Finally - PROGRESS!!!

My fiancé went out of town this weekend with some friends and I decided it was time to begin the bustle project. For some reason this one part has given me more anxiety than any other. I had a pattern that I was not fond of, and after spending considerable time analyzing and deciding how best to get what I want, I was quite nervous.

I found a couple yards of a medium weight woven ivory fabric and used that for the base. After sewing together the shell, I lined the bottom six inches with buchram for stability and then sewed in my boning channels. I cut tipped and inserted the bones and pinned in some ties and tried it on.

Here are the pics as it currently stands.

The next step will be to add lace to the outside to hide the bones and give some fullness.

Including redrafting part of the bustle, adjusting the darts three times and refigiuring the stablility factor as I went - Time: 20 hrs (would only take about 10 if I made another)