All posts tagged: bustles

The ‘Century of the Fruitbat’ 1880s bustle

And in order to keep a happy marriage happy he allowed Sybil to bustle in, wearing, in fact, a bustle,* to adjust his shirt, tweak his collar, and make him fit for company. It’s no secret that one of my favourite living authors is Terry Pratchett. I’ve read every single one of his books, slip references to him into my writing, hum songs about hedgehogs to myself as I wash dishes (true story, I was 25 before I figured out what that word meant, and thus, why the song was naughty), and treat myself his newest work every time I have a plane flight longer than an hour. I love Terry Pratchett; he’s brought so much joy to my life, and is the only author I would line up to get a book signed by. I’ll never get the opportunity now. Terry Pratchett is dying. He has a very rare form of early-onset Alzheimer’s, and so a man who has made his living by his wits is slowly loosing them. I cried when I heard …

How I store my stuff

Following up on Friday’s post on what I do when a garment is finished, this is how I store the finished garments. Or, specifically, how I store my undergarments. I have one suitcase for corsets, chemises, short petticoats and drawers, and another for big petticoats and bustles My first suitcase, the one for corsets etc. came from Nana.  It still has the airport tags from the last trip she took it on attached. I’m pretty sure it dates from the 80s, when China had just started to really open up to the West.  The suitcase is clearly made for the Western market, but the marketing hasn’t quite caught up. The corsets and chemises and drawers go in the body of the suitcase, and I keep stockings and extra corset laces in the pocket. Its a great system: anytime I need lots of undergarments I just grab the whole suitcase and go. Just about the time that I started really running out of room in Nana’s suitcase, I found another, almost matching one, but even older …