The Bustle

I made a bustle! I've had a bustle skirt for some time, but used it with an ingenious invention that included a pillow and some ribbon. I finally wanted to have a decent bustle to wear under the skirt, because I made plans to get a new top to wear with it. The bustle skirt silhouette is a bit tricky to achieve, because in addition to the right skirt and a bustle you need a corset and a top that fits over the corset and the skirt. Since the bustle and skirt sit at the natural waist and then flare out, most tops are too long and narrow to fit over the skirt.

But on to the bustle! I didn't take progress pictures because the tutorial I used had great pictures and it used a fabric other than black, making it a lot easier to see what's going on in each picture. I would have had black bias tape on black cotton with black thread, so not much to see there ;P

This is the tutorial I followed. I wanted my bustle to be easy to pack (already looking forward to the Victorian Picnic at WGT!) so I chose to make it with an open back and ribbons to tie bones to the wanted position. It's a bit fiddly to try and get the arch of each bone to match, but not too hard.

Side

The bustle can be worn over my pillow solution for extra poofiness. Here it's on its own. Over jeans ;P But you can see the silhouette nicely!

Back

And here's how the skirt looks with the bustle. I think the shape is great! The bustle also feels lighter and because it's so long, it gives much better support and shape to the skirt than the simple pillow that sits very high and just lets the skirt fall over it. I didn't bother with a corset, so the top bunches a bit and the waist is not as slim as the silhouette requires, but nice enough.

Sadly my grey background is too short (and the train is so long I couldn't fit with it to my normal full body shot spot ;D) to take full body pictures with, so you can't see the train. But once I take the time to go to Ikea once again for another curtain to sew to the current grey curtain, I promise a full body shot!

Fascinator - Made by me

Ruffle - Made by me

Top and skirt - Fan + Friend

Bustles are fun! I call the skirt my ass skirt so naturally the bustle
is an ass extension. Or maybe an ass enhancer?

I'm so excited for the new top, Tiina from Rogue is sewing it for me and will make it fit on top of a corset. The Fan + Friend top I wear in these pictures is nice, it can be adjusted with lacing in the back, but it leaves some extra fabric to hang behind my shoulders. A top made with the measurements taken with a corset on will work perfectly, and Tiina is making a little tail to the top so it's a genuine Victorian solution to tops not fitting on top of huge ass skirts.