My dress actually has a permanent bustle as part of it's design. It's very pretty, wonder if that's a new thing to have bustles as part of the design. I will still have to bustle the rest of the train at the reception. Any thoughts about a permanent bustle.....is this a new style? I imagine it goes back to a style used by the french in the early part of the century?
Hello Donna,
As you thought yes you will have to bustle the 2 layer seperatly. Otherwise you will end up having to tack together the layers and it wont look pretty. Go to the web site I suggested to Marje and Cindy for reference on bustles. I do believe that Leanna is in your area. Normally when you purchase a wedding gown the vendor should offer you alterations on location or if not he should at least have a referal list to give you. A package of basic alteration, bust, waist, hem and bustle shoud cost around $450. If you are a perfect fit for your dress you have only the bustle to get done (wedding gowns does not come with the bustle) you are looking at around $150.
:) Hope I was of some help and good luck,
I googled 'bustle a wedding gown' and found this great site:
Http://www.leanna.com/Bridal/Bustles.htm
One of the pictures shows/explains how this seamstress does an apron backed gown too, plus they have a DVD you can buy with more instructions and pictures apparently.
My advice as someone who sells and thus works with gowns, is to not agree to anyone doing just a one button bustle at the back waist. If your gown is being bustled at the waist, be sure you have 3-5 different buttons or hooks made because the stress of sitting down on the train is sure to break one or two of them, unless you remember to really pick up the back of your gown every time you sit!. The French style bustle and California bustle are both more popular because the train is bustled to itself from underneath.
Also, once the bustle is made, be sure to have your Mom or MOH practise doing it up, as it can be tricky! On trick to remember is to alway start with the bustle tie/hook or whatever it is at the center seam of the gown...then go looking for the ones on each side of the center seam.
I am from Oregon and to have a bustle added it's like $35 or less and that's through David's Bridal which is usually more expensive. The local shops quoted me 10-25 dollars. My advice: just get it done by a professional. I don't know where they got $150 from.
I figured it out! I purchased a used book on sewing techniques and discovered that there is no single way to bustle a dress - you basically take your cues from the way the dress is made. This gave me confidence in that if I could adjust the bustle in a way I thought looked good, there would be no "wrong" way to do it.
There are 2 basic techniques: you can either gather the fabric on TOP of the back of the dress, or gather it from underneath the dress. My daughter's dress was in 2 pieces - an underneath silk sheath covered with another layer of lace on the dress. For the underneath part, I folded the extra layers under and fastened with velcro in such a way the velcro did now show. This brought the dress to floor-length in the back and sides.
For the lace I purchased heavy-duty snaps and clear elastic. I sewed the snaps over the elastic (just to give it extra strength so the lace wouldn't rip) in about 4 inch strips. I sewed the female side of the snaps on the underneath side of the lace about 10 inches from the center back and the male side also on the underneath side another 10 inches down. Also did this on the sides.
When the snaps came together, it created a bustle that raised the lace covering in gathers that laid nicely yet cleared the floor.
It's difficult to describe this in words - I hope this helps. The best thing to remember is that there is no single way to bustle a dress - just work with it!
Is there anyone out there that can help or provide advice. I need to bustle my wedding dress. I know how i want it to look; however, how and where do i sew the ties for the under-bustles? I will need to do 9 bustles (8 under and 1 over).
Please email me with ANY tips, pictures, instructions, etc. Much thanks!!!
Celia908@yahoo.com
I bustled my own dress. I just put it on a dress form and started pinning it up with safety pins. Once I got the desired look I replaced the pins with loops and ties. It took a little bit of time, but you could easily do this as a weekend project if you have a dress form, needle and thread and some gross-grain ribbon.
