Bustle pad, c. 1880s, side view

c. 1880s. Cream cotton twill crescent-shaped bustle pad, tied to the waist with a cotton twill tape.
A horsehair-stuffed crescent-shaped pad with a round profile tapering to sharp points is sewn to a small rectangular strip of the same fabric, which serves as the flexible interface between the rigid pad and the cotton twill tape waistband. The rectangular strip has two metal hooks at its top edge designed to catch onto the waistband of a petticoat worn beneath to help keep it in place. Machine-sewn and hand-sewn.

The Irma G. Bowen Historic Clothing Collection digital catalog was produced by the UNH Library Digital Collection Initiative, supported in part by a grant from the Mooseplate program and New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. Additional funding provided by the E. Ruth Buxton Stephenson Memorial Fund.

Photography copyright, Astrida Schaeffer.