What's the easiest and best method of bustling a wedding gown?
Rogene K.,
Hastings, NE
Bustling a wedding gown can be handled several different ways; your choice will depend on the gown design. A gown with lace appliqués and trim on the skirt may be the easiest to bustle, since the hooks and loops are easier to hide. For any method, you must first find the pickup points.
Beginning at the center back seam, find the point where, when attached to the bodice lower edge, the skirt hem will just touch the floor. Mark one or two additional pickup points evenly spaced on either side of the center back (Figure 1). The heavier and fuller the skirt, the more pickup points are needed.
Figure 1
Mark pickup points.
Stitch the hook side of a hook-and-eye fastener at each pickup point. Reinforce the hooks by placing a square of silk organza behind each hook, on the fabric wrong side (Figure 2). Disguise the hooks by placing an appliqué over each.
Figure 2
Stitch hooks at pickup points.
Reinforce hooks on skirt wrong side.
Stitch the eye portions of the hook-and-eye fasteners at the bodice lower edge, hiding them under lace trim or appliqués. On a plain gown, loops and buttons are a better option. If the pickup points fall at seams, use a tiny bias fabric tube or a soutache braid piece to make the loops. Create an opening in the seam at the pickup point (Figure 3).
Figure 3
Create openings in seams at pickup points.
Stitch the loops to the seam allowances on the skirt wrong side, over the opening (Figure 4).
Figure 4
Stitch loops to seam allowances.
Sew buttons to the bodice lower edge (Figure 5). To bustle the gown, pull the loops through the openings and fasten to buttons.
Figure 5
Pull loops through openings;
attach to buttons at bodice.
If pickup points fall between seams, stitch tiny thread loops on the skirt. Reinforce the areas with a square of silk organza on the wrong side. Attach the thread loops to the buttons at the bodice.
