short hoop: sort of started

That is, I measured my cage every which way I thought I'd need, noted down all the measurements, added up how much tape I ought to need, and deconstructed the crappy hoop. I'm wrangling some absurdly cheap tape from miss_philomena , and I'll see her Sunday, so I can't do anything else with it til next week. But that's okay! I feel as though this is a respectable amount of progress anyway.

 
I'm making the short hoop as long as the 5th steel is in my current one - just a hair below knee-length. The skirt in the drawing is considerably wider, but when you take an organdy petticoat (and artistic license!) into account, I think the skirt will be plenty big enough. And to the right is my cage on top of the boning I took out of the cheap hoop - I measured the longest steel just out of curiosity, and it's 145". Since I am not in fact a caricature, I don't need a bottom steel of 145"... So even using all 6 steels in the short hoop (since it's 1/4" and I'll feel a bit more secure that way), I may well end up with enough left over to bone a corset! Not Bad for $12.