Category Archives: Early Bustle

1870 Raspberry Silk Bustle Dress: The Bodice

I read through the pattern instructions to make sure I understood how it goes together, especially the false bolero front which is applied on top of the front AND side pieces of the faux vest (lining). The actual assembly I did in my own order, as I have developed my way of doing things where I handle each piece as few times as possible.

After having cut out the pieces, I flat lined the main bodice pieces and assembled them, using the serger to flat line. The lining is brown polished cotton, a common lining fabric in the 19th century for women’s bodices.

What is flat lining vs bag lining? Flat lining is when you line each piece by putting the wrong sides together and either serging or sewing the seam allowances together, and then treating it as one piece. Bag lining is when you sew the right sides together and then turn it inside out finishing the edges. Bag lining is more commonly a modern method, although it was used in some cases in the 19th century. Flat lining is what is usually seen on 19th century bodices (and often skirts as well).

Side back piece flat lined at the top only – the bottom will be bag lined at a later step.

The center front I did differently. I usually sew the CF seam right sides together, turn and press (yes bag lining), and then flat line the other sides. Why? So the center front is already finished. As this CF neckline is to have a ruffle of self-fabric around it, I enclosed the ruffle in this seam. I then turned, pressed, sewed in the darts, and attached the side front piece.

I then sewed the center back seam.

And attached the back to the side backs.

Next I assembled the bolero jacket overlay for the front. For the ribbon trim along the edge of the jacket, I gathered some of the 1 1/2 inch green silk ribbon using the shirring foot, with the gathering stitch 1/4 from the edge of the ribbon:

Then I pinned and sewed the ribbon trim to the right side of the bolero fronts, to anchor it down and provide a stitching line for attaching the lining:

After pinning the lining to the bolero front, right sides together, I carefully sewed on top of the stitching line where the ribbon ruffle was attached.

Turn and press, then tack to fronts:

At this point I decided to bone the bodice, saving the final bone on the side seam until after the test fitting. I fitted the lining as mock up (Truly Victorian patterns in size J fit me 99.9% of the time) but before committing the last side seam, I wanted to do an accurate test fitting. This is best done with the bones in.

**BONES??? Says sewing dog.** **You have BONES???**

Sorry Pup, these are flat steel and spiral steel bones. The two curved back seams will have spiral steel bones that allow them to curve along that seam. The darts in the front are boned by putting a bone inside the dart’s seam allowance and sewing the bottom closed.

I am using prepackaged bone casing.

To apply boning by machine, sew the edges of the boning to the seam allowance only, centering the bone over the seamline.

I also boned the inside of the center front (right), to keep it nice and straight.

Now its ready to have the shoulder and side seams sewn and have a quick fitting.

Details to finish up: sew the last two bones over the side seams, and finish the neckline of the center back piece. I applied the trim to the neckline and bound it with a piece of bias tape, and then hand tacked the trims together.

The bottom of the bodice is finished with piping, made with self-fabric. In this case, the off white silk taffeta. I used a narrow cotton cording to making the piping.

The piping is sewn right sides together along the bottom edge, turned to the inside, and hand tacked.

On to the peplum! I gathered up more ribbon to trim the edge, using the same size ribbon as the bolero so that it gives the appearance that the bolero and back are the same piece. I assembled the lining for the peplum and pressed it.

I sewed the ribbon trim to the peplum right sides together, then pinined the lining o top, right sides together. Sewing right on top of that line of stitching (same as the bolero) I sewed the lining to the peplum, turned, and pressed.

The waist edge of the lining is turned under and tacked to the flat lining (visible in another step – sorry forgot to take a photo). Fold the center back per the pattern instructions and tack to complete.

Next, buttons! I covered button molds with the off white silk using 5/8″ buttons, spaced pretty close together as is commonly seen on Victorian bodices.

On the left side of the bodice, I measured for the buttonholes and marked them with water erasable pen, then used the marks to sew the buttonholes by machine.

Sleevils!

A term, combining sleeves and evil, coined but costumers to describe the frustrating process of getting sleeves set in right. These sleeves were no exception. The sleeve part is pretty easy, it is just a standard upper and lower sleeve with two seams. The tricky part is the ruffle. There are two ruffles, an inside and a shorter outside. I did the inside of off white taffeta and the outer taffeta plaid, both pinked with the same pinking machine I used for the neckline trim.

Originally I had planned to sew the ruffles on with the seam facing out, and then covering it with ruffled trim that matched the skirt. However, I pinned it together several times trying to do that and kept getting it wrong, so I just sewed them on the right way with the serger, which finished the pesky inside seam. The ruffle is full enough that the serged seam should not show. Worst case, I can tack some bias tape over it.

To complete the look by tying in with the skirt trim, I made ruffled strips bound on both edges with the green silk ribbon, gathered them, and sewed them over the join between the ruffles and the sleeve.

Now to set in the sleeves. To get them right, I try them on and lay them on the correct corresponding side of the work table. Then hold the bodice in front of me and choose one sleeve to begin.

These sleeves fit pretty well. I ran a gathering stitch by machine across the sleeve head to ease it in. I usually sew in the lower half of the sleeve, then fiddle with the easing of the upper sleeve. In this case, the sleeve head was a little to full and I had to remove some of the fullness to make it fit. Taffeta has very little “give” to it.

Another detail is the waist tape. This is a length of twill tape that is sewn to the three back seam allowances at waist level. Two hooks and eyes are sewn to the finished edges of the front, so it is fastened around the waist when the garment is put on. This keeps the center back tight against the waist while the peplum flairs out over the bustle.

You can see the peplum lining sewn to the bodice lining in the first photo, along with the stitches holding the ribbon bow in place.

Final trim time! Using the leftover ribbon, I made bows for the sleeves, center back, center front (removable) and the ends of the skirt ruffles.

I also hemmed the ends of a length of narrow twill tape, long enough to stretch from each bow across the back of the criniolette, and sewed hooks to the end of it. I then sewed eyes under each side ribbon so the tape could be attached to bustle the trin.

I crocheted a little raspberry reticule to go with it:

Hope to do a photo shoot of the dress very soon!

1870 Raspberry Silk Plaid Bustle Dress – Bustle Petticoat

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I used a Truly Victorian pattern for this petticoat:

The petticoat is made up of a body that is fitted in front, a gathered flounce that can be made with or without tucks, and a ruffle that is gathered and attached to the flounce. With this easy to follow pattern you can make four different variations:

Early bustle (1870 – 1878): Flounce goes around the entire petticoat and the back is long enough to go over a bustle.
Natural Form (1879 – 1882): Flounce in back only, ruffle around entire hem, does not fit over a bustle.
Late Bustle (1883 – 1889): Flounce in back only, ruffle around entire hem, fits over a bustle.
Belle Epoch (1890 – 1900): Flounce goes around the entire petticoat, does not fit over a bustle.

Since this is for an 1870 bustle dress, I used the early bustle option. Instead of a fabric ruffle, I used some eyelet lace I had in the stash. For the rest of the petticoat I used cotton organdy, which is very light and stiff. I love this fabric for petticoats! They turn out just as stiff as dip starched petticoats and you never have to starch them.

I sewed the body of the petticoat together and then the flounce. I used a 1/4″ guide foot to sew in the tucks in the flounce. For fun I used some insertion beading in the seam between the body of the petticoat and the flounce. To keep the seams neat, I used my serger on the rolled hem setting to join the two pieces to the beading:

Then I gathered the eyelet ruffle on the serger, and attached it to the flounce using a serger rolled hem.

Finishing consisted of setting on the waistband. Only the two back pieces are gathered onto the waistband, to keep the front flat. The fronts have darts in them to fit smothly over the hip spring of the corset.

Next Up – The Skirt

1870 Raspberry Silk Plaid Bustle Dress – The Crinolette

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The year 1870 was in the middle of a transition from the elliptical hoops of the late 1860s and the early bustle era.

As you can see, the elliptical cage moves most of the mass of the skirt to the back. During the 1870s and 1880s bustle eras the “lobster tail” bustle became very common:

In between these two styles was a short-lived transitional style often called a “crinolette”. The skirt is more narrow than the elliptical hoop and the bustle shape makes its appearance. Unlike the lobster tail bustle, the crinolette still has hoop wires running the full circumference of the garment.

I will be using the Truly Victorian pattern for this garment – I was very excited when this came out!

This undergarment will create the correct shape of the 1870 skirt, shown here:

Now to begin!

I know from past experience that I need to shorten skirts from TV patterns at least two inches. After measuring the length of this petticoat I decided to shorten it four inches. Hooped petticoats that are too long will get caught in your shoes as you walk. They should be six to ten inches shorter than your skirt, hitting around mid calf.

There are no instructions for shortening it in the pattern, but I’ll tell you how to do it. Take the amount you need to shorten and divide it equally among the lower hoops that go the whole way around the petticoat. DO NOT MESS with the bustle hoops or the first hoop that goes the whole way around.

I took each pattern piece and drew two lines an inch apart between each of the lower 4 hoop wires, then folded the pattern on the lines and taped it. Then they were ready to cut out. Next step is to trace the lines for the hoop wires:

Side Back – this is the most complex piece

With the casings marked, time to start sewing the pieces together! Sew the center back to the side back, and sew on the bone casings for the bustle part only. They go on the WRONG SIDE of the garment. This is important later! Note: I sewed five but you actually only need to sew four. The fifth row goes the whole way around and will be sewn on the outside of the petticoat. However, the fifth bone casing is MISSING from the center back piece, and this is why I messed up. It is easy to add later with a ruler. This is the only issue found with this pattern.

You will have two of these two back pieces with bustle casings on and they should be mirror images of each other. There are now casings on the center back panel. This is where you will insert the bones. Sew together at the center back seam. Now you have a back piece and two fronts. Sew the fronts together at the center front seam.

The lacing panel must be sewn on before the back pieces are attached to the fronts:

The lacing panels can now be attached to the back pieces, and the fronts attached to the backs.

Match lacing panels using notch and sew into side seams.

Time to sew the outside boning channels!

I had an issue with the boning because I bought the bone casing some time ago, and between then and now Truly Victorian changed vendors for the boning. The old boning was 1/2″ and the new is 1/4″. I tested sewing a seam down the middle of the bone casing I had, but it was not quite wide enough for the 1/4″ boning. I decided to use twill tape for the casings instead rather than waste the 1/2″ bone casing. I sewed a seam on the existing bustle casings to make them a little smaller and prevent the bones from twisting.

The twill tape is wide enough for two bones with a seam sewn in the center. Never having used 1/4″ hoop boning before, I thought it prudent to allow more boning to be added if one row of 1/4″ boning is not enough. I can always buy more boning later and add it. When I put the 1/4″ boning in I found it to be quite stable, and I don’t think it will require the extra boning.

I had to adjust one boning line due to my shortening the petticoat and draw bone #5 a casing across the center back. The center back is very narrow and it is easy to draw the line with a ruler. If I had it to do over, I would only trace the top lines. The bottom ones are overkill, and if your bone casing is a different width than the pattern assumes you risk having an extra line showing.

The bone casings that go the whole way around the petticoat must be sewn on the RIGHT SIDE of the petticoat, as two of them will go over the lacing panel on the inside. Stop sewing and move the panel to avoid sewing over it. I left four inches in the center front to insert the bones.

I saw this message a lot when sewing on casings!

Here it is with all the casings sewn on, ready to insert boning.

Time to cut the bones!

To cut this stuff, I use a nasty pair of tin snips. The lengths for each bone are given in a chart in the pattern. Measure and cut the bones. Use a sharpie to mark the bone number on each one – this makes it much easier to assemble later. Tip the bone ends with bone tips. Liquid bone tipping fluid could also be used for this. My grommet setter has a dye set for bone tips. You can also use pliers to attach the bone tips. It is helpful to use 2 pairs of pliers so you can squeeze both directions at the same time.

Next put the bones into the casings!

Start at the top and put the bustle bones in first.

Then insert the hoop bones. They will overlap in the front. The pattern suggests using zip ties to fasten them, but I use tape. It is easy to undo and adjust with tape.