I just returned from fulfilling a typical bridesmaid duty of assisting the bride-to-be during her alterations. After six months of waiting, her dress had arrived and needed to be fitted. My friend, like many other brides, hadn’t thought about how to bustle. Her dress is a unique style. It’s fitted throughout the bodice, hugs the hips and then flows out with over six layers of silk. When the seamstress attempted to put in a typical “French bustle” it didn’t look quite right. The French bustle is the most traditional style, also called an under bustle, as the fabric is pulled underneath. In my friend’s case it seemed as if there was a lot of fabric shoved under her knees. In addition, the final top layer of her dress is a beautiful flowy chiffon, and the inverted style of bustle stopped the flow. I remembered seeing a dress with the bustle over the top instead of underneath, and asked if that would be possible. This is less tradtional, which is odd since it’s often called an American bustle or over bustle. Many ballroom style wedding gowns have an over bustle rather than the under bustle. In my friend’s case it was a multi-national event; the bottom layers were best pulled underneath into a French bustle, and the top chiffon layer, pinned up on top a la American. It looked beautiful and matched the design of the dress. Luckily we had a wonderful seamstress who was willing to experiment and had worked on hundreds of dresses.
Tips for getting the perfect bustle for your gown
1. Pick a great seamstress
This is essential, a seasoned seamstress will have seen a million gowns before and will be willing to try a couple of different styles for you before deciding on one. He or she will also have the skill for more challenging gowns.
2. Experiment!
If you’re not satisfied with the way your bustle looks ask the seamstress to try it another way. It’s relatively easy to pin up. Some dresses need dozens of bustle points to achieve the perfect look. (Bustle points are usually the ribbons attached to the dress that allow you to hoist the fabric up when tied together).
3. Bring along a friend or family member who’ll be attending the wedding
If you do decide on 12 points you’ll want someone who will remember how to assemble the bustle of your dreams. Also, they’ll be able to give you their opinion and take pictures so that you can see how it looks for yourself.
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