Corset Day

From the seller:


This antique Victorian era beige coutil cording blue embroidered side lacing maternity corset dates from 1881. It is made of a drab beige brown color cotton coutil canvas fabric, with robin's egg blue embroidered decorative scrolling spiral designs on the front and a white crochet lace trim sewn around the top. This lovely ladies lingerie maternity style corset has two rows of adjustable lacing closures on the back sides, a steel hook straight busk front, over the bust style with cording, quilting and boned stays sewn inside. There is a patent date of Jan. 18, 1881 on the front hook closure and is a museum deaccession, with the inventory id numbers and date 1880 hand written inside. The corset measures 13 1/2 inches long, with a 22 inch waist and 36 inch bust which the corset lacing can be let out and made larger. It is in as-is fair wearable condition, with staining discoloration fading and some fraying on the bone casings and corset strings. This is truly a rare find!

From Me:

I seriously doubt this is a maternity corset. Instead, I think the back placket is just for extra comfort so the lacing can be loosened more easily and still be wearable. A maternity corset at this point in time typically has lacing in the lower stomach area so that the front can be expanded without loosing support.