A Quick and Easy Guide to Taping a Bustle

Taping a bustle is the best way to do it, in my opinion. I've seen several ways to do it, either by tying two tapes together, or using hooks and eyes or buttons to connect the tapes and the skirt. Whichever way it's done, though, the tapes shouldn't be sewn directly to the skirt. The whole point is to bustle the skirt for wearing, but store (and iron) it flat.

There's no exact way to do it, no formula for lengths or anything. It's just a matter of how long your fabric is, how many poofs you want, and how full you want them to be.

I prefer to use either 3 or 5 tapes. There should always be one at the center back. Then I put one halfway between the center back and the side, and depending on the style, I may or may not put one at the side. (Since for this demonstration I'm just using the full width of a piece of muslin, I'm using 5 tapes.)

Step One:	Decide how many times you want to pull the skirt up and mark it. For an overskirt, I generally do 3 spots on the center back, and anywhere from 1 to 3 spots on the other tapes, depending on how full I want it to be. If the bustled part is longer than knee length or so, I do more, generally in odd numbers. For this bustle my muslin is floor length, and my measurements are (from the waist down):   center back: 15", 12", 12"   side back: 18", 12", 12"   side: 15", 12" You should leave several inches of skirt below your bottom spot, especially if you trim the bottom. I recommend about half of your last measurement, to make sure your poofs aren't longer than the unbustled part.	measuring for placement
	Once I measure out where I want the skirt to catch, I mark it. Normally I'd use chalk or pastel, something easy to brush off, but for this I've used pencil.	two of the marks, done here in pencil
Step Two:	Next come the tapes. How long your tapes will be depend on how full and long you want the bustle to be. I generally do a half to a third of what I marked on the skirt for each tape length. I recommend using twill tape, or any type of ribbon that doesn't have any give or stretch to it.	The skirt marked and pinned to the form, waiting for the tapes to be connected.
Step Three:	Add the connectors. Hooks and eyes would be my best recommendation. Snaps are a no, because you don't want your skirt coming down if it gets caught on something or someone gives it a tug. (For this demonstration, I simply pinned the tapes and skirt together.)	What the bustled skirt will look like from the inside.
The Result:	I did up two sets of tapes, to show how the length of the tapes affects the look. This view features tapes that are a third of the length. It's short and full, the bottom only about knee length. It would look best with a floor-length skirt that does not have a train.	A short, full bustle.
	This set is only half the length. The bustle is longer. falling about mid calf, and would look better on a skirt with a train.	A longer, softer look.