This week I’ve been working on toiles and fabrics for an exhibition. The venue is going to be a dairy in an 19th Century property but I’m also planning to do a photo shoot in a high tech modern dairy.
S0 - as well as having 19th century bustles on my mind, I’ve been thinking about swirling cream, whipped up fabrics and buckets for dairy maids.
The bucket-bustle skirt for a contemporary dairy maid
The result is a triple bucket bustle made by inserting long tubes into the back darts and into the centre back fold.
A closer view of the buckets
I’m still working on the best fabric and have made a new length of 10 momme crepe de chine in Nuno. It’s hard work to force the fibre through such a dense fabric but the results are good. For the bucket skirt though, I think a stiff paper taffeta will be better so that the skirt is smooth and the only swirls are in the buckets.
Nuno Crepe de Chine (10 momme)
The next toile is made from two egg shapes sewn together displaced (thin end of egg to side of other egg). The openings are then cut somewhere in the resulting asymmetrical bag - in this case about 15cms from the top of one egg so that this 15cms sticks out at the back to make a bustle. The front of the skirt is oval, but I’ve cut the hem straight.
Two eggs make a bustle
It’s great fun playing with shapes and really liberating to work without a block.
