elizabeth_mn (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elizabeth_mn) wrote2014-07-23 05:19 pm
elizabeth_mn) wrote2014-07-23 05:19 pm
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Three little bustles
I created these bustle pads as examples for my students in my Victorian Underclothes class a couple weeks ago. The class time limits and budget did not allow for making wire bustles, but I wanted to give my students options to enhance their silhouette. The goal was to help them create something simply and quickly that could be used for Victorian-era skirt supports.
I've shown each in back and profile view alone and underneath one petticoat. First, here is my petticoat on the form with nothing underneath for comparison. Pretty flat butt, eh? Let's see what we can do about that.
The first bustle support is the horsehair ruffle. I actually made this one a few years ago for use with natural form era. It's inspired by fashion plates and originals such as this one and this one here.
It's made from 3 rows of horsehair canvas hemmed and gathered onto a foundation piece of cotton canvas.
The horsehair under the petticoat gave a subtle but noticeable amount of fullness. I found that more skirts on top flattened the ruffles a bit and diminished the effect. I think cutting the horsehair ruffles across the grain and gathering them tighter could make this a better option.
Next up is a bustle pad inspired by some of the sketches in Fashion in Detail. It's a small half circle or half oval pad, tapered toward the top, which appears to be stitched down in places for a tufted effect.
Her examples are small, and they are sewn into the dress waistband. From the sketches you can see they were used in conjunction with wires in the skirt, not alone, but I took the idea and ran with it anyway, enlarging the shape to make a full bustle. I tufted the stuffing down through all the layers with heavy craft thread.
It gave the most generous amount of fullness of the three.
Finally I made a style inspired by this example here and that lovely paisley one from Fashion in Detail.
The shape I came up with was a longer, wider half oval than the one above, with the three channels pulled in with gathering stitches and sewn down. I really liked the look of this one better than the tufted version above, being less pillow-like.
But under the petticoat, its shape is not quite as oomphy and it's a bit too wide on the sides.
The verdict? I still like my lobster bustle best. But I feel like I cracked open a whole new-to-me area here and I want to keep digging and experimenting. Surviving bustle pads seem to be much rarer than wired styles, but they are interesting and unique. Here is the pinboard of non-wired bustle pads and ruffles with what I've found so far.
I've shown each in back and profile view alone and underneath one petticoat. First, here is my petticoat on the form with nothing underneath for comparison. Pretty flat butt, eh? Let's see what we can do about that.
The first bustle support is the horsehair ruffle. I actually made this one a few years ago for use with natural form era. It's inspired by fashion plates and originals such as this one and this one here.
It's made from 3 rows of horsehair canvas hemmed and gathered onto a foundation piece of cotton canvas.
The horsehair under the petticoat gave a subtle but noticeable amount of fullness. I found that more skirts on top flattened the ruffles a bit and diminished the effect. I think cutting the horsehair ruffles across the grain and gathering them tighter could make this a better option.
Next up is a bustle pad inspired by some of the sketches in Fashion in Detail. It's a small half circle or half oval pad, tapered toward the top, which appears to be stitched down in places for a tufted effect.
Her examples are small, and they are sewn into the dress waistband. From the sketches you can see they were used in conjunction with wires in the skirt, not alone, but I took the idea and ran with it anyway, enlarging the shape to make a full bustle. I tufted the stuffing down through all the layers with heavy craft thread.
It gave the most generous amount of fullness of the three.
Finally I made a style inspired by this example here and that lovely paisley one from Fashion in Detail.
The shape I came up with was a longer, wider half oval than the one above, with the three channels pulled in with gathering stitches and sewn down. I really liked the look of this one better than the tufted version above, being less pillow-like.
But under the petticoat, its shape is not quite as oomphy and it's a bit too wide on the sides.
The verdict? I still like my lobster bustle best. But I feel like I cracked open a whole new-to-me area here and I want to keep digging and experimenting. Surviving bustle pads seem to be much rarer than wired styles, but they are interesting and unique. Here is the pinboard of non-wired bustle pads and ruffles with what I've found so far.
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I never thought of using tailoring canvas for a bustle. That's pretty ingenious!
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