TUTORIAL - A French Bustle

I recently made a French bustle for a wedding dress.  Let me show you how I made it, and show the bridesmaid(s) how to bustle it on the day of the wedding! 

A bustle on a trained dress is a way of lifting the train off the floor so the wearer can dance or move in a crowd without disaster.  The first dance is usually a ballroom dance, so the woman walks backward the whole time.  She doesn't want to step on her train! 

There are different types of bustles, and in-consistent nomenclature.  The type of bustle your dress gets is partially determined by the type of skirt and train you have. 

I'll be showing the French bustle, also called an under-bustle.  It looks a bit like the robe a la polonaise and works well with dresses that have details at the top of the skirt.  I like it especially when the train is full and long; when the train is not very full, the French bustle starts looking more like the bride went to the bathroom and caught her skirt in her undies...

(Bridesmaids of this bride, you can scroll down to the header "How to Bustle This Gown" for your tutorial!)

PINNING AND SEWING

Let's start with the train that I have to work with.  Here's the dress at the first fitting, with the zipper area pinned tighter and the original hem length.

You can see that the silver and sparkly floral motifs of the bodice are appliqued over the top of the skirt, too.  For this reason, I don't want to do an over-bustle, which would pick the train up and put it atop the back of the dress; that would cover the cascading flowers!  Instead I pin an under-bustle/French Bustle and take a picture of it to show my client, and she approves. 

My first attempt is clumsy, but when my client is gone I experiment some more and figure out a more attractive French bustle on my dress form. 

Here's my later experiment, after all the other alterations are finished.  It ends up being a three point bustle.  In bustling, each "point" is a place where you pick up a spot and attach it higher up.  If I could get the whole train up with one hook&eye or one button, that would be a "one point bustle".  This train has a wide expanse, so when I pick up the Center Back (first point), it creates floppy bunny ears on the sides, which I then have to pick up (second and third point).  In this bustle, all three points at the bottom attach to the same spot just at the base of the zipper. 

My goal as I pin and tuck is to get a flatteringly round shape that doesn't hide the appliqued motifs on the back.  And of course to get the hem up off the ground! 

(What about the petticoat net and tulle?, you may ask.  All the underskirts have been trimmed to be level with the front hem of the skirt, and the bustling happens just with the train fabric, on top of the petticoat net.) 

In my experimenting stage, I use large safety pins to mark the points and connect them to each other (pic to the left).  For the final bustle, I use plastic rings (Dritz sells them "for cafe curtains and tie-backs") and bias tape to make loops.  I could use twill tape loops, instead, but I have the rings in my stash.

First I pin the rings to the seam allowances at the bustle points.  Bearing in mind that they'll be pulled upward, I sew them facing in that direction.  Then I take a scrap of red, somewhat coarsely textured ribbon and pin that to the bottom of the zipper and the seam allowances there.  Wanting to make things easy for the bridal attendants and secure while the bride is moving, sitting, and dancing, I choose red because it's visible in the midst of all that white fabric (and the skirt is opaque enough to conceal the color when the dress is down).  I choose a coarse texture to make it grippy when it's tied in a bow.  I test the bustle one more time before hand-sewing things in place, catching only seam allowances and zipper tape in my stitches, so nothing shows from the outside of the gown.

The plastic ring in place.

Notice the rings are pointing upward?

HOW TO BUSTLE THIS GOWN!

All right, bridal attendants, this is your section!  To bustle this gown, lift the train up (have the bride turn her back to a wall while you do this, of go into a private room!), find the red ribbons, and thread them through the three loops like so:

Notice that only one ribbon end goes through the Center Back ring (top one in picture)?  If you put both ribbon ends through it, they'll slide right out again.  Put one ribbon end through it and tie it to the other. 

But actually, you'll want to pull the whole thing tighter, almost up to the base of the zipper, and tie your bow there.  Then flip the train back down and fluff the skirt so it lies attractively. 

All tied up in a bow!

Finished bustle

RE: WEARING CONSIDERATIONS

• I'm not sure whether the plastic rings may be annoying to sit on... I'd be curious to get feedback on that!  If they are annoying, it's a good argument for doing twill tape loops next time. 
• I don't think a knot or double bow is necessary for holding this bustle up, because the red tape is quite textured and stays in a simple bow without slipping.  If the bride is dancing vigorously and the train wants to fall, though, by all means do a tighter bow or double bow... just be aware that it'll be annoying to untie later.