#stomacher

Stomacher

1760s-1770s

silk, trimmed with silk lace, silk ribbon, floss silk

Robe à la française with matching stomacher and petticoat ca. 1755 - 1760

Stomacher, c. 1730

When creating the Delhi Durbar Parure for Queen Mary, Garrards made a magnificent diamond and emerald stomacher out of the Cambridge Emeralds. The stomacher was adapted so various sections could be removed and reconfigured. This brooch was created from the bottom portion of the stomacher and hung with an emerald drop. It was inherited by The Queen in 1953. It is one of the few brooches that The Queen has worn in the center of her bodice, a fashion favored by her grandmother Queen Mary.

Step 1: cut a pattern in thick paper and try if for a bit (the paper pattern already took my body shape)

Step 2: starch the inner lining and the flimsier of the two fashion fabrics within an inch of their lives. The green gingham I'll use for the other side is thick enough I'm not worried it'll move around while I cut and sew it, it just needs a good press with the iron.

Queen Mary of Teck

At one point, the big stomacher was dismantled into other pieces:

- The current Cullinan V brooch

- The Cullinan VIII brooch saw the addition of the Cullinan VI drop

- The cabochon emerald stone surrounded by a diamond scroll frame has been turned into a brooch with the emerald drop of the stomacher

What happened to the upper part?

Did they keep the top part intact to be used as a brooch/stomacher and removed the lower remaining emeralds to be turned into sth else or used as an addition to other existing pieces? Had the little diamond wings and chains the same fate?