Do the Bustle!

Our last big task on our last day of dress making was to do the bustle. As usual, this proved to be more complicated and more time consuming than we imagined.

I took out Mom's wedding dress that I had worn and we examined how the bustle was created on that dress. It actually looked quite simple!  Three buttons, three loops, hidden by a layer of lace. This should be a snap!

We began with a run to Jo Ann's for buttons and something to make hanger straps and button looping out of. We chose some buttons that look pearly from the top, but have a good sturdy post to hang a loop off of.

Jenny applying the loops

Back at home, we put Stephanie into the dress. When digging out my wedding dress, I found a hoop skirt  I had worn underneath it. I suggested she try the dress on with the hoop underneath to see how that looked. It was amazing. The hoop allows the dress to hang even better. So, hoop it is.

Bustle in progress

With her in the dress, we worked on creating the bustle. The gown under the lace was relatively easy to bustle. The lace over skirt was a bit more complicated. With the pick-ups of flowers, the hem isn't even. The flowers also make it tricky for where to put a bustle, and we wanted the lace to look pretty when bustled.

We worked for about an hour with her in the dress, and then she had to run off and do other wedding related stuff, so we were left to try to work it out on our own. We put on the hanger straps so we could hang the dress while working on the bustle.  The only hanging place available was the curtain rod in the living room window.

Dress hanging in the window

We spent a couple hours on the lace over skirt's bustle. One concern we had was how to disguise the location of the buttons. After a bit of discussion and consultation, we determined we could use the extra flower petals and make the buttons into flowers. This worked with some of the buttons, but some of them are already close to flowers. They will have to stand on their own.

Next we needed to make the loops. It was difficult to know how big--or in this case, how small--the loops should be. They needed to be big enough to fit over the button but snug enough to stay on when she moves around. Once again, not as simple as it might appear. We consulted YouTube, but didn't get much help on these matters, and so were left to figure it out as we went.

In the meantime, the bride and groom arrived back at home and with the groom driving, Stephanie spotted the wedding dress in the window. They had not pulled to a complete stop when Stephanie threw her hand over Thomas's eyes to prevent him from seeing the dress. She has her priorities straight!

It was nearing five o'clock before we had the bustle done. We had positioned, sewn, removed, and repositioned flowers and loops and buttons for nearly eight hours--with lunch and a few other small dress-related tasks thrown in. Jenny tacked on the ruching panel and it looks much better now.

The bustle

But in the end, it was finally the end!  There were tears of joy and a bit of sadness that the project was over. A toast to our success, and then Jenny was on her way home to see her much neglected husband.

We decided we should have a party to celebrate the completion of the dress. Saturday, August 4th looks good. Oh, and I guess there's a wedding, then, too.