c. 1885. Brown cotton twill lobster-tail bustle with four spring steel hoops and a horsehair-stuffed pad, tied to the waist with a cotton waistband.
A full width of cotton twill fabric (approximately 81.3 cm / 32 in. long and 71.1 cm / 28 in. wide) is cartridge pleated at the top onto a cotton waistband, reducing the fabric width to 25.4 cm / 10 in., and with its selvedges finishing the long sides. The bottom 2/3 of its length are sewn with three equidistant channels parallel to a channel-width hem. Each of the channels has a flat spring steel hoop wire fed through it, and each channel has a short strap (variable, approximately 25.4 cm / 10 in.) sewn to both ends, which both seals the channel shut and forces the spring steel to bend into a semi-circle. The straps are made of the same fabric as the bustle, and are designed to both maintain the tensioned shape and keep the bustle in place in back of the body by resting on the wearer’s legs and petticoats.
A small rectangular pad (20.3 cm / 8 in. long, 17.8 cm / 7 in. wide) made of a lighter brown cotton twill and stuffed with horsehair is whip-stitched to the waistband at center back. It rests on top of the bustle at the small of the back and provides support for the garment worn over it. Machine-sewn and hand-sewn.
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