Princess Elizabeth in her hoop skirt.
To be a Renaissance lady or a southern belle you need a hooped underskirt. They also make a great base for a ghost or an angel costume. Here is an easy way to make a very sturdy one using plastic tubing.
Instructions
1. Take measurements: Measure from your natural waist to the floor. This is the height of your hoop skirt. Decide how wide you want your hoop to be. 40"wide is a smallish easy to manage size for an adult.
2. Cut your fabric. For a 40" wide hoop cut a rectangle 134" long. If your waist to floor measurement was 40 cut your fabric 45 " wide. If it was 43" cut it 48" wide. If it was 46" cut it 50" wide. If it was 50" cut it 54" wide.
3. If using other measurements calculate as follows: To calculate the circumference of your hoop multiply 3.14 (pi) times the width of your hoop. For a 40" hoop this would be 3.14 X 40 which is about 126" Cut your fabric this length plus 8" for ease.
4. Use the pythagorian theorem to calculate the width of your fabric. Do this by dividing the width of the hoop in half call this D. Call the height of the hoop, your waist to floor measurement, H. Multiply HxH and DXD. Add these two numbers together and take the square root. For example if your hoop will be 40" wide and your waist to floor measurement is 42" multiply 20X20 to get 400. Multiply 42X42 to get 1764. Add these together to get 2164" and take the square root to get 46.5."
5. Sew the short edges of your fabric together stopping 5 inches from the top. Finish the raw edges of the seam with a zigzag or overlock stitch.
6. Finish the top and bottom edges of your underskirt with a zigzag or overlock stitch. Press down 1" on the top edge and make a 3/4 inch casing. Cut a piece of 1/2" twill tape to your waist measurement plus two feet. Thread this through the casing. Knot the ends of the tape.
7. Press up 2" on the bottom edge of the underskirt and sew a 1.75 inch casing leaving a 4 inch opening. Cut a length of 1" plastic tubing the circumference of your hoop (126" for a 40" hoop) and thread through casing. Duct tape the ends of the tubing together to form a hoop and finish sewing up the casing.
