Wedding Dress Problems

You found the wedding dress of your dreams!  You try on your dress, and get fitted.  Your dress is ordered. You come in for the final fitting. You ask the bridal store associates,"Where's the things that go under the dress to shape the dress as you saw in the pictures. The bridal associates do not understand what you want. 

You tell the bridal associates, "I thought my dress would look like the pictures I saw in the bridal magazines. The bridal associates reply, "It is the same dress."

You ask the associates,"Why is it that my wedding dress is not fluffed out like the dresses in the brides magazines. I thought the crinolines came with the wedding dresses."

The bridal associates explain to you that you will have to buy the crinolines some where else. You ask them where? They do not know. Some friends tell you to try Ebay.com or Amazon.com and search for hoop cages. 

You order a hoop cage that does no work with your dress. The hoop cage you ordered has distorted your dress into the wrong shaping. You order another, and another. None of the cages you ordered shape your dress as you saw in the bridal magazines. You are now in tears, and very disappointed.

You have less than one month left before your magical wedding day, and you know that something is not right with your dress. Your dress looks like fabric sagging and dragging in front of you, and behind you. you do not no where to turn.  You cannot return your dress, and start over. What next?

You go to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other wedding blogs in search of a hoop or petticoat that will bring your dress to that just right look .  Maybe your wedding dress does not fit well, and you might need alterations. Maybe you thought you could get a cheap online dress that looked like a designer dress on the models. 

Wedding dresses are so costly that you cannot afford the one that you really want. The cheap wedding dress companies promised you pure silk. You got  polyester, and no silk anywhere on your wedding dress. You ordered ivory. They shipped you white. The wedding dress problems just go on and on and on.

You thought that buying your wedding dress would be a wonderful experience. Instead you end up horrified at how you have been mislead by the so called "cheap wedding dress companies online. Your wedding dress adventure leaves you frustrated. 

You need a wedding dress consultant. Most reputable bridal shops have a wedding dress consultant that will save you time,money, and heartaches. Speak with  a consultant before purchasing your dress. If you already have your dress, and you are disappointed, speak with a wedding dress consultant. the consultant can help you iron out those problems, and put you on the fast lane to getting your desired results.

 If there is not a wedding dress consultant in your area, I can help you with that.  I have been in the wedding dress business for years, and have worked with all types of budgets.  I have over 998 positive feedbacks on ebay  where  I have been selling custom  petticoat hoops,cages, and cinolines to brides and historical reenactors, and also cosplayers.  I began working on ebay in 2004.

I also have an  shop on etsy  where I have custom made bustles, hoops, petticoats,crinolines, wedding dresses, bridesmaids dresses, mother of the bride dresses, reenactment costumes, cosplay costumes, mens frock coats, historical costumes and much more. I began developing my etsy shop in 2009,  and open up in 2012. I have over  300 positive feedbacks on etsy.  I am a custom clothier / designer / seamstress and  dressmaker. I also have a private website showbelles .  

You can contact me on etsy   by sending me a convo or message through the etsy message system. You can also contact me on  ebay  through the ebay message system.

I can tell you up front that you will not get a pure silk dress at bargain prices. A pure silk wedding dress is made from fabric that starts  around $38.00 per yard...more or less. Two months ago, I worked with an April 2016 bride called Jess.  Her pure silk wedding dress was custom made by a fine silk bridal company   Ersa Atelier   Jess' wedding dress was very much like  Grace Kelly's gown

Grace Kelly's gown was worn over a bell shaped cage. 

Although Jess had the perfect gown custom made to her measurements,  by a top of the line fine bridal designer and manufacturer...Jess went through thousands of miles of wedding companies and providers to locate the bell shaped cage to shape her dress. Jess had the perfect dress... but the shaping was off course. Jess's  dress was dragging and sagging, and looked sad.

My next post will be on how I worked with Jess to resolve her wedding dress problems three weeks before her wedding date.

Victorian Steampunk Gothic Bustle Cages and Dresses on the Pinterest Website

There are thousands of beautiful pictures of Victorian Steampunk and Gothic attire on Pinterest. Use these pictures to help you determine the proper  undergarments and cage support for your dresses and costumes.
A poorly fitted Victorian garment  can ruin the entire dress costume. Victorian attire historically was custom made to fit each figure. Most Victorian era socialites had undergarments made to match each costume.Some of the undergarments were even made in silks. So take advantage of the resource we all have using the Pinterest website. You will find tons of  bustle dresses  with my  "how to wear comments."  Take a look at my Pinterest board that has loads of  Victorian  bustle cages  with commentaries and comments. Next post, I will borrow photos from Pinterest to show you how to select the proper cages for your Victorian dresses and gowns. Thanks for visiting.    www.showbelles.etsy.com  

Round Circular Hoops

HOOP BONED CAGE CRINOLINES

The most commonly used historical cage crinoline is the bell dome shaped hoop cage crinoline.The bell dome hoop cage is round and dome like. This type of cage is worn with Victorian, Civil War, Dickens, Southern Belle costumes. The skirt or dress is usually rounded with a circular hem sweep circumference of 132 inches and higher. The hoop cage will shape your dress costume into the bell dome shaping.The dress costume on the left is shaped with a 6 hoop steel boned muslin cage crinoline. The sweep of the dress is 180 inches circumference. The length of the dress is 46 inches from waist to hem. This helps you to see the amount of lift that the hoop provides under the dress.The hoop can be purchased from www.stores.ebay.com/Angel's-Bridal-Shop. The Dickens black velvet corduroy cape dress can be purchased at  www.showbelles.etsy.com  Please check with the seamstress/designer to make sure the dress is still available, and has not sold out.

Victorian Edwardian Early 1900 Trumpet Cage Crinoline

side view of trumpet cage support with a tulle flounce at the back

silk petticoat over the trumpet cage

The Edwardian period began in 1901. Fashion went through another metamorphis. A popular design was the S shaped silhouettes, trumpet skirts, and Gibson girl hairstyles. The pictures above are one of our trumpet cages with petticoat.The cage is designed to project out the hem of the skirt into a trumpet shaping.The wait to knee area fits tapered . A flounce with hoop steel in casings makes the foundation shape the dresses befitting of the Edwardian era.

This type of cage works wonderfully with mermaid dresses and gowns.  It does not work with fish tail dresses and gowns.  The pinterest link below shows an awesome museum quality dress. The Edwardian dress is shaped by a trumpet cage, which projects the train out back. Without the cage under the dress, the train would go flat, and get in the way of the feet while walking. It would look like fabric dragging behind the wearer. Click the link to see for yourself.

 http://www.pinterest.com/pin/536491374330429380/

Contact me for answers to your questions on cages,bustles,crinolines and more. Let me know if this post helps.



 

Steampunk Gothic Bustles and Costumes

costume available at www.etsy.com

costume availble thru www. etsy.com

The fabulous costumes above are from Etsy.com. Look under the  Steampunk Gothic Burlesque searches. The sellers of these costumes have artfully and tastefully pulled together the Steampunk Gothic half  bustle skirts that have the apperance of bustles without the hoop steel in the casings. Accessories include shrugs around the shoulders, corsets, net stockings, and steampunk boots.

Steampunk and Gothic bustle costumes have more of a Bohemian gypsy vagabond theme. Black is usually the base color in each costume.I have seen these adorable costumes complimented with plaids, prints, dots,tartans, stripes and more. The top hats are great with these costumes, or lavish hairstyles. These Bohemian themed costumes are seen all over the globe at various faires and carnevals. The ruffled tournure type bustles can be short,mid length, or long. These are more of the fun type bustle costumes.

Steampunk dress that sold on ebay months ago

one of my custom steampunk bustles

The gold and royal Victorian Steampunk dress above was sold on ebay several months ago. I thought it was an excellent example of fine steampunk themes in the more dress. Notice all of the  stunning black trim over the vivid colors...gold and royal. If this dress was shortened, and rucched at the back, it would pick up with the netted stockings as in the pictures above.You can pull one of these outfits together with things you have in your closet.

The black Steampunk gothic bustles is one of my custom bustles made to fit your size. Tiers of silk ruffling and lace are cascading down the back. The bustle can be changed to have the ruffles cascading down to the floor and in a train. Have fun in your  cosplay and reenactment adventures.

Plus Sized Bustle Cages

Plus sized figures can wear bustles too. Bustles of all types can be custom made to fit larger sizes as well as smaller sizes.This is one of my custom made plus size bustle made from the Laughing Moon historical pattern line. The bustle cage is the knee length bustle that has train support. This size bustle will support trains that are six to eight inches longer than the front of your bustledress. The cage can be covered with ruffling for the built in petticoat. These pictures are for a good view of the bustle structure. All Laughing Moon bustles have stays that are laced with drawstrings. The stays control the shaping of the bustles. The tighter the drawstrings are pulled, the sharper the curve projects at the back. the looser the drawstrings are worn, the softer the curve, and projection becomes smaller.



side view of lobster tail bustle



back view of lobster tail bustle for plus sizes

Elliptical Cage Crinoline for Period Costumes and Bridal Gowns

This post will help you to decide if you need an elliptical cage crinoline to wear under your bridal and formals,Victorian,Dickens,Civil War,Marie Antoinette,French Colonial, period historical costumes,dresses and gowns.

• The photo on the left shows the cage crinoline without a bustle pillow pad.
• The photo in the right shows the cage crinoline with the bustle pad.
• The photo on bottom left shows a burgundy black 2 toned shot taffeta bustle skirt with a 3 foot train.

To wear the cage crinoline with dresses, gowns and costumes that have dropped waist bodices, do not use the bustle pillow pad as shown in left picture above. The waist to hip area will adapt, and flatten out to accomodate the fitted dropped waist bodices. A dropped waist can fall up to 9 inches below the waist.

Right sided picture shows a bustle pad pillow is resting over the back hip area under the cage crinoline. The pad supports the weight of the cage crinoline, and dramatically raises the cage to a higher projection toward the back. If you have a true bustle dress or historical dress ,or wedding dress with a lengthy train at the back, this cage could bring your dress or gown to the magical look that you are expecting.

The burgundy and black 2 toned shot taffeta skirt on the bottom left is a bustle skirt made to wear with the elliptical cage crinoline. The front is more tapered to the body, and the back projects outwardly and dramatically to show off your beautiful dress trains. The sides project out and gradually flow into the dramatic train supporter at the back.This cage crinoline is excellent for wedding and bridal gowns with this type of pattern construction. This cage is also excellent for historical period reenactment dresses and gowns.

Our custom made elliptical cage crinoline shown in the photos above is 134" inches circumference at the hem. The cage crinoline has 6 rows of hoop steel to support the weight of heavy skirts. The hoops can be pulled in to make the cage smaller and more tapered.

Need another type of cage crinoline, bustle cage or panniers cage? We custom make a a wide range of bustles cages, cage crinolines, Colonial Rococo Marie Antoinette panniers and more. These cage foundations will bring out the magnificence in your dresses,gowns, and costumes. Our dress foundations are custom made to fit your size and dresses, gowns, costumes. Links to our cage crinolines, bustle cages, and panniers are below.

www.stores.ebay.com/Show-Belles-Costumes-and-Clothes

www.victorianbustlesandbonnets.com

www.bustledress.com (look for the bustles and hoops category)

www.showbelles.bonanza.com