There's a hustle and bustle...

As part of our lesson in Advanced Draping, we had to do a bustle. After I unstuck myself from the ceiling from excitement when Miss Ish announced it before class ended,  I went straight to my DVD collection and watched Bram Stoker's Dracula. I knew exactly the kind of bustle I wanted to drape for this class. It was Mina Harker's dress embroidered with Laurel leaves.

I am going to make this dress someday.

I had to pause and rewind this scene so many times to figure out how to drape the skirt. I was still thinking about it until bustle day. Then the solution hit me like a ton of bricks five minutes after class started. Funny how things just fall into place at the last minute, or in my case, five minutes after the deadline.

I made a little dumpling shaped pillow/bustlepad/neck support for long car rides so my bustle would be supported on my dress form. It's wonderful that you can see how foundation garments really give you the silhouette of the era (or something close to it, at least)

I used muslin, twill tape and a ton of pins. The poufs at the back were not as hard to do as the swags in front. I would have wanted to do the pleated underskirt as Mina wore in the movie, but I didn't have time to make all those pleats.

I had a bit of fun with it after I got the poufs I wanted. Then Miss Ish wanted us to make sleeves. I picked Leg of Mutton and after looking at pictures in class, I decided to drape a Demi Gigot.

I added pintucks as an afterthought.

In the background is Trisha doing something fabulous.

Poufy on top, fitted at the bottom. Is this some kind of mullet for sleeves?

P.S. I just remembered that I did make a taffeta version of this gigantic bustle.

It's shiny blue blob on the right. Yes, I know it's a crapstastic picture. Shurturrrp. (The red coat-like thing on the left is mine as well) I WILL get better pictures, I promise.