Corset

The corset is a part of a women's festive outfit, the so-called sieve costume; namely, wives of merchants trading in sieves wore it. It is laced up at the front with a red ribbon, has a large cut-out at the front and reaches behind the hips. It is made of a fabric brocade, and the background is brick-red, with parallel wavy lines woven with golden threads, interspersed with eight-petalled flowers. The bodice cut consists of two fronts, two triangular side gussets and a back with a slit in the middle of the lower part. However, the gussets inserted at the sides in the slit form overlapping flaps. All the edges are trimmed with blue edging with serrated edges, and it is entirely lined with self-striped linen. The corset is hand-sewn with linen thread and the trimmings with silk.

The tradition of wearing the corset survived the longest in Tarnogród, but only until 1900. That was also the final period of this type of costume, worn only by the wealthy townsfolk of Biłgoraj and Tarnogród. A sieve-making centre had been developing in these towns since the 17th century, and people selling sieves reached not only the whole of Poland, but even Sweden, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Persia and, in the 19th century, Russia as well. The merchants sold sieves for a considerable profit, often becoming very wealthy. From their distant travels, they brought back costly fabrics used to sew individual elements of the costume, for example, skirts, aprons, and corsets. This costume soon began to stand out against other costumes of the Lublin region due to the richness of materials used and the form of individual garments. The described corset deserves special mention as its cut is reminiscent of gentry garments worn in the 17th century.