & K Yarn Company, but on one of the pages that I didn't reproduce here, their advisory board shows that Jane Franklin, Leading Authority in Hand Knitting, was their Chief Instructress, and on another page was listed J A Keller, Prop.

Transference

I found these iron-on transfers at an estate sale last week and bought them purely because they feature magazines that I love.  It's getting harder and harder to find good uncut copies of The Designer and The Delineator anymore.  In fact, I also bought a few loose fashion illustrations from this same sale--cut from the pages of The Delineator of 1915.

The dress below is kind of deceptive, as when you actually make the skirt, it is quite a bit wider than that.  I made a dress from a 1919 pattern, so I found this out.  Ankle-hobbling dresses were all the rage in about 1913, but women soon learned it was really hard to get around in them.  In fact, the woman I bought the lace from that I used to embellish said 1919 dress was in her '90's at the time, in the 1980's, and described a dress she had bought in 1913 which was the height of fashion.  She couldn't lift her foot high enough to get on the streetcar!  She was mightily embarrassed to have to hike her skirt to do it.

Here I am in the 1919 dress and vintage hat and a good case of sunburn.

You can see one of my prized 1929 McCall's patterns in the background and a Singer bird card.

Hankie Corsages

In my constant quest to find things that people might want to buy from me I have started selling handkerchiefs.  Some that I just acquired from my Mom that were in my Grandmother's stash had some silverfish damage but were still beautiful.  What to do?  I have made them into corsages--or fascinators if you wish.  What do you think?

I've also started making pincushions.

The tops twist off and you can stash things inside.