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| It is rather like an insect carapace, isn’t it. |
Last Friday night, I took a class with the industrious Mary Crawley, leader of the local Steampunk club, High Desert Steam, to learn how to make this clever, collapsible, wire bustle.
Modeled after an example from the V&A, this bustle is constructed of 6 struts, a cross piece, twill tape, and elbow grease.
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| Here is the effect it has on a bustle skirt. |
We made ours out of wire coat hangers, straightened then bent into consecutive arcs, and threaded onto the wire cross piece. With Mary’s help, it took about 2 hours to complete the whole thing, start to finish, and now I have a lightweight, rather large bustle to put under future 1880s costumes. Yay!
18 Comments
Unknown
July 30, 2012 at 12:54 AMWhat a brilliant project, a great way to spend two hours!
Anonymous
July 30, 2012 at 1:16 AMThat is great… would you happen to have the instructions to create this? I do a LOT of bustle era costuming and would love a new bustle. Mine is the laughing moon (pillow like) version.
~Elizabeth
Lauren Stowell
July 30, 2012 at 1:46 AMI don't have any written instructions for it. It was a class given locally, but I will ask Mary if she has a hand out or anything like that
Melissa
July 30, 2012 at 2:47 AMLike Celticgoddess81 I would love to see some instructions on how to make this bustle. Pretty please with a parasol on top? 😉
Matthew and Elyse
July 30, 2012 at 1:20 AMAwesome – just one question: does the cross piece then knock against the back of the thighs every time you take a step?
Lauren Stowell
July 30, 2012 at 1:46 AMI'm not sure – I haven't worn this, had it "in action" yet.
Lauren
July 30, 2012 at 1:23 AMSweet!!!
Anonymous
July 30, 2012 at 2:21 AMI love it! I have been looking at online pattern for these for a few months now. I Started my first bustle gown back in Dec with a skirt from my own pattern. I have just used a pillow bustle so far but I love this!
Karen
July 30, 2012 at 8:30 AMgreat – especially the collapsible bit – saves space when travelling! Gonna have a go at making one myself – see if it bangs against the back of the thighs. Plus finally something nice to do with wire coathangers – if I haven't already binned all mine.
Isis
July 30, 2012 at 9:14 AMNeat!
Lauren
July 30, 2012 at 5:07 PMWhat a great idea!!
Emily Kate
July 30, 2012 at 6:28 PMThis is awesome!! I may just have to give this a shot–it looks like a good replacement for the pillow bustle I'm currently using. (Or *would* be using if I ever finished my bustle dress…) It looks handy, and not too hard to sit down in 🙂
Liann
July 30, 2012 at 7:33 PMGreat bustle, looks nice and sturdy and will hold up the bustle well 🙂
Jenny
July 30, 2012 at 9:03 PMCould you make the cross piece out of twill tape? Looks wonderful and really makes the skirt look perfect!
Lauren Stowell
July 30, 2012 at 9:42 PMI suppose it could be, if you tie the ends in knots, once you have the arcs threaded on…
Pica Maloria
July 31, 2012 at 11:42 PMUh, Hi! I'm Mary, the chick with the bustle class.
@Matthew and Elyse: It doesn't knock against the back of your thighs if measured properly – it should hit at the lower part of your bum, before the final sweep to the buthigh region. Here's a good pic of where it should hit: http://micheleroohani.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Auxiliary-bustles-skirt-1875-michele-roohani.jpg
@Frecklehead: yyyesss… you could. I don't know if I would though. Making the pivot piece out of wire (I use dead soft hardware store wire – the stuff you can buy super cheap) makes it super easy for the struts to pivot around for collapsing and re-opening. If your worried about the wire being kinda owie – it's surprisingly easy to forget you're wearing it. Admittedly, I've never worn *super* heavy draperies over it, but if you're wearing a petticoat and bloomers of some kind, I'd think you'd be fine.
I'll do my best to photo/write up a tutorial sometime soon and pass it on.
Pica Maloria
August 1, 2012 at 12:01 AMUGH! *you're!!
Sheena
August 9, 2012 at 5:57 AMLauren, you solved one of my major problems! Thank you so much for this post, you seriously saved my bacon… and sanity. I linked to you in this post: http://mysewingsickness.wordpress.com/2012/08/08/bustle-business/