Bustles - Quill Wrapping

[NoTrad. Eagle Scout]

What is your favorite material to see on a Trad. bustle - colored tape, yarn, satin thread...?

[billyjoejimbob]

depends on what you can afford and what you have the patience to do. I prefer wrapping with white leather and striping with ambroidery floss.(satin thrread i guess it is)

[bwhite]

Yarn all the way!!!! I do all fancy dance bustles with yarn, and traditional bustles as well. I like the look, and it's easy to work with and is less time consuming than embroidery thread. I posted a pic of fancy dance bustles in the gallery that has yarn quill wrappings.

[WICAPI WANJI]

I personally prefer yarn...its what I use but if I had the patience I would sew brain tan elk hide on every feather and to be even more technical you could peyote stitch beadwork on every one!! but that would take a dogs age...

[NoTrad. Eagle Scout]

Is there a shiny, flashy material that you could use?

[NoTrad. Eagle Scout]

Also, How do you wrap the yarn/thread on the quills to make it stay? Do you tie it, or use glue,...?

[spottedeagle]

I'm working on a bustle for my son, that I'm using crochet thread to wrap the extentions and quills with. When I finish his I'll be starting on mine, which I'm going to wrap in buckskin and use satin thread to thread wrap sections. I've seen a lot of beautiful bustles out there done both ways.

bwhite do you cover your yarn with superglue, silicone or epoxy after your done wrapping them???

[bwhite]

SE,

I have just finished a set of tiny tot fancy bustles. On this set, since the quills were so short, I wrapped them with embroidery thread. On that set, I just covered the very tips (where they will rub together) with a thin layer of Elmers school glue. It dries clear so you can't see it. Other than that, I don't cover the thread with anything else.

[Tibiki Kinew]

Crafters podge goes on milky and dries clear, works great to seal any work, in fact if you want to protect beadwork and want it to last put two or three coats of it on. I put a rossette of a thunderbird on my baseball cap and sealed it till it was nice and thick. Still shiny and all the beads are still there after 3 years of tossing it around. As well when working with feathers for hats I use the same stuff to seal thread endings!

[bwhite]

NTES,

I will attempt to explain how I wrap the quills. This method very rarely needs any glue.

1. Mark the quills using a ruler to create the desired pattern. This is just personal preference. Just be sure to take your time doing it and get it right in this stage.

2. Begin with your first color yarn (starting from the end of the extension where the primary lace will be) For this example, lets call it Red.

3. Double over the red yarn to make a loop. This loop needs to be at least 1" longer than the distance you wish to cover. If you have plenty of yarn, go ahead and make this loop a little bigger. Yarn is cheap. You can afford to waste some.

4. I'm right handed, so I will hold the feather in my left hand with the end of the quill pointing away from me. This puts the webbing of the feather underneath my left forearm.

5. Place the doubled-over red yarn (the loop) under the underneath side of the quill with the loop pointing towards the webbing tip of the feather. The loose end of the yarn should be pointing toward the tip of the extension where the primary lace will be.

6. Pinch the loop tight with the left hand and begin wrapping the long piece of red yarn over the loop. Getting it started is tricky, but once it's started you're good to go.

7. Continue wrapping the red yarn over itself toward the "loop". The part where you started wrapping should have a short end or "tail" sticking out.

8. When you reach your mark, cut the long piece of yarn. Leave yourself some room to work with, so don't cut it too close. Tuck this end through the loop of red yarn and pinch it tight with your left hand.

9. Now, pull on the "tail" that was left at the starting point. You should see your "loop" getting smaller. Pull until it is tight. Sometimes, depending on how tight your wraps are and how long of distance you're covering, you can actually pull the loop so that it tucks that left over yarn underneath the quill wrappings. If you can't, that's ok. Don't pull to hard on the tail that you break the yarn. Then you have to do it over.

10. Now, with scissors or hobby knife, cut of the "tail" portion that you started with pretty close. NOTE. It should be longer now than when you started because you pulled all the slack out of the loop at the other end.

11. Next, cut off the tail that is left where you finished. However, this time, LEAVE ABOUT AN INCH OR SO.

12. Start your next color just like the red. This time, when you make your wrappings, wrap over the inch of red as well. This will lock everything down nice and neat. If it's done right, you really won't need any glue.... (well, maybe every now and then)

I hope this helps. It's really hard to explain this way. It's easy if you see it done.:Thumbs

[spottedeagle]

Bwhite that made perfect sense to me, could even picture it. That's a great way of doing the thread wrapping and I think I'll be doing it that way for my son's bustle.

[NoTrad. Eagle Scout]

If you wrap the main color ribbon around the quills for the base color, and then wrap the individual colors on for the design,

- What kind of glue should you use with the ribbon?
- and would this work?

[Tibiki Kinew]

When doing ribbon work, I use a glue gun, but just a drop, don't over glue. Then fold and hide the glue spot underneath.

[bwhite]

NTES,

I don't put on a base color and then wrap over top of it to make the design.

I make the design as I go, using the marks on the quills. If you put a base color and then design over top, the wrappings will be thick and uneven.

I've never used ribbon to wrap the quills, but I guess you could.

To me, yarn, colored electrical tape or chrochet/embroidery thread would be the best bet.

[C_Rock77]

The best instruction I've recieved is to wrap the quills in the same method you use to whip rope.

I have yarn wrapping on my quills and extensions. I think it looks better than tape. I don't have the patience for embroidery floss!

One piece of advice is to use double stick tape at the end of your quills/extensions so the yarn doesn't roll off and you can cover more of the quill.

I did mine in a method where I started with one color and wrapped over the other yarn color until that color was to be brought out on my design. Lay the yarn along the length of the quill and wrap over it. When you want to change to the other color, start wrapping it over your previous color.

I suck at trying to write instructions. I do better if I can SHOW you. :p