When buying your wedding gown there are many decisions to make. Lace or satin, long sleeve, strapless, straight skirt, full skirt, attached train or removable? The type of wedding you are planning must also be considered. Is your wedding formal or informal? What kind of reception and activities are you planning? As if you don't have enough to think about.

It might not be important when you first look at a dress, but half way through your reception, when you're dragging four feet of satin around, trying to look graceful as you waltz across the dance floor, you'll be thinking, "How can I get rid of this excess baggage?" How will you manage all those yards of beautiful fabric when your knight in shining armor swings you up onto his destrier or hands you up into a carriage. Enter the bustle, or should I say exit the bustle?

Train or bustle?
At the ceremony, the long train drifting behind you as you walk down the aisle is wonderful and so elegant. In today's society we are not accustomed to a full long dress - much less a train - so, if you do not have a handmaiden or page to lift all that beautiful fabric, the bustle is the answer.

Okay, you decide on a bustle. Now what? The desired silhouette or style of the dress has so much to do with the way you will bustle the dress. The bustle should be done when you are having your final fitting after the hem is finished.

• The bustle can be simply a ribbon wrist loop that is sewn to the inside of the dress - catching the lining and the dress at the center back seam of the train - that you hold as you move around to greet your guests. Be careful with this one; if you put the loops to high it will make the dress too revealing and the fabric can get pretty heavy or even break the loop.

• If your dress has a raised, natural or sloping waistline, you can sew hooks and eyes for a more interesting look.
  • Eyes are sewn at the waist line seam starting about 4" from the center back on each side of the dress. How many you will need depends on the length of the train.
  • Hooks are sewn about 6" out from the center back seam at 14" to 20" down from the waist seam.
  • You will want to hide the hooks and eyes under lace appliques, rosettes or bows (which you might have to add to the dress) . Now you know why so many bridal dress manufacturers have those big bows at the back waist of the dress. That is the perfect place to hide the hooks and attach the train. You will need from two to four loops to bustle the dress.

• Another way to achieve the same effect, without the hooks, is to use covered buttons in place of the eyes at the waistline. This is especially nice if you already have buttons down the back of the dress.
  • In place of the hooks use clear fishing line with a pearl so your attendant can easily find the loops. Do this the same way as the hooks; just replace the hooks with the fishing line loops.
  • Thread 10 lb. fishing line though a large eye needle. On the inside of the dress, catching the lining and the dress. When you come to the front, thread the fishing line through the hole in a pearl, then back through the dress and lining. Then tie several square knots and clip the excess.
  • You can also make crocheted loops with a chain stitch if the fabric is not too heavy.
  • When doing this kind of bustle, the person responsible for helping you to bustle the dress will need to know a little trick to make sure the loops hold onto the buttons: before you loop onto the button, turn the loop and dress two turns clockwise, then loop onto the button and turn back. This will help firmly secure the bustle loop.

  

• If the train is long, you might need to use more buttons and loops.
  • Pick a point on the center back seam of the train about half way down and pull that up to meet the center back at the waist.
  • Keep adjusting this point up or down until the center back seam of the train is just touching the floor.
  • Pin with safety pins; this is your first point of bustle loop.
  • Go to the right side and do the same, bringing a portion of the skirt up to the waist where the next button is, then repeat on the other side.
  • Most skirts will need a three or five button bustle. Use the safety pins as your guide for the loops and buttons.

  

• When you do not have a waist seam to attach the bustle to, a French (inverted) bustle will do the job. The French bustle is when the gathers of the bustle are brought to the inside of the dress.
  • A series of carefully spaced ties down the inside of the dress at the center-back seam catch the dress and lining so the lining does not show. This gives you a cascading effect.
  • For a more dramatic look a group of loops on the inside of the dress in a diamond shape with a ribbon running through them, gathered up and tied, will give the back of the dress an interesting bouffant effect.

  

• Another way of bustling a dress is to sew bias trim to the inside of the dress at the seams of the back. Pull a ribbon through the tape and gather it together to achieve a look somewhat like a balloon curtain.

As you can see, the bustle can be a very interesting and versatile design feature.

At Chivalry Sports we have designed our wedding gown to need a very simple inverted bustle at the back of the Bianca underdress and, if you choose to wear the whole ensemble throughout your celebration, the overgown can be bustled in the same way.