Fabrics: Polyester. A serge type material, thick and very silky. Otherwise difficult to describe.
Alterations: I have extended the bustle by about 12".
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Measurements:I made the size "G" of the pattern.
The fronts meet with a waist of 32.5".
There isn't really much to the alterations I made on this pattern. I simply extended it by about 12" and added 3 rows of boning to make a total of 10.
Above you see the pattern traced for size 'G' over the pieces that I eventually cut, showing how much I extended it. My inspiration for this was from the movie Topsy-Turvy (and 1880s set movie about Gilbert & Sullivan). There is a scene showing the chorus girls in their dressing room, and one woman is wearing a lobster bustle that goes all the way down to a sweep ruffle that touches the floor. I've always wanted to make something close.
(Above). I have found that bias tape is not necessary for this pattern, as all the channels come out straight anyway. It's a huge time saver using cheap ribbon, the cloth type typically used for country style gift ribbons, etc. I got a 50 roll of the stuff for $2 and it works perfectly.
The pattern calls for a simple ruffle of fabric at the bottom, but I went with this red galloon lace because I happened to have a lot of it and the color match was near perfect (I bought it years ago in a junk shop and never used it because, let's be honest, bright red isn't popular in too many applications. This has been a long time coming!).
For this pattern, you insider the bones while the bustle is still inside-out, then turn everything the right way once the bones are in. Yes, it's kind of a pain, but trying to insert the bones after you've already turned the bustle is damn near impossible, so I don't recommend it. At this stage it kind of looks like a crazy cat gymboree. =)
Word of warning: When you go the turn the finished bustle right side out, the channels basically twist around the flat boning inside, so the boning can end up kind of twisted in there. Just be sure to work it all flat again and be careful not to poke the boning ends through your stitching while you're doing it.
~Finished~
**A note on color. Some of the pics shows the bustle as a kind of magenta or orangish red. It's the camera. This bustle is a solid, bright, 50's lipstick kind of red. No orange tint=)
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