Down The Rabbit Hole . . .

There is a line in Alice in Wonderland, where the rabbit is running around tyring to find his way screaming, "No time to stop no time to wait, I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!"  Or atleast it goes something like that. Such is my life the last few weeks. I feel like I've been playing catch-up for about a month now. Nothing has been late, but I feel as though I am right  on the verge. Which is why I haven't been doing much posting.
Let's start with where we left off - remember the bustling I promised? Ok -I now have pictures.

Here is the train bustled fairly loosely.

Here it is bustled tigher.

And here is why it is different than what I have done before. This train is HUGE. Very full. To do individual ties for a french bustle, would take many many ties which would get tedious to do up as well as confusing. so, I attached the ribbons, but they are threaded through thread loops, to gather the fabric together, then the ribbon is tied to the coordinating ribbon on the underskirt.

This is the center bustle. I attached the ribbon at the center, then you can see where each end is threaded through a thread loop.

Here is where the two ribbons come together and tie to a third.

This is a view of one of the side bustles. It is threaded through 5 thread loops spread out over about 2 feet of fabric. It will tie to a coordinating ribbon on the underskirt, pulling all the fabric together.

All together, I attached 5 sets of ribbons. Each set is a different color and or fabric of ribbon, so it is easy to see which ribbons go together.

All this to say that when the bride tried it on, she didn't like it. Here is why -

As you can see, from the front, it looks like the dress has wings. Not very attractive. Together we tried to remember exactly how I had originally done it up. It wasn't until after she left and I was playing  with it again that I think I finally came up with  it. All the fabric was pulled over to the right side, on the outside of the dress, where each fold will be attached to a single button on the side. That will leave one piece (which doesn't quite reach to the side) that will have to be attached at the centerback. I'm not liking the look of it attached here, though. I may see about pulling this last fold up underneath into a french bustle instead.

But it is much more flattering from the front!

I first met with this bride about 6 weeks ago. She was a tiny size, and I had to bring the dress down atleast a size to fit. Hemmed about 6 inches, added padded cups, changed it from a halter to a sweetheart strapless, and of course the bustles.

When I met with her last week, she had lost weight - not that she had any to loose. If a strong wind blows, she will disappear. And I have to take to take the dress in more. About 2 more inches at the back, and now also at the waist through the hip area at the side. She has been on medication that has caused her to completely loose her appetite. I told her I am not touching the dress for 2 weeks, at which time I want to hear from her on whether or not she has gained any of the weight back or (God forbid!) lost more. The wedding is in November, so we still have a bit of time.

Ok - back into the bunny hole. I am off to another fitting. It never stops . . .