1840's styles, though, aren't complete without some serious volume under the skirt. Technically, the date would call for layers and layers of petticoats, but since I plan to hop, slip, swing and otherwise dance in this getup, I insist on skipping ahead a few years and going for a hoop skirt.
I'm a cheap sewer, though, and I can't figure spending $30-$50 dollars on underpinnings for a dress that cost me $10, nor do I have days to spend on the making of it. I've figured out a way to make a non-period, but very sturdy and wearable hoop skirt for about $6. This was my third, and I finally remembered to take pictures as I went, so here's the tutorial:
Materials:
>Fabric, 45-60" wide, by 120-145" long (length should be about 1 1/2" longer than the circumference of the finished hoop) Anything that isn't too heavy and won't be distracting if it shows will work fine. Mine is a black taffeta-like material that I found on the remnant table at Sir's for 50 cents a yard.
>Something to use as a drawstring: ribbon, cord, or twill tape work fine. Make it long. I like at least two yards so there's little chance of losing an end when you take it off.
> 30' of 3/8" water tubing from Lowe's - you need the milky white type
> thread to match your fabric.
>roll of electrical tape
>optional: 18" of 1/2" tubing
First, a quick rundown of hoop skirt history: After a quick tour through graceful empire styles in the late 1700's to 1820 or so, skirts started getting wider. At first, this was achieved through petticoats, starched, horsehair edged, corded, petticoats. By the late 1830's seven petticoats might be worn at one time, plus decorative flounces on the skirt, to get a fashionably full shape. The overall look was sort of bee hive shaped, and was, as you can imagine, really heavy. Finally, in the late 1840's/1850 some bright soul got the idea of putting together a cage-like contraption of spring steel and twill tape- the hoop skirt. Suddenly, 10 pounds of petticoats vanished, since one or two to smooth out the lines of the hoop skirt was all that was needed now. Over the next decade, skirts continued to grow and become more smoothly conical. By the 1860's skirt were hitting 180"! For most of the period, though, 120" would be a typical everyday circumference, with 130"-145" for evening wear.
OK, on to construction. hang a tape measure from your waist to the length you want, about 3-4 inches off the ground seems pretty good for dancing. Add 6 3/4" to this. Measure this distance from one selvage of your fabric, cut a notch there and rip the remaining width off of your fabric ( you are tearing a strip off along the length of the fabric). ( I like ripping when I'm working with rectangles. It's faster and neater than cutting.) If the ends of your piece are crooked, trim them straight.
Now, break out the iron. Lay your fabric down wrong side up. On the selvage edge, fold down one inch all along the length of the fabric and iron that down. On the other edge, fold down 1/4", iron that, and then fold over another 1" and iron.
You should now have a sort of casing folded down along both edges of your piece of fabric.
Now we're going to make some guidelines for the hoops. 9" from the folded edge of the casing you just turned down, fold the fabric right sides together lengthwise and iron the fold. (check: you should now have a crease running the length of you fabric with the point of the fold on the wrong side).
10" from that fold, do the same thing again.
11" from that fold, do the same thing one more time. As you make these folds, try to get the spacing as exact as possible, especially at the ends of the fabric. (these spacings aren't magic, they just look good to me. Change them if you like) You should now have a long strip of cloth with a folded casing on each edge and three parallel creases. Got it? Ok, lets start sewing.
First, line up the ends of your fabric right sides together and up the end until you are about 7" from the double folded casing, hereafter called the top. You now have a huge loop. Fold under the seam allowances above the place where you stopped sewing and stitch them down. This is your placket.
Fold down the casings on both ends again and sew them close to the edge, except when you sew the one with the selvage, leave a gap of about 6" somewhere.
Fold the fabric at the first crease and sew 3/4" from the crease, leaving a 6" gap.
Do the same thing for the other two creases.
You now have a ring of fabric with a casing on each edge and three pleats on the wrong side of the fabric, and you are finished with the sewing machine.
Now, the fun part, putting in the hoops.
Get out your tubing and cut a piece the length of your bottom casing, the circumference of your finished hoops. Cut a little piece about 3 " long from either the small piece of 1/2" tubing, or the 3/8" stuff. If you use 3/8", take a sharp knife and slit this little piece so you can peel it open. Test fit your hoop by putting both ends of the long piece into ends of the short piece. They should slide in neatly if you use 1/2", but if you are using 3/8" this will take a little wiggling. It should look like this.
You should now be holding something that looks like a skinny hula hoop with a bump at the joint. If all is well, it's a neat flat circle. If not, check to see if it's twisted. If that still doesn't get it flat, try this method: heat a large pot of water on the stove, coil up your stubborn hoop and stuff in in there. Wait a minute or two and the pull out your now floppy hoop, throw it on the kitchen floor and arrange it in a neat circle.
When it will lie flat on the floor, you're ready to put it in. pull out one end and start feeding it into the bottom casing, the one made from the folded over selvage. When it's all the way around, trim it if needed and pop it back into the joint, like this:
Now, wrap that joint tightly in electrical tape to hold it together. I used packing tape on my first hoop, and it can work, but electrical tape is the best for this job.
Repeat the same process for the other three hoops. Each one will be a little smaller than the one before. The exact sizes, though, will vary depending on what shape you are after. Pull the drawstring through the top casing and put it on, then feed in the tubing until it looks right in the mirror and cut it there. As you go up, the fabric will be more tightly gathered over each hoop. When all the hoops are adjusted to your liking, tape the joints and sew the gaps in the casings closed. You should now have a really odd looking set of circles on the inside of your hoop skirt, and the whole thing should look kind of like this.
Now put it back on and check the look. There may be some odd bulges if the fabric isn't evenly gathered. Adjust it till everything is smooth. Throw on your dress and off you go!
Some wearing tips: wear something underneath. These things don't work in small living rooms, and sometimes you only option is to stand the hoops up on edge and slide through.:) Avoid wearing them in small cars period. You can lose the shift lever entirely under there! Depending on your dress, you may also need another petticoat to keep the lines of the hoops from showing. I've found that a full broomstick skirt works for this over a smaller hoop.
Despite the drawbacks, though, they are great for storage. You can wear a whole fanny pack slung low around your hips, and no one will be the wiser. Just be sure that the placket in the hoop skirt lines up with the placket in your dress so you can get to it!
