An 1880s Cotton Print Bustle Dress

This dress is a copy of an original that I own, and is made out of reproduction fabric from Spoonflower. For more information, I have posts on the bodice, the overskirt, and the skirt.


I'm wearing it over my Laughing Moon spoon busk corset that I made probably 9 years ago, sleeveless chemise, Laughing Moon bustle, and Truly Victorian petticoat. I'm wearing my 1860s Robert Land walking shoes because they're so comfortable, and perfect for an outdoor nature type outing :)

I'd also like to note that my center front overlap is slightly off. Not as bad as in my On Perfectionism post, but I didn't leave quite enough straight at the bottom of the curved front. I'm quite fine with it though :)


I'm wearing the Miller's Millinery Bebe bonnet, which is the same one I wore with my blue bustle dress and bustle coat.


It was a very windy day, at times! Fortunately, the wind came and went. It does prove that you can move in Victorian clothing though--the key is to have a tight armscye. And climbing off the rocks in the previous picture, I apparently tore one of the tapes holding the overskirt up. You can see how it trails a little. Oops :)

An 1880s Bustle Dress Construction Tutorial--The Bodice!

This article originally appeared on Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.

The original dress that this is based on can be seen on my antiques blog, here.




I'm breaking this tutorial up into three parts, the skirt, overskirt, and bodice. The scaled pattern for each part will be at the bottom of the post. There's also another post with the dress actually being worn.

An 1880s Bustle Dress Construction Tutorial--The Overskirt!

This article originally appeared on Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.

The original dress that this is based on can be seen on my antiques blog, here.


I'm breaking this tutorial up into three parts, the skirt, overskirt, and bodice. The scaled pattern for each part will be at the bottom of the post. There's also another post with the dress actually being worn.

An 1880s Bustle Dress Construction Tutorial--The Skirt!

This article originally appeared on Your Wardrobe Unlock'd.

The original dress that this is based on can be seen on my antiques blog, here.

Through recreating a dress, you can learn more about it than you can through observation. I’ve tried to be as faithful as possible to the original in this recreation. The most notable difference is I made it to fit me--I didn’t want to put all this work into a dress and not be able to wear it! The techniques though, follow those of the original.


I'm breaking this tutorial up into three parts, the skirt, overskirt, and bodice. The scaled pattern for each part will be at the bottom of the post. There's also another post with the dress actually being worn.

In addition to the skirt, this post has a little about how I reproduced the fabric.

My reproduction is made from custom printed cotton voile from Spoonflower and based on the original fabric. It's lined with plain weave white cotton, and closes with antique buttons.

I copied the skirt as closely as I could, piecing and all. This of course isn't necessary for an accurate skirt.