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The Tufted Bustle

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    This gown presents a special problem. The skirt is tufted with jeweled appliques at each gathering spot to accentuate the tuft. The bride didn't like the idea of either Ballroom or French Bustles for both hid several of the jeweled appliques. We decided to make each Tuft a bustle point and anchor them just below the tuft above them.




    To make this work I had to change the way I usually make the pick-up and anchor points. I decided to sew the hooks at the pick-up points because I could hide them behind the jeweled appliques and the anchor points would be thread eyes. In this picture you can see two tufts with the jeweled appliques with an anchor point sewn about half way between them.

    Here you can see the hook behind an applique, looped onto it's anchor point. I sewed the hook facing the applique instead of the usually way of facing out so that when looped with the eye, it sits backwards so it won't easily get dislodged.

    Our Visitors ask Questions

    • Making a tuft from nothing

      added July 2009


      Hi Leanna!


      Thanks for your wonderful website, it's been a marvelous help thus far, but the tufted bustle info is a bit shy of my needs.


      I have a lovely gown that is flat front and extraordinarily full in the back, with no decor on the train. (I can take photos if you need.) The problem is that the train is simply too plain and the young lady wants it to be tufted up and 'pinned' with Swarovski crystals. There's a lot of fabric and my initial test pinnings have shown that the skirt can be tufted without risking the fullness or the existing hem *whew*!


      My question is on the actual tufting... and is how to best approach making a tuft from nothing. How deep would you make the pleats that would form the tuft-point? I know it's likely a personal thing, but I wanted to get a base idea to jump off from, given that I've not tufted a skirt of any type, bustle or not before.


      Any tips or tricks you can toss my way would be greatly appreciated... I've told her that the Austrian bustle is doable if the tufts fail, and she's okay with it... but would prefer the tufts. (The gown is needed September 15... and is mostly complete save for the final trim after bustle work.)


      Thanks!


      -- 

      An apple a day will keep anyone away if thrown hard enough.


      Hi Lisa,


      For a request like this I would play with the gown until I got a configuration I liked and thought the bride would like. It's not going to be easy to make the placements and depends much on how many crystals she is willing to pay for. If she gets only a few than you will have to make deeper tuffs. I would start with 2 or 3 down the center seam and work out from there toward the sides in a hatch pattern until the whole train is up. 


      This could be very stunning. And I hope this bride is going to pay you for the many hours of time it's going to take to create it.

      ~Lea

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