Gallery:

December 2007
In which I try on my bustle for the first time.

August 2006
Frilly, ruffly, bustle goodness!!

Dress Diary:

November 2007

Nov 20 2006
This week has been pretty *eh* so I just indulged in a little retail therapy and ordered myself the early Christmas present of costume patterns. Yes you wicked Costume College Victorian costumers, you win!! To the dark side I go. pinkdiamond's latest picture post (of her gorgeous Wishing Gown) was the last straw. But really I blame jennil & laurenmonkey most of all. You are such a bad influence - all of you!

I got the underwear patterns (TV101 & LM100 plus the bustle wire) for now. As boring as it is, underwear must come first. These things seem much less painful on the checkbook when bought in pieces anyway.

Nov 26
My TV patterns arrived on Friday - yay! I just got to sitting down and reading through them. It all looks pretty straight forward. It's always a good sign when you understand the gist of the directions the first time through.

Nov 30

In bustle news, laurenmonkey was kind enough to pick up this eyelet lace for my bustle in the LA fabric district. It was a bit of a treat but I figured I'd only ever make the one bustle so I might as well do it right and I'll save days hemming those ruffles. Besides it's so purr-dy!

According to the pattern I need 16.5 yds of 6" ruffles (unhemmed) and I'm getting 15yds of 10" lace. Even adding a extra layer for height (which I suspect I'll have to do) I think that will work. I'm all about fudging you know!

Dec 23
The eyelet just arrived. Oh my gosh - it's gorgeous! The pics totally didn't do it justice.

Nov 4 2007

I've discouragingly little to show for all my sewing time this weekend. *sigh* I actually started on the long awaited 1875 outfit - don't faint! It's only taken me a year to start this project in earnest! Sad I know but better late than never, right?

I started work on this project last night with the tracing of the pattern onto tissue paper and the cutting of the fabric. Th only change to the pattern was to lengthen it. The pattern was WAY short for me, particularly the overlay. Also the cotton I decided on from the stash was super thin so I cut extra layers for the top front and top back.

I did the marking and started on the sewing tonight. So far I've taken out almost as much as I've sewn. It would have gone much smoother if I'd actually read the directions correctly and not been talking on the phone to Bridget while I worked. Yeah.

My big snag of the evening is NOT my fault however. The pre-cut steel kit I bought from Truely Victorian gave me boning too long (by .5 "-1") for the boning channels. Correct me if I'm wrong but does that not defeat the whole purpose of buying it pre-cut from the pattern maker? Yep, I thought so. *sigh*

So I have a few options:

1 - re-do the bias tape that I have so that I have an over lap onto the front piece.
2 - re-cut & mark a back piece that fits the boning lengths (the next size up?, a bigger bustle is okay, right?)
3 - pay too much for shipping, buy tips and cut boning down

It's too late to sort out issues so I'm leaving it until the morning. You know I just realized that all my lace is flat and has to be gathered... goody.

Nov 6
I'm trying to be more diligent about this costuming thing so I've been working on my bustle a little everyday. I figure an hour or two of work a day is better than nothing. Just trying to avoid that last minute scrambling before CC.

So far I've cut a new panel to fit my pre-cut boning. It seemed the simplest option since the whole point was to not have to cut and tip boning. So my bustle will be 1" larger than it's supposed to be. Whatever. Tonight I finished sewing up the new panel, all the bone casings neatly stiched down and everything. Now to work on the petticoat part...

I'd like to finish off the first panel too. The panel looks so darn nice, I really took my time making sure it was tidy looking. It's just 1" too narrow. I've got some extra hoop wire around the house (just no tips) so I thought I'd whip it up as a simple bustle and sell it on e-bay or something. Waste not, want not, right?!

Nov 9
My bustle is progressing and is starting to actually look like a bustle. Some ribbons and a hem and it's done, then onto the overlay part. Before I can continue on though I have a quick mending-for-pay job to do. Then it's on to ruffly goodness - yay!

Nov 17
You know it occurs to me, now that I'm 2/3 the way through adding ruffles to my bustle petticoat, that I probably should have washed the lace before I used it. Umm oops!

The main bustle part is done, yay! Mom has been busy all week putting up Christmas decorations so I eyeballed the hem on my own. Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. I think I've got the boning tied correctly, there's quite a bit of variation there with the internal ties. The ties are temporary navy blue ribbon safely pinned in, soon to be replaced with white ribbon bought especially for the purpose.

I'm not happy with the way the waistband gaps at the back. Has anyone else had this problem, or did I do something really wrong? Assuming it's just a fitting thing, I'll take the waist band off and put a dart or something in there so it's not bulky back there.

My goal is to get the overlay done today, although right now I think I'm ready for a nap. *coughsniffcough*

Nov 18

I finished it - yay! Not bad for a sickie, aye? I still have to sew it on the bustle but the overlay itself is finished. I even put in some tucks and trimmed down the bustle's waistband in back.

The overlay wasn't too bad, just lots of measuring, multiplying, gathering and pinning. I didn't follow the pattern much as I was using much wider lace than suggested. I also lengthened the overlay (as always) which threw off all of the markings anyway.

So I started with the top ruffle & bottom ruffles. I then filled the overlay in with three inner ruffles. Those I pinned at first, eyeballing it so that the designs would look even. It came out pretty darn perfect the first try which made me happy. I meant to track how much yardage I actually used but neglected to write down my numbers as I went along so I'll have to re construct that later. I have over 3 yards of lace left so I'm trying to decide if I want to add a ruffle to the bottom of the bustle proper or save it for a separate under petticoat. I don't know.

I really liked the look of the bustle petticoat without the ruffles but man it looks great with them! What is it about rows of ruffled lace? It just makes me giggle inside when I look at them.

Nov 20
After reading this diary, Heather, owner and designer for Truely Victorian, wrote me in very nice note apologizing for the oversized bustle wires, offering to make it right. Cool!

I had thought about contacting her about the mistake at the time but I was on such a roll with the garment I didn't want a delay, fearing I'd lose my momentum. I'm glad she wrote me though, I feel much more confident about ordering such things in the future. Mistakes happen but true customer service is rare; it's great to know that TV is on top of it!

Nov 21 2007

I stiched the overylay on the top and replaced the ties with pretty white ribbon.

Also the gallery is now open with pics of the bustle on Narcissa.

Dec 6

This morning I tried on my bustle for the first time. I love the bustle, it's so light - I imagined it would feel heavier. I probably made the overlay a little long (without shoes it brushes the floor) but I like it so it's staying as is.