I know what you're thinking...
It's just not quite big enough. ;)
The Challenge: Paisley & Plaid (There is a little paisley in one of the stripes.)
Fabric: 1/2 metre of quilting cotton
Pattern: My own based on a V&A example for design and various Met Museum bustles for measurements
Year: 1880s
Notions: Thread, twill tape, scraps (for stuffing!), and poly fibrefill
How historically accurate is it? Pretty close. Everything is natural fibres (including the stuffing scraps) except for the fibrefill and machine sewing would be correct for this period, so I'm going with about 95%.
Hours to complete: Maybe 2-3
First worn: As soon as I finished it! I wanted to see how it looked. I don't have anything to wear with it, however; that's something I'm hoping to fix next year.
Total cost: Probably a bit under $10
When I'm wearing the bustle pad, my hips are definitely wider than it, unlike on the dress dummy.
Spot the paisleys! I tried to make them a little more prominent by centering them in the upper bustle pad. I also had fun making one of the stripes the visible part of the waistband.
I had a really tough time figuring out something for this challenge. I just didn't have any stash fabric suitable and I didn't want to be spending a lot of time or money on this project. I remembered that paisley was pretty common in bustle era undergarments and thought I'd be able to find a paisley cotton at the fabric store. Apparently, not so much. This was the closest I could find, but I think the colours and pattern read Victorian-ish, and I thought it was cute. I didn't end up tacking the upper pad to the lower because I'm lazy and it seems to be fine this way. I can always puff/fluff it up like a pillow to re-distribute the stuffing properly.
Although the waistband gave me a bit of guff when trying to finagle it under the machine, overall I'm quite happy with this. It's cute and kind of silly and will be a useful part of my costume/historical wardrobe. :)
The Challenge: Paisley & Plaid (There is a little paisley in one of the stripes.)
Fabric: 1/2 metre of quilting cotton
Pattern: My own based on a V&A example for design and various Met Museum bustles for measurements
Year: 1880s
Notions: Thread, twill tape, scraps (for stuffing!), and poly fibrefill
How historically accurate is it? Pretty close. Everything is natural fibres (including the stuffing scraps) except for the fibrefill and machine sewing would be correct for this period, so I'm going with about 95%.
Hours to complete: Maybe 2-3
First worn: As soon as I finished it! I wanted to see how it looked. I don't have anything to wear with it, however; that's something I'm hoping to fix next year.
Total cost: Probably a bit under $10
When I'm wearing the bustle pad, my hips are definitely wider than it, unlike on the dress dummy.
Spot the paisleys! I tried to make them a little more prominent by centering them in the upper bustle pad. I also had fun making one of the stripes the visible part of the waistband.
I had a really tough time figuring out something for this challenge. I just didn't have any stash fabric suitable and I didn't want to be spending a lot of time or money on this project. I remembered that paisley was pretty common in bustle era undergarments and thought I'd be able to find a paisley cotton at the fabric store. Apparently, not so much. This was the closest I could find, but I think the colours and pattern read Victorian-ish, and I thought it was cute. I didn't end up tacking the upper pad to the lower because I'm lazy and it seems to be fine this way. I can always puff/fluff it up like a pillow to re-distribute the stuffing properly.
Although the waistband gave me a bit of guff when trying to finagle it under the machine, overall I'm quite happy with this. It's cute and kind of silly and will be a useful part of my costume/historical wardrobe. :)