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I took a little road trip this weekend, to participate in the annual "make something neat" event put on by the Ladies of the 48th Tennessee. While the men are off, doing a School of the Soldier and marching around in the snow or other such nonsense, these ladies meet in a member's home and work on a designated project.
This year, it was cage crinolines.
I'd been seeking one for about 5 years, and could never quite get satisfied with the construction and pricing. Having spent the better part of one event aiding a lady in hammering back together her poorly made but pricey cage, I was especially cautious in such a purchase.
But, last August in Gettysburg, as my traveling companion from the 48th cheered me on, I purchased a completed cage from a vendor who also sells them in kit form--Kay Gnagy. Our agenda was simple--buy one, wear it, and decide whether we wanted to make more as a group project.
After bumping around in the cage through several fall events, the answer was evident--my dresses fit better, moved better, looked better. The difference between a cage hoop and a standard sutler/bridal hoop was, for me, like the vast difference between corset and no corset. I'd long since hung up my standard 6 bone hoop in favor a corded petticoat, but occassionally needed a hoop to present a more middle class appearance.
So the project was agreed upon, and 10 kits ordered, each at a price roughly 1/2 of the finished cage.
Participants ranged in age from 13 to "of a certain age", and from Size O to Aunt Pittypat Portly. We quickly broke down into assembly line groups, making waistbands, measuring and cutting steel hooping, marking tapes, setting rivets on the hoop bands and ultimately through the tapes.
Good tools were essential, and included leather punches, hammers, metal cutters, and even a small anvil. One fairly new sewing machine proved inadequate to the job of the waistbands, but my 30 year old Singer was bumping around in the back of the van, and easily sewed through the multiple layers. Rulers and tape measures were very essential, as well as good eyes capable of discerning the difference between 4 3/4 and 4 1/2 inches. A HIGH degree of precision was required for all measurements.
Directions were clear and well written, and one must read over them repeatedly due to complicated assembly process. My hat's off to whoever figured out the mathematics required to make this slightly elliptical hoop. It did help to have the finished hoop to refer to, but it was not essential to the process, and we could have done without it.
Materials supplied were more than adequate to complete all the hoops, with one slight problem on the number of rivets that I'm sure will be remedied shortly--with approximately 100 rivets in each cage, the error was certainly understandable.
From 10:00 am until 8:00 pm, with high quality junk food to fortify us, we labored as a group, with all 10 hoops finished, with the exception of the shortage of rivets in a couple of hoops. Calculated at minimum wage, making the cage from the kit was a false economy--when the incremental cost of the finished cage over the kit is approximately $50. If one did not already have the proper tools at hand, the price of making one cage would be higher than purchasing the finished item.
But calculate that time and work in "fun value" for this sort of effort---and this project becomes a fine idea for any reasonable sized group. Add to it the value of conversation on various fine points of history, clothing, and deportment, and one gets a great deal from this learning experience.
I highly recommend this process for any nice sized group with adequate space to work in. I do think about a dozen participants is the upper limit for this effort---while we never got any pieces mixed up, it did take a lot of space and organization to keep that from happening .
This year, it was cage crinolines.
I'd been seeking one for about 5 years, and could never quite get satisfied with the construction and pricing. Having spent the better part of one event aiding a lady in hammering back together her poorly made but pricey cage, I was especially cautious in such a purchase.
But, last August in Gettysburg, as my traveling companion from the 48th cheered me on, I purchased a completed cage from a vendor who also sells them in kit form--Kay Gnagy. Our agenda was simple--buy one, wear it, and decide whether we wanted to make more as a group project.
After bumping around in the cage through several fall events, the answer was evident--my dresses fit better, moved better, looked better. The difference between a cage hoop and a standard sutler/bridal hoop was, for me, like the vast difference between corset and no corset. I'd long since hung up my standard 6 bone hoop in favor a corded petticoat, but occassionally needed a hoop to present a more middle class appearance.
So the project was agreed upon, and 10 kits ordered, each at a price roughly 1/2 of the finished cage.
Participants ranged in age from 13 to "of a certain age", and from Size O to Aunt Pittypat Portly. We quickly broke down into assembly line groups, making waistbands, measuring and cutting steel hooping, marking tapes, setting rivets on the hoop bands and ultimately through the tapes.
Good tools were essential, and included leather punches, hammers, metal cutters, and even a small anvil. One fairly new sewing machine proved inadequate to the job of the waistbands, but my 30 year old Singer was bumping around in the back of the van, and easily sewed through the multiple layers. Rulers and tape measures were very essential, as well as good eyes capable of discerning the difference between 4 3/4 and 4 1/2 inches. A HIGH degree of precision was required for all measurements.
Directions were clear and well written, and one must read over them repeatedly due to complicated assembly process. My hat's off to whoever figured out the mathematics required to make this slightly elliptical hoop. It did help to have the finished hoop to refer to, but it was not essential to the process, and we could have done without it.
Materials supplied were more than adequate to complete all the hoops, with one slight problem on the number of rivets that I'm sure will be remedied shortly--with approximately 100 rivets in each cage, the error was certainly understandable.
From 10:00 am until 8:00 pm, with high quality junk food to fortify us, we labored as a group, with all 10 hoops finished, with the exception of the shortage of rivets in a couple of hoops. Calculated at minimum wage, making the cage from the kit was a false economy--when the incremental cost of the finished cage over the kit is approximately $50. If one did not already have the proper tools at hand, the price of making one cage would be higher than purchasing the finished item.
But calculate that time and work in "fun value" for this sort of effort---and this project becomes a fine idea for any reasonable sized group. Add to it the value of conversation on various fine points of history, clothing, and deportment, and one gets a great deal from this learning experience.
I highly recommend this process for any nice sized group with adequate space to work in. I do think about a dozen participants is the upper limit for this effort---while we never got any pieces mixed up, it did take a lot of space and organization to keep that from happening .