What I've been doing instead of writing letters!

tulle

tulle ruffle

I love to write letters and send out postcards, however, my correspondence is piling up on my studio desk while I engage in a labor of love. My young friend, Sara, is getting married and needed a bit of help with her wedding outfit. 

Rather than paying a lot of money to have her gown shortened, we thought a fuller under slip would bouff it out more. SO, I gathered up yards and yards of tulle into a ruffle and sewed it to the slip. It worked! It lifted a bit, just enough to clear the ground.
The next thing that need to be done was to bustle the dress. I went on-line and read lots of articles on how to do this.    I sewed ribbons to the gown in the appropriate places, which I determined while Sara was in the dress.

Adding ribbon for bustle

bustle bow

bustle tied up

After the two ribbons were attached, I could pull them together to capture the dress train and it became the bustle. It works, it works!! whew! When not bustled up, the ribbons are small, inconspicuous bows at the back of the dress. I've never done this before!