Applying Lace to Each Hoop

After the second fitting I am ready to finish off both hoops. This entails any small adjustments, making sure the hoops are secure and putting fastenings on the waistbands. But I've also decided they both need a little lace just to finish them off and make them feel like more of a set. There is no reason why the hoop-skirts, although underwear, shouldn't be pretty.

For the Open Cage:
Once of the great advantages to covering the metal on the open cage is to disguise the intense white of the metal and blend it in. This fits in really well with the costume in general because this is Princess Silhouette's cage and her entire costume will be black and white. I bought a few different types of black lace online and got very lucky in that they were all very nice and appropriate for this process. I chose just one though and set about threading it through each ring before clamping them shut.

Close up of lace threaded on wire

Back View of Cage finished with Ribbon

This wasn't too difficult of a process although getting both the wire and the lace through the slots on the strips wasn't the easiest. Also the lace can twist quite easily so you have to be careful everything is lined up correctly. But the result looks just how I wanted it do really. I am very happy with how it all turned out and I think it looks more delicate and intentional at the same time.

For the Organza Hoop:

For the organza hoop I wanted to cover the hooping channels with some lace. I knew this would help make it look really finished and also add to the lightness. I had a small amount of thin lace I had before this project started that seemed to be just right. However I didn't have enough to go the whole way round the hoop and it wasn't possible to get any more of this exact kind. I measured the lace and used it as my guide when ordering the actual amount needed. Unfortunately when I ordered it online I don't think they had the actual width listed corrected. It was so much wider than I thought it was going to be when it arrived and I was really disappointed. But I needed to use it because I didn't have many other options and I had so much of it it would be wasteful to order more. I did a few experiments just pinning it on in different ways first:

 The top row is the lace without any kind of changes and it is very obvious that is a little too wide for the hoop and the channels. On the second row down is the the lace with a scalloped edge cut into it using the actual lace design as a guide. And beside it is the lace simply cut in half to make more the size of the channels. The lace cut in half isn't too bad but adds no interest and I don't think it really adds to the finished look of the hoop. However the scalloped edge is quite a nice detail I think. It is soft and delicate without being overwhelming. I decided to go with technique.

Hoop mid-way

This was a pretty straight-forward process and for the result was worth the effort. It only took one line to machine the lace onto the hoop using the channels as guides. You can see on the bottom un-cut pieces of lace that it pulls  a little bit so cutting into the lace released the tension. The only tedious part of this was trimming the lace to get the scalloped edges, luckily had some pretty sharp snips! I realized after the first row that if I started where the lace met in the back that I could get all the negative I was cutting away in one long strip that might be used somewhere else on my costume.

Just to completely finish the hoop I added a second scalloped edge to the bottom hoop and a scalloped edge to the waistband. I feel like this lace is a huge positive to this hoop. It adds lightness and whimsy to the whole character!

Finished Hoop