I get asked quite often: “How in the world does one sit in a dress like that?!” No, really. How DO you sit down?
To help you all out with that burning question… here’s a video tutorial with tips for how to sit down when wearing a bustle dress from the 1870s or 1880s.
See! Not hard at all!
Have you had issues sitting in a bustle dress? Do you avoid making and/or wearing a bustle dress because of the seemingly impossible task of moving and sitting?
Share your sitting story below. 🙂
Wow cool! I was just wondering how you would sit down in a bustle dress when I came across your video. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Emma!
Jennifer, what I’d really like to know is how to choose fabrics and design for your bustle skirt that won’t end up a crumpled mess and have all the poof and volume squashed flat when you first sit down!
I’ve finished my Regency gown and my 1893 dancing dress, and had great fun at the events to which I wore them. Next year the Victorian Ball sub-theme is Natural Form, and to my surprise I want to go with it. It would be a great learning experience; and I found that it’s lots of fun when lots of people dress according to the theme.. I want to make two dresses: a silk ballgown and a cotton day dress. I’m especially concerned about squashing the life out of any flounces and trimmings on my day dress when I sit down. What might you recommend?
Thanks!
Yours confusedly,
Anna
Have you read the articles I have on bustle fabrics and flatlining? You can find links on this summary page. Sitting comes naturally when wearing clothing you make. Some squash can’t be helped. Vinegar can help a little. For even more specific detail help with your dresses I’d recommend my Bustle Day Dress Class with which we have a private Facebook group where others can chime in besides getting my help on your project.
That was so helpful! Thank you very much.
I’d read the page on Constructing a Victorian Bustle Dress, but had forgotten it existed. 😉 I found the ‘Cotton Fabrics for Bustle Foundation Skirts’ page very useful too. The whole matter of making these dresses is certainly seeming less confusing and impossible as a result!
I think the Bustle Day Dress class sounds like an excellent idea. Thanks very much.
Yay!! 🙂
When I sit down while wearing my hoop skirt, my husband calls it “docking maneuvers.” (Don’t get me started on using the bathroom!)
I loved your video about how to sit with a bustle dress. My daughter and her husband had a table and chair set (antique) from Switzerland where the chairs were made with elongated, cushioned seats and were very low to the ground.
My mother showed up with this peculiar, long-seated upholstered chair. I asked why it was shaped so funny. She explained that in the old days, ladies all had huge bustles and had to sit forward on the chair seat. Have no idea how one would sit on a regular chair though.
Sitting in a bustle is much easier than having to kneel in a dress with a full hoop skirt. I once had to wear one for a theatrical costume…we all had a very bizzare “wardrobe malfunction” while attempting to kneel as the scripted blocking was 🙂
I used to be confused about how the ladies would sit down. Now it makes sense. I love your cat! I have two big fluffy orange cats!
I don’t like pillow bustles. I can sit easily in a wired bustle because they collapse so nicely and are so much easier than the hoop-tilt necessary to sit in a farthingale or crinoline.
This video explains a lot about behaviors that became associated with ladylike behavior as well. I always wondered *why * women were supposed to perch on a chair and not lean back…or even why so few chairs had arms in ladies’ quarters! While there are probably other reasons besides ladies bustles, this video made me realize that what seems now like an oddity actually made complete sense with things like clothing norms of the time.
My trickiest bustle-wearing activity has always been the car. It is so difficult to “perch” on a car seat, and it is even worse when you are driving and not the passenger!
I have tended to take the bustle off and put it on once I arrive. Then you merely have to contend with keeping your skirts from dragging along the ground.
How do you tackle getting in a car and driving in a bustle dress. I am just finishing my first and tomorrow plan to wear it while giving tours. Today I am going to give getting in the car a try. If I can’t I have to come up with a plan B, like carrying in the overskirt and putting it on at the park!
A long, long time ago I interviewed an old lady born in the UK in the 1880s – I was researching domestic médicine at the time. She told me that from about the age of 13 (when little girls should start acting like Young ladies) her meal times were difficult. Her mother insisted that the “Young ladies” in the family sit on a dining romm chair with a thick book placed at the back of the seat – leaving a little shelf to sit on ( or rather perch on). In this way she learnt how to sit in a chair in the approved manner.
She thought it was very unfair that her brothers did not have this torture – they could sit back comfortably in their chairs. Another example of boy / girl values – her brothers were always asked if they wanted second helpings of pudding ( to which they always said ‘yes’). The girls were not asked and if one them suggested second helpings they were told that it was unladylike and that they should wear tighter stays even at the age of 13!
Betty
What a different age and society we live in now!
The only time I’ve had trouble sitting in a bustle dress was on the A train heading to Brooklyn for a party (I live in Manhattan). Subway seats are slippery, rather shallow, and uncomfortable at the best of times, and nearly impossible to navigate when wearing a bustle. Thankfully, the train was pretty empty on the way back, and I figured out how to sit sideways for the trip home. My husband had it way easier in his outfit. If you’re wondering why I was on a subway wearing a full bustle dress, it’s because there was no way I was fitting in a car, and in NYC it’s pretty normal to see all kinds of things on the subway. No one looked twice.
As always Jennifer, another great video! It’s the next best thing to having you in our homes for private lessons, I so appreciate all you do!
Karen
Thanks Karen.
I’ve actually found that the whole affair of sitting in a bustle is really not as complicated as it looks; once you put on the tail and petticoats things come pretty naturally, as most of it seems to be common sense to me.
I do know though that it takes a bit of getting used to, especially when you put it all on the first time. 🙂
That’s certainly true. We’re not used to wearing all those layers at once so moving and sitting takes practice. But you’re right, it’s not too hard after a few tries.
Great video. You make it look so easy!
Your video reminded me of a saying from my grandmother – “A lady’s back and the back of a chair should never be on speaking terms.”
Terrific video!
Jennifer,
I thought this video was so helpful! Do you have a similar version for hoops or cage crinolines? Also, what is the best etiquette for getting through narrower doorways in your hoops? Should you compress the sides with your hands or just walk through and let them manage themselves?
Thanks!
Usually I push on the hoop on only one side to swing it diagonally to move through a narrow doorway. I’ll keep this in mind for another video tutorial.
The main thing to remember when sitting in a hoop is that it’s the exact opposite of sitting in a modern skirt. You don’t swoop your skirt under you in the back, as that just pushes up the front and exposes EVERYTHING. Rather, you sort of gather up the bones in the back (as Jennifer does with the bustle boning here) until your skirt spreads out across the sides of the (armless) chair or sofa.
Cathy, I’ve worn a farthingale, which is an Elizabethan version of a hoop skirt, and pretty much “sit forward on the chair, not trying to lean back” is the only thing you need to know.
Awesome video. I always wondered how the actresses in those gorgeous dresses be sitting down in them as well. Thank you.
This is an excellent tutorial…I intend to make a dress with a huge floofy bustle one day, but have wondered how to sit down while wearing it. Thanks!
Yay! I was so excited to see this video had been posted! Making a bustle dress is my dream project this summer, and I’d been so worried about how I was going to sit down in the thing without crushing it. Thanks so much!
Oh, and you have a lovely fluffy cat. I assume it must have been asleep, since it didn’t even react when the chair came scooting back at it. 😀
Haha! No, he was awake. He just ignored the chair pushing into him. 🙂 That’s his favorite perch.
Wow, I didn’t even see the cat! He is indeed gorgeous!
I also have a fluff-monster disguised as a cat – a Norwegian forest cat…how do you keep cat hair out of your garments? It just flies around and gets into everything!
I consider my garments unfinished until I have purposely sewed a cat hair (usually several) into a seam. Yes… I’ve lived with long-haired cats for 15 years – it gets everywhere! But I won’t live without these friends.
Thank you! No Costume is Complete Without Cat hair!
Cat hair is a condiment.
You know you’re a cat breeder when your children know all four genders: male, female, neuter, and spay….and which ones can be together and when.