A Fairytale Dress

This dress was layers upon layers of tulle that began halfway down a very fitted skirt attached to a very fitted bodice.  Beautiful.  The bodice needed to be taken in along the princess seams, the back side of the fitted skirt was looser than the bride wanted so I needed to take that in along the back seam below the zipper,  and a bustle needed to be created that would match the front of the dress. 
I started with the bodice.  The bodice had no overlay of any sort, so any changes to the seam lines had to be made carefully as to avoid any evidence of a change from showing on the outside.  I know what you're thinking - "Isn't that the idea? Shouldn't any change be unnoticeable on the outside??"  Yes, but there are times that a change is noticeable and is easily camouflaged with lace or an applique.  In this case, there was nothing that could hide a mistake made on the inside.  So needless to say, I took my time with the bodice and made the changes slowly and conservatively.  I made slight changes and made more adjustments at each fitting until we got the bodice fitting the way the bride wanted it to.

With the bodice and backside brought in, I started on the front hemline.

As you can see in the photo below, it needed to be shortened quite a bit.  I shortened it from side seam to side seam, only in the front.

Here's the original hem length.  This is the inner most layer.

There were four layers of tulle edged with 2 inch wide horsehair braid with a layer of un-edged tulle in between each layer for a total of 8 layers!  My original thought was to remove the horsehair braid, cut the tulle to the correct length and replace the trim.  My second thought, taking each of those layers and tacking them up underneath and only cutting the un-edged layers of tulle.

If you look closely, here I have it pinned, ready to be tacked.
I used sturdy upholstery thread.  Same thread I use to make loops for
bustles.

Here's the new hem, two layers done.

All front layers hemmed.

The bustle...

photo by Samantha Metheny

 Creating the French Bustle (under bustle) with the 4 longest layers of tulle:

Underneath the layers, I attached 9 pieces of ribbon
along the edge of where the tulle skirt is attached to
the lower bodice.

Closer to the bottom of those long layers, I attached
9 corresponding organza ribbons. I chose organza so it wouldn't
show along the outer edge of the skirt.

Each ribbon is numbered to make for easy tying.

Tying white ribbon "1" with organza ribbon "1"

The bottom layers all secured in a French Bustle. 

Creating the over bustle, American Bustle:

I made chain loops using upholstery thread and
attached them along the mid point of the upper shorter 4 layers of tulle.

Satin buttons were attached to where the tulle skirt meets the
lower bodice.  The buttons were spaced evenly along that edge.

Attaching each loop to it's corresponding button

Everything secured on top. 

Beautiful.

photo by Samantha Metheny

My hope for the bustle was to make it match the architecture of the dress, I wanted the back to be a continuation of the front.

Congratulations to Joni and Nick.  Thank you, Joni, for letting me help you get the look you wanted with this dress -- you are stunning!