One con down, four to go.

[sakon76]

We got back from Fanime at exactly midnight. And promptly collapsed.

I've taken a day (Tuesday) off from costuming and am now digging through my fabrics looking for the fabrics I bought for the faux-Elizabethan I intend to make for AX. And petticoat fabric. I'm using Juan Alcega's instructions so it should be reasonably period, even... albeit sized up a bit because a 36" diameter hoop skirt would be a bit narrow on a woman of my frame. I'm aiming for something in the 45" diameter range, and plotting how I can make the hoops removeable for easy transportation and/or washing of said undergarment.

EDIT: Fabric has been found.

Comments

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

Removable hoops = easy. Just don't close the hooping channels, instead overlapping the edges. That will keep the hoops from popping out when you don't want them to do so, and allows you access to pull them out when you do. Oh, and you'll want to tip the hooping steels so they don't have rough edges, otherwise they'll catch on the fabric when you pull them out.

Another nifty hoop trick: you can twist them like a figure-eight and fold them in half, thus halfing their size for transport it you don't want to deal with yanking all the hoops out, then trying to remember which size hoop goes into which channel (the downside of removable hooping steels).

...what? I'm not obsessed about hoops, really!

[hoshikage.livejournal.com]

Really? That's what was done with the hoops in the hoop skirt I bought, and they were permanently dented. :( I always just take them out and coil them, it seems to work a lot better than folding...

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

I've done it with my hoops and never had a problem. What sort of hooping steel did you use? If the hoops are plastic, that could be why.

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes, but you see, Alcega's instructions rely on tucks in the fabric to create boning channels... a bit trickier to make hoops removeable from them.

[ghilledhu.livejournal.com]

Oh. That seems unnecessarily complicated...but okay. How do you get the hoops into the tucks? Do you have to stitch them into the skirt?

In that case, make what is essentially a buttonhole somewhere along the tuck -- cut a slit in the fabric, and either fray-check it or buttonhole-stitch all around it. Again, tip your hoops so when you want to take them out they'll slide out smoothly.