Hoops! Of hoopiness!
Aug. 7th, 2017 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_philomenaAs mentioned in my last post, ages ago now, I know, I made myself a new and (what I thought was) delightfully wide cage crinoline. After wandering into the TV message board, I discovered someone making 180" circumference hoops, and someone else making 210" (!!!) circ. hoops. Makes my 134" hoop seem much more respectable.
Two of the hoops are 1/2" hooping steel from tutu dot com, the other six hoops are 1/4" spring steel from a cheap ebay bridal hoop. I'd initially planned to do it all with the 1/4" steel, but it didn't feel stable enough, so I added the two sturdier hoops, the third down, and the top one in the bag. I also put my smaller 18th century rump under the back, just to make sure it doesn't collapse or tip forward under the weight of heavier skirts, but the rump isn't quite the right shape. I'll have to make one that's a little bit fuller higher up. It's a round hoop, but one with just a little bit of back thrust, and I don't want to lose that.
My county's 4-H fair was the lat weekend in July, so this year I opted to enter my day gown from New Castle. I was marked down because apparently silk isn't a durable material. I also overheard the judge commenting after judging was finished that it wasn't an appropriate dress for a farmer's wife. I have no idea where she got the idea that it was made for that, because there was no mention of farms or wives on my entry form. All I can guess is that she assumed that's what it was meant for because the fair takes place at an historic farm. But hey, I still got best in division!
I also had someone else (not the judge) not really believe me when I said yes, even back then day dresses could be and were made of silk, no it's not an evening dress. But it was surprising the number of people that were shocked that not only did I make the dress myself (I couldn't enter it for judging otherwise, sillies!), but that I made it to wear it, and had worn it, which is why there's a small stain on one of the sleeves from a fantastic pub lunch. Ehh, whatever. Maybe next year I'll enter one of my Gettysburg dresses.
Two of the hoops are 1/2" hooping steel from tutu dot com, the other six hoops are 1/4" spring steel from a cheap ebay bridal hoop. I'd initially planned to do it all with the 1/4" steel, but it didn't feel stable enough, so I added the two sturdier hoops, the third down, and the top one in the bag. I also put my smaller 18th century rump under the back, just to make sure it doesn't collapse or tip forward under the weight of heavier skirts, but the rump isn't quite the right shape. I'll have to make one that's a little bit fuller higher up. It's a round hoop, but one with just a little bit of back thrust, and I don't want to lose that.
My county's 4-H fair was the lat weekend in July, so this year I opted to enter my day gown from New Castle. I was marked down because apparently silk isn't a durable material. I also overheard the judge commenting after judging was finished that it wasn't an appropriate dress for a farmer's wife. I have no idea where she got the idea that it was made for that, because there was no mention of farms or wives on my entry form. All I can guess is that she assumed that's what it was meant for because the fair takes place at an historic farm. But hey, I still got best in division!
I also had someone else (not the judge) not really believe me when I said yes, even back then day dresses could be and were made of silk, no it's not an evening dress. But it was surprising the number of people that were shocked that not only did I make the dress myself (I couldn't enter it for judging otherwise, sillies!), but that I made it to wear it, and had worn it, which is why there's a small stain on one of the sleeves from a fantastic pub lunch. Ehh, whatever. Maybe next year I'll enter one of my Gettysburg dresses.
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Date: 2017-08-08 04:46 am (UTC)Oh people! They have the weirdest ideas about "ye olden times." Today I told my aunt that I used the fabric that I got from her to make a dress from c.1910 and she responded, "Oh, like medieval times?" It's a beautiful dress! Congrats on the ribbon!
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Date: 2017-08-08 03:50 pm (UTC)Yeaaaaah, people are weird sometimes. I'm gonna keep making what I want, no matter what!
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Date: 2017-08-09 12:29 am (UTC)People. *eyeroll* They just refuse to believe things about the past that they don't want to believe.
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Date: 2017-08-09 12:45 pm (UTC)People are SO WEIRD sometimes (that is the normal people, not us dress-up people *winks*).