A New Era (for me)

                 I had hoped to finish this project over the summer, but it turned out to be more work that I thought! It's a dress dating from approximately 1855-1865. Now, what are the first things that pop into your head when you think of ladies’ fashion of the Civil War era?  Hoopskirts! Corsets! Layers and layers of petticoats! I wanted to make it all, or not even bother with the project.

The style of hoopskirt I made is called a cage crinoline. It’s different from a covered hoopskirt because the wire rungs are hung from vertical tapes, rather than sewn between layers of fabric. There are also more wires, which give a smoother shape. Once I began and realized how much work this would be, I thought I would never finish it! I listened to books on tape most of the time, so I was able to count up my hours. From start to finish, the hoop took a minimum of 60 hours’ work!



'Scuse the mess!



               I started out by calculating what size hoop I wanted, according to my age, size, and the kind of events I would be attending, and looking at photos of real women (not the cartoons!) from ‘back then’. I decided to make one with the bottom wire about 95” circumference. I knew that this bottom wire should be 10”-12” off the ground to avoid tripping, so I cut seven tapes about my waist-to-floor measurement. I spaced the rest of my wires 3” apart and started filling in the space, adjusting their circumferences until they looked proportionate and had the bell-shape I was aiming for. The top few wires don’t go all the way around, but have a gap in the front, to make it easier to take the cage off and on.

                I covered each wire in gros-grain ribbon and sewed the ribbon to the vertical tapes. The tapes are placed at the side-fronts, sides, and three overlapping in the center-back of the waistband, which fastens with a buckle. The front tapes stay almost parallel all the way down. The side tapes stay mostly parallel with those, but slant slightly forward. The center back tape is straight down the center back, and the other two back tapes slant out toward the side-backs from the center-back. By the time they reach the bottom wire, all the tapes are evenly spaced. The uneven placement of the tapes in the mid-section of the cage causes the whole cage to shift slightly toward the back.

And finally, on to the dress!