Hustling and Bustling

The first part of this week was taken up by some rather interesting, but not very blog-worthy projects, but nevertheless I shall tell you about them!  Monday and Tuesday were spent working on a VERY large cushion for a bay window.  Large as in over 108 inches long and 31 inches wide.  Needing about 16 yards of cording, plus a 3 1/4 yard zipper installed.  Yikes!

I decided to try out using Aurifil 28 wt thread for the upholstery and it worked wonderfully!  It was just as strong as the upholstery thread I have used in the past, and is a lot easier to use on my machine, with little adjustment needed for the tension.

I hemmed some pants for my neighbor using this thread - it makes such a lovely topstitch!  I also used the same spool for the bustles on three wedding dresses yesterday.

This is not the finished bustle, just a trial pinning.  I ended up doing a simpler bustle that looks very elegant on this dress.  I sew grosgrain ribbon loops and ties to make a french bustle, and the 28 wt thread is great for hand sewing - I love the way it doesn't seem to tangle and snarl, it pulls through the fabric very smoothly.  I plan to try some hand quilting with this thread soon - I have a feeling it will be awesome...  Back to the dress - here is how the finished bustle looks:

 Isn't this a pretty back?

The other two dresses were bustled on the outside, and both had a sheer layer to be dealt with as well.  For those, I usually tack the sheer layer to the dress in a few spots to help keep the sheer layer from puddling on the floor.  This one already had a lace overlay and a corset back, so I added a button to hold the bustle up with.  The ribbon loop has a small button at the back to make it secure.  Up goes the train for dancing and moving around with ease!

The last dress already had a button back, so I just reinforced the bottom button and used that for the train:

Three brides will be ready for their big day in August!

Today I plan to work on the baby clothes project, plus do the cutting for a couple of the projects on my long list.  I am inspired to cut that thing down to size in record time!  We are having a get-together for the ladies of our church this weekend to work on our craft projects, so I will have some quilt kits ready for sewing.  Last time we did this I got several tops done, so I want to be ready to have a productive day.

Hope you are making some progress on your projects as well - let's clear out the old and get ready for some new ones!