Curious about how much adding a bustle to your wedding dress can cost? Well, the answer is right here!
Here is an in-depth guide into how much this alteration can cost:
How Much Does It Cost to Add a Bustle to Your Dress?
Most seamstresses start with a minimum of three bustles and this can cost around $50 – the length of the train, the design of the dress, the bustle type, the material, and the layers are just some of the factors that can impact price – you may pay around $250 for the whole alteration.
How Does the Length of the Train Affect the Cost?
The longer the train, the more bustles that you will need to secure the train. A long train means more material.
A few bustles alone would be not enough to do the job. As such, you will need to add as many bustles as necessary to ensure that the weight of the train is equally distributed.
In doing so, you can ensure that there is a smaller chance of one of the bustles breaking under the weight of the dress.
How Does the Bustle Type Affect the Price?
Contrary to popular belief, there is actually more than one type of bustle design.
The most common one is the American bustle, also known as the over bustle. Here, the train is hooked up to the back of the dress.
This style works well for ball gowns. It is also fairly simple and the resulting cost tends to be cheaper.
However, there is also the under bustle, which is also known as the French bustle. This is where the train is hooked under the dress. This style works best for A line dress or mermaid silhouette dresses.
This design is a bit more complicated as the material has to be gathered up and certain portions of it have to be kept out of sight. As a result, it is going to cost more.
Last, but not least, you have the Austrian bustle. This design is now becoming more popular and here, there are several points of bustles that go vertically down the middle of the dress.
This often does mean more bustles to create the desired ruching effect. As a result, you will have to pay more. Also, as it is a fairly new design for the American market, the seamstress may charge extra for this design.
How Does the Material Impact the Overall Price?
If your dress or train is made from lace, then the cost of the bustle is likely to go up. This is true for other materials that are equally as delicate.
The thing with lace and other delicate materials is that the seamstress has to be very careful when undertaking this project.
To begin with, sewing bustles – or any embellishment – for that matter is tricky. The lace can tear easily and this is something that the seamstress needs to avoid at all costs.
What’s more, the seamstress has to be careful about how the lace train is arranged as well. The train has to be arranged so that the lace isn’t likely to tear or shift when hooked into position.
How Does the Number of Layers Affect Bustle Cost?
Well, the more layers there are, the greater the number of bustles required to hold up these layers. As with the length of the train, weight is an issue here.
Pile too much of material onto a single material and it is going to fail. Due to this, the seamstress has to add more bustles to even things out.
Furthermore, with a greater number of layers, the seamstress has to work harder to create the right design and shape. After all, each layer needs to be arranged in such a way that the back of the dress is in line with the original design and looks beautiful.
How Does the Design of the Dress Impact Cost?
The bustles have to be placed according to the design of the dress. Therefore, the more complicated the design, the more careful the seamstress needs to be with how the bustles are placed.
This is because the design of the dress has to be maintained. The seamstress also needs to work hard to ensure that the dress looks just as good with the bustles in place.
Therefore, they will often charge you for the complex design.
If your dress and train has any kind of embellishment on it, then the bustle is going to cost you more. This is because the seamstress has to arrange the bustles so that the embellishments on the dress and train align with one another.
What’s more, they have to be extra careful not to dislodge or destroy any of the embellishment that is in place.
An Important Note About Bustle Cost
Before you buy a wedding dress, it is important to budget for the addition of the bustles. To err on the safe side, add in about $250 to the wedding dress budget.
However, if you would like a more complex design with a long, delicate train, then expect to pay even more than this.
The other thing to be aware of is that seamstresses may want to needlessly add bustles to the dress as they can make more money of it.
This is why you should pay close attention during the fittings. Always see how the train can manage with the least number of bustles.
Only if more bustles are really needed, add them in. Make sure to do so one at a time, though.
How Much Does a Bustle Cost?
The average cost of a bustle can be between $50 and $250 – the final cost will depend on how many hooks are put in, the design of your dress, the length of the train, the material of the dress, the bustle type, and more.
