Victorian
Bustle
Day Dress
Lesson 3
with Jennifer Rosbrugh
www.HistoricalSewing.com
Victorian Bustle Day Dress
Lesson 3
Sewing the Overskirt
3
Flatlining the Overskirt
4
Pleating & Sewing the Side Seams
6
Setting the Overskirt onto the Waistband
9
Back Bustling Ties & Closure
12
Finishing the Overskirt Hem
13
Homework Assignment
14
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Sewing the Overskirt
Welcome to Lesson 3!
Overskirts are really awesome in the bustle period. Sure, your foundation skirt gets its
share of trim and effects, but the overskirt is what shows it off. The overskirt is what sets
the dress IN this time period.
The overskirt will generally be a bit quicker than the foundation skirt – at least with using
the patterns for this class. Once you have your panels cut out, it's simply a matter of
pleating the sides, sewing the seams, and adding the waistband and hemming.
Follow the general sewing instructions included with your pattern. Video tutorials this
week will cover flatlining your back panel, pleating the sides, and how to get that lovely
bustle pouf to your skirt.
Tips to Remember
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All seam allowances are 1/2" (1.3cm).
Press your center folds and other wrinkles in your fabric as you go along. Eventually
they'll press out. 
Remember to press as you go! Press every seam flat first. Then press open or to the
side. LET COOL before moving!
Use a pressing ham or sleeve roll to press your skirt panel seams open. This helps
prevent those ridges from showing through on the right side.
Grade your seam allowances along the waist edge before enclosing in the band.
http://historicalsewing.com/tutorials/how-to-grade-seam-allowances
Immediately after cutting your back panel, place safety pins at the pouf marks noted on
the pattern. Do this before sewing.
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Flatlining the Overskirt
Unless you are using silk taffeta, silk organza or cotton organdy for your overskirt, you'll
most likely want to flatline it with a stiffer material to help it stay poufed. For a modern
shortcut, use 1 to 3 layers of nylon netting.
To cut netting, sometimes it's easier to lay it out
on your cut skirt panels, pin in place and then trim
to match (how you see it here on the left). You
really only need the underlining fabric (netting) to
go as far down as your bustling marks (a few
inches below that bottom row of marks).
After cutting your fashion fabric,
remember to place a safety pin at
each mark noted on the pattern for
bustling ties. This tip will save you SO
many headaches when it comes time
to tack in your vertical tapes.
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In flatlining, you cut both your fashion fabric and
underlining exactly the same. Then you baste around
the raw edges. Treat each panel as a single piece going
forward. For the back netting, I do a rough cut of the
netting, pin to the wrong side of my fashion fabric, baste
then trim any netting sticking beyond the edge. Saves
the headache of trying to match tangled netting exactly
to the fabric raw edge.
If you are using organdy to flatline, hem the bottom first
if you are cutting it shorter than the fashion fabric. Although, I recommend when using a
fabric (not net) for underlining, you cut it exactly as the skirt panel and then hem them
together.
Baste up both sides of the back panel then across the top waist edge.
When flatlining, I nearly always serge my side edges together. I do the same thing with my
overskirt panels too. Again, a serger is not period correct, so pink or whipstitch your raw
edges as you sew.
Give the edges a quick press after basting before continuing.
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Pleating & Sewing the Side Seams
Putting in deep pleats along the side seams give that nice
pulled-up look that identifies the bustle silhouette. The
overskirt in the 1860s fell smoothly around the
foundation skirt. When the back bustle starting forming,
the fabric couldn't lie straight so the pleating or gathering
along the side back seams helped pull it up and over the
bustle support.
Most often the front apron portion will have pleats that
face up, like a cummerbund or "crumb catcher." You'll want to do the same with yours. The
upward pleats also produce a better overall look to your dress.
The back panel may or may not have side pleats. It depends
on your pattern and the look you want. You'll see a number of
designs where the front apron is pleated on the sides and the
back panel is left hanging straight over the bustle. If you want
this, hem the front and back separately then pleat and sew
the side seams.
I like to pleat my back panel sides facing downward. The
Bustled Apron Overskirt pattern does not allow for this, so
you'll have to pleat up like the front.
Be creative with your pleats. Follow the pattern markings or completely make up your own
design. Just remember to match your front and back side seam lengths. You can add or take
away pleats. Work with your fabric and your chosen design to produce the look you want.
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Side Seams
After your pleats are in place and basted, pin your side
seams right sides together and sew. Remember to
leave a long opening in the left-hand side seam for your
closure. MANY times have I whipped through this step
and simply sewed up all side seams then realized I
needed to leave an opening unsewn if I wanted to
actually wear the skirt. Really important to pay
attention here!
If your front apron is shorter than your back panel, it's
ok. You'll simply have to fold back the remaining part
of the front side seam and stitch in place as a hem.
On the Natural Form Overskirt, the pattern instructions say to sew the side seams first
THEN fold up the side pleats. This will affect the look of your skirt so play with it before
sewing. You can baste or pin the side seam then work with the pleats to get it to look how
you want.
Left Side Opening
The general instructions say to press under the
opening and stitch in place. Because bustle dresses
were machine sewn, I topstitch the opening as a
small hem. Make sure your raw edges are finished
somehow: serger, pinked, machine or hand
overcast, or tucked under the pressed edge.
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If you decide to set in a placket, for
whatever reason, follow the same
instructions as in Lesson 2. You can make
the placket width smaller if you want.
After you've finished setting the skirt onto the waistband, add a hook & bar (see below) on
the waistband and close up the remaining opening with hook & eyes or hook & thread
loops.
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Setting the Overskirt onto the Waistband
Side Note Option (re-stated here from Lesson 2): It is entirely possible to mount your overskirt
onto your underskirt and apply one waistband to both making a single skirt. Making them
separate garments, however, will allow you to mix & match with other skirts. If you want to
make a one-piece skirt, you'll sew your overskirt now by cutting the panels and making the
side pleats on the left hand side. Then match the left side back seams to the underskirt and
apply the placket and waistband to both layers.
Caution: This method does not work for all overskirts. Lay the skirts on top of each other first
before setting in the placket. You may also have to fit them separately to match the waistband
before basting along the waist.
This class teaches making the underskirt and overskirt as separate garments, each with their
own waistband.
The waistband for your overskirt is cut using the same formula from Lesson 1 – using your
measurements. If you are using thick fabric like wool, cord or velvet, add a little length to
your waistband for ease (1/4" is good). Flatline if needed and press up 1/2" on one long
side.
Front Waistband Section
Your apron front may have a curved
waistline. If so, you may not need to put
in full darts to fit it to your hips and
waist. But you can pinch up tucks.
You can see here (right) that I've simply
run one ease stitch and pulled it up to
match to the waistband. (Make sure to
reduce your machine tension here just
like you do when running basting stitches for gathering.) The pink pin on the left is at
center front; the white pin on the right is at the side seam. There's not much to ease in here!
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Start pinning the waistband to the apron front starting at the finished left edge.
Jen's Gems Because we are cutting the waistband to our actual measurements and
not a pattern, there is no center front marking. Here's how I cheat:
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Place a pin 1/2" in from the waistband left side on the un-pressed long edge.
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finished left side to the pin on your waistband.
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matches to center front of the foundation skirt.
Hold the waistband up to the finished foundation skirt waistband, matching the skirt
Follow the waistbands around and place a pin on the overskirt waistband that
Continue following the waistbands and place a pin at the point where you get
around the foundation skirt to the Back/Side Back seam. Voila!
Now you can pin your overskirt waistband to the apron left side (leaving that 1/2" seam
allowance sticking out), match up the center fronts (waistband and apron front panel), then
match the overskirt side seam to your last pin on the waistband. The remaining portion,
just like your foundation skirt, is what we'll set the back panel onto.
Back Waistband Section
Again, the back panel of your overskirt will
be mounted to the remaining portion of the
waistband. Depending on your fabric, you
might have to pleat the center back panel
similarly to how you treated the underskirt.
I happen to like a gathered back panel on my
overskirts (it puffs up more). My project
fabric in the photos is thin enough, so I ran
two rows of gathering stitches. In this photo that stitch line in the center is my basting
stitch from flatlining the two layers of netting to the fashion fabric.
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If you are gathering, you'll more than likely have to pull the gathers up pretty tight,
especially when you have netting or other underlining fabric layers as you see here. Pin in
place and stitch to the waistband. If pleating, fold in knife or box pleats and stitch.
Finishing the Ends
Use the same technique to finish the waistband ends as you did on the foundation skirt.
Fold the ends back, right sides together, stitch the 1/2" seam, grade & trim then fold out.
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Back Bustling Ties & Closure
In the foundation skirt lesson I gave you a video tutorial on the horizontal bustling ties –
watch that for review. If you are doing Natural Form, the horizontal ties are all you need.
You can finish the waistband in its entirety by
folding over and slipstitching down.
For 1870s and 1880s skirts, after your
waistband is on, fold over the pressed edge
and slipstitch down – but only on the front
panel sections. Leave the center back section
open right now.
Follow the pattern instructions on cutting your vertical and horizontal ties.
The vertical ties are what create and hold your back poufs. Pin the three ties to the waist
seam allowance, one at center back and one on either side dividing the back section into
thirds. Machine stitch the tape, very carefully, to the seam allowances. Then fold over the
open waistband and slipstitch down.
Finish the opening by applying a hook and bar on the
waistband – remember we allowed for a 1" overlap
when cutting our waistband.
To prevent the side opening from gaping open, sew
hooks with matching eyes, bars or thread bars.
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Finishing the Overskirt Hem
Overskirt hems tend to be rather simple as they generally have trim on top. As with the
opening, you can machine stitch down your hem.
The patterns don't give you much guidance on how wide
to make the hem except "make a narrow hem" or use "a 1"
hem allowance."
Press up a 1" fold. THEN tuck under the raw edge to meet
the fold. Pressing up your full hem allowance first instead
of pressing 1/2" then another 1/2" will give you a more
precise hem.
Topstitch or edgestitch near the fold.
You can also finish your overskirt with a small
hem facing. If you plan on heavy trim along the
hem edge, finishing with a hem facing will give it
good support.
When applying trim to your overskirt, I highly
recommend hand whipping it on for high dressmaking quality work. Stitching on by
machine will produce a more modern "costume" look.
If you're going for more historical accuracy, best to apply trims by hand (and your hems
themselves too!).
For a quick tutorial on hand tacking bustle overskirt trims, see this article:
http://historicalsewing.com/why-sewing-trim-to-the-back-of-a-hem-is-a-good-thing
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Homework Assignment – Time to get to work
1. Cut your overskirt following the diagrams in the pattern instructions (if you haven't
done so already)
2. Flatline the skirt panels
3. Pleat the sides, then sew the side seams leaving the left side open for the closure
4. Set on the waistband
5. Sew on bustling ties and add hooks & eyes/thread bars for closure
6. Hem the overskirt – narrow machine hem or by hand
7. Add trims – fringe, braids, ruches
The overskirt can be the easiest/quickest part of the dress. Use the rest of the week to catch
up on both skirts and adding trims. Then start looking over your bodice pattern.
Videos in This Lesson
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Flatlining Your Overskirt & Other Sewing Instructions
Overskirt Side Pleats
Overskirt Bustling Ties & Finishing
Happy Sewing!
~Jennifer
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