Hooray for quick bustle dresses! My newest completed (or nearly completed) historical costume is an easy bustle dress made while teaching the online Victorian Bustle Day Dress class. I kept the design pretty basic as I needed something I could actually finish in about six weeks. Below is the fashion plate I used for inspiration. Read More...
Tag: Bustle Era
How to Make Ribbon Bows for Victorian Costumes
I’ve had quite a lot of costumers ask me recently about making bows for bustle dresses. Since bows are THE Victorian trim this tutorial will work for most 19th century garments. This video tutorial will show you how to make one up quickly. Read More...
The 3-Hour Hat Non-Tutorial
Making hats is an elusive process – at least in the research portion. So anytime a tutorial pops up online showing how to make one, we rabid costumers gobble up each and every delicious photo trying to decipher which piece is what and where it goes in relation to other pieces. Well… unfortunately this is Read More...
How to Calculate Yardage for Ruffles
Ruffles are SO Victorian! You see them on so many skirts from the 1830s all the way through the early 1880s. But how do you figure how much fabric you’ll need for these fluffy strips of trim? 1 yard? 5 yards? Here is the easy formula for you… Read More...
The Red Dress: 1883 Caramel Apple Dress
Here is my finished bustle at its debut at Costume College 2012! It all started last December with the idea that I needed a “quick” bustle dress. (yeah, right!) Then I was on this kick that I HAD to have a red costume. Because every woman needs a red dress… you know. 🙂 Well, the “quick” part Read More...
Boning in Bustle Bodices
It wasn’t only the corsets in the late 19th Century that had boning in them. No, women’s bodices did too. You might be thinking: Why? Well, corset boning helps hold the body in a fashionable silhouette, whereas boning in a bodice holds the bodice in place. The two garments each have their place for a Read More...
Why Sewing Trim to The Back of a Hem is a Good Thing
A certain look is produced when trim, such as lace, fringe or a ruffle, is tacked to the hem of a skirt. The basic thought is to first finish the hem (by hand or machine). Then sew on the lace on top. I did this method for many years and many costumes. But then I Read More...
Cotton Fabrics for Bustle Foundation Skirts
Do you love cotton? You already know I do. In fact, many of my costumes get their start from a cotton textile and my historical garments have at least one cotton material in them. This is true for all of them – especially those poufy bustles of the 1870s and 80s. The base for all Read More...