Let's talk about bustles

I know I'm getting a late start on this, but the month isn't over yet, right?

The first challenge in the Historical Sew Monthly is foundations, which leaves the door open to all sorts of possibilities! I really want to work on the mid to late Victorian era this year and build up my wardrobe for these era's. I've started with the foundations for the Wishing Dress, which I'm making historically accurate for the early to mid 1870's.

There were several types of bustles used to get the desired shape during the 1870's and 80's. There were cage bustles, bustle pads, lobster tail bustles, elliptical crinoline bustles, and bustle petticoats. And each of these had several variations in the way they were made.

From left to right, bustle pad, cage bustle, lobster bustle, elliptical bustle.

I've actually found in several of my mockups that having a simple bustle pad has been helpful to give me an idea of what I need to do for the finished garment. So for the first Sew Monthly challenge I've decided I want to make a nice bustle pad.

I've chosen this for my first project mainly because I recently got a new job which will be taking up my afternoons. It will be a quick and simple project, but still a good project.

Here's a few examples of bustle pads for inspiration.