Do The Bustle!

So for the first part of my spring break I was invited to spend a few days at my lovely aunt Colleen’s and hysterical uncle Ridge’s olive farm near Santa Rosa. My aunt is known in my family for her amazing seamstress skills. I expressed my interests to her in making a skirt modeled off of a Vivienne Westwood skirt I had seen with a bustle on it. She was more then willing to help.

Here are a few pictures from their home, which is stunning and so much fun to explore.

Well after I settled in I sifted through a few of Colleens old patterns most of which were from the 80’s. I found a lovely skirt pattern that we based our basic design off of. First we kind of fumbled around with some extra fabric and made a mock skirt, which turned out great and only fuelled my excitement for the real thing even more.

Once we started the actual skirt it went by pretty fast until the hand sewing part came up. Since we didn’t want my hemline to show, I had to do an invisible stitch all across the hem which became very tedious very fast.

I also had to tack the bustle on by hand, which didn’t take all that long but since I was so excited for it to be done it felt like an eternity.

When I was finished I was very happy with the verdict. I am excited to wear this skirt a bunch. I wore it today and my the end of the day the bustle had sort of a deflated look which I have to remember next time I wear it. Fluffing will be key with this item!

I had such a fantastic time making this skirt. It looks really good in person and I am very happy with it. I've sewn for years but haven't much recently. Maybe this will encourage me to bring out the good 'ol sew machine.

Next time maybe I'll even take orders! I don't want to get to cocky though. :)

Until next time!

-Katy