To all who mourn in Israel, He will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory. Isaiah 61:3

Monday, August 17, 2015

Grape Soda Overskirt/Bustle Complete! Plus a Mini Tutorial!!

Well, it's done!!  I had a heck of a time deciding what to do with the bustling and made several prototypes before settling on the one that is now on Emma.  I went back to researching on Pinterest and found several examples of a wee puff at the top of the bustling.  I thought they were rather lovely and liked that they had a "formed" way about them and didn't just hang limply down the back.  I made more pleats and ruched more purple strips for both the apron and bustle.  The pattern I used for the apron was the TV208 1870 Trained Bustle Ensemble, the bustling was drafted by me!



Bustling Inspiration

Again, I really liked the puff at the top of these bustles.  They are nicely formed and aren't "hang-y".  I know...it's not a word, but that is the only way I can describe it!  hahahahahaa!!!!!


This puff looks like it is being supported by the white lace...


Pretty Pink Puff!!  Looks like a confection from a Pastry Shop!


The bow on the side of the puff on this one is super sweet...I used this, but with shorter tails on my bows as I am quickly running out of purple silk and still have the bodice to trim out!!  ACK!!!





This one also gives the illusion of the puff being supported by the ribbon band!!




I used the "support" band under my puff.  I thought about ruching the strip, but in the end thought it would be a bit over kill.




More pleats and ruching.

Mini Tutorial

On my last post about the underskirt, Val LaBore commented that perhaps I would do a detailed blog post about how I get my pleats and ruches straight....Here it is Val!!!

First, I make my pleats, ruffled, or ruched bits.  Then I start at the hem.  I always place my pleats/ruffles 1/2" past the hem.


Ha!  Ruler showing 1/2" past hem.


While keeping your ruler at the 1/2" place, gently lay your pleats/ruffles to the 1/2" mark.


Pin your pleat in place!


Gently lift your pleat and move the ruler to a space about 1.5" away from your original site.  Replace pleat to the 1/2" spot and pin.


Continue this until you have pinned all the pleating/ruffling around the hem of the skirt.


Another way to place the pleats is to make marks on the skirt and pin the pleats/ruffles at that mark.  Here, I found out where I wanted the pleat to be (1/2" past the hem).


I found that it was 3.5" up on the skirt and just used a disappearing ink pen and marked all the way across my "skirt".  (Ok, it was just a piece of fabric, but here we will pretend it is the skirt!!   Bwahahahahaha....)


Next, I just placed the pleat's edge along the marks and pinned them down.


Ta-Daaaaaa!!!!!  Ugh...ignore the crooked edge of the pleats...
Now you can sew the pleats down or you can start pinning the next layer on top to save a step.


Next step is the ruching...or lace, or other trim.  Start measuring again for correct placement.  Here I chose 3 1/4".  


Every 1.5-2" measure 3 1/4" and pin it in place.  When all the trim and pleats are pinned in place, sew ever so slightly to the side of the gathering pleats...all of them.  


Now this is where I go back and remove the gathering stitches.  I don't like the way the looser stitches look along side the permanent stitching.  

Voila!  You are done!!!

I hope you all have a most blessed week!!

g

26 comments:

  1. Ok, so I see how you would go on to the next row, and the next....
    It was kinda how I did my single row of 8" pleats on the bottom of my skirt but I measured up from the hem and marked where the top would be sewn down. I think I like how yours are all exactly 1" below the hem, incase your pleats happened to be slightly off in length.
    You are so good at the fiddly stuff. Now your little poofy butt needs a big butt bow!
    Val

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    1. Right. I like to make sure that first row is as close to being straight as possible. That way the rest of the routes will line up! I would love a big butt bow, but I am running out of fabric!! Ack! If I have some left over, that will happen!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  2. I'm going out of my mind with how amazing this is looking!!!

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    1. Thank you Lauren!! But you can't go out of your mind!! We need your shoe brilliance among other things!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  3. Wow Gina, lot of work, well done and perfekt pleats. What a nice color combination. Do you use a perfekt pleater for your pleats?

    Blessings!

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    1. Thank you Lieschen! The color combination was totally unexpected and unplanned but it totally worked!! I make my own perfect pleaters from card stock for the widths of pleats that I want! They are super easy to make!
      Blessings!
      g

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  4. The skirt looks great! Can hardly wait to see the whole whit the bodice! The bouffant bustle would really look better with a big sash/bow at the center back or aside, so if you will have fabric leftovers, really make one either as combination with the broidery and purple fabric... Hmm, talking about purple, could this shade be the "heliotrope"?

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Melinda! I agree with the statement about a bigger bow. If I had about a yard extra of the silk, I would totally do it, but I am wanting to trim a day and evening bodice. If I have any extra, the tails will at least be longer! The silk is more of a deep periwinkle in person. Heliotrope is a bit darker...but I do love heliotrope...both the color and the flower!
      Blessings!
      g

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    2. Haha, funny idea but whenever I look at these big bouffant bustles I always find the similarity with baboons' certain figure, always puts a smile on my face, the "Baboon bustle" (especially the claret dress Haha), sad they never named it that way, this period would had been more joyful with funny names:D But Victorians were more decent than that...

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    3. Funny names would have truly been fun! If they could have gotten away with it, I'm sure they would have done it. I like to think they did so in private!

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  5. That is GORGEOUS. So often when people recreate bustle dresses, they do the limp floppy look, and that is a vavavoom bustle! So fluffy, so adorably "over" decorated (it's not, but that was the style), so... wow! Congrats on a fabulous job well done!

    Also looking at the source pictures, for all that they don't have more than 2 types of fabric, a couple of them had a lot of lace detailing. If you really wanted big floofy bows with long tails, you could consider adding a line of lace trim along the apron front and back, and have a big floofy LACE bow with long tails.

    Or not. :-P It's not like it needs it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much Dea-chan! It was the look I was going for! I had considered using lace for the trim, but I don't have any antique lace of a nice size and color in my stash and I am a bit picky when it comes to the "just right" lace for my projects...and this one has an event date coming up too quickly to start a search! So, the lace on the dress will be relegated to the bodices! But I totally agree with what you are saying! The next fluffy dress will indeed have lace!
      Blessings!
      g

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  6. Ooo, I love the combination of the purple and silvery ivory. It's so pretty! And SO FLUFFY!

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    1. Thank you so much Megan! It is quite the fluffy thing isn't it?
      Blessings!
      g

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  7. It's so amazing! It really does look like grape soda! Swooning over here!

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    1. Thank you so much Ruth!! Mmmmm... Grape Crush soda.... Yummy!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  8. This is AMAZING! I love the colors you picked.

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    1. Thank you so much Stephanie Ann! I am really happy with how the fabrics are looking together!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  9. I have to pull my gathering stitches too- makes me crazy, but my extant they left them in. I need that kind of abandon! Lol! It is huge and awesome! You know I've never seen a bustle too big :) loving it!

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    1. Oh how interesting about your extant dress leaving the stitches in! Huh..I love when that happens as it give you "permission" to do the same if you so choose!! Thank you my friend! This has been a fun project!
      Blessings!
      g

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  10. Eeep! Swoon! Amazing! I love how much froof and detail there is. Making a bustle dress means you never have to say "this is too much trim"!

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    1. Ha!! You are so right about the never saying "this is too much trim"!!! They certainly did love their trim in this era! Thank you for your lovely compliment!!
      Blessings!
      g

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  11. Wonderful! I love the purple and cream combined together. It's so elegant. The trim is spectacular as well. This era is a bit too, frou-frou for me (although I like the earlier bustle period much more than the later bustle period…), but I am certain that you will look stunning in this dress once you finish it.

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    1. Thank you so much Amy! I too was very "against" the first bustle era for a very long time. Too frou-frou was totally how I felt! I think the passion I have for the 1830s ridiculousness helped a long way with my growing to love the ridiculousness of this era!!!
      Blessings!
      g

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