Do you have documentation of mastectomies being performed in the 1860s? I'm not great on my knowledge of historical surgery techniques but I know anaesthetics were fairly primitive in those days and breasts are very vascular so not the easiest surgery to perform. I've seen various advertisements for bust improvers to help women who wanted to increase the apparent size of their bust but that's mostly attached to corset covers. I've been told that a stocking full of rice or sawdust does a good job of imitating the squishiness of breast tissue for dressmakers' dummies, it's at least a period plausible solution.
On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 4:37 AM Pinner, Kathryn <[email protected]> wrote: > > Does anyone know what a woman in the 1860s would use to fill in her corset > when she had a breast removed for cancer? > > > Kate Pinner > > Costume & Scenic Design > > Tech. Coord., Kelsey Theatre, MCCC > > 609-570-3584 > > [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> > > > _______________________________________________ > h-costume mailing list > [email protected] > https://indra.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] https://indra.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
