WTF is It?!

Not JUST a hoop skirt, dear DD!!

It's a pannier, an 18th century petticoat worn in the times of Marie Antionette to show the details and embellishments of an elaborate skirt. This motherfucker has consumed the Queens life for the last several months, and she is QUITE pleased to be finished with it, at last!

The inability to find a pattern , especially in the required "jumbo petite" is just the beginning of the difficulties!  In ancient times, they were made of linen and whalebone.  Have you GingerSnaps SEEN the price of whalebone lately, if you can find it at all? Joking aside, the polyester boning sold in fabric stores wouldn't begin to hold the structure of a hoop skirt this large, so the clever Queen found rolls and lengths of sprinkler pipe at the Home Depot that would provide the rigidity, flexibility, and light weight that the project required.  Muslin is more practical than linen for something that's not to be seen, and trust, it breaks the Queen's heart that she has worked so long and hard on something that is to be covered up!  Without a pattern, there was a lot of trial and error, cutting and recutting, and shoving and unshoving of those pipes so the whole thing could go through the machine!  But now that's it's done, Queen Ginger couldn't be happier!  It hangs straight and floats like a cloud, and at almost 9 feet from port to starboard, that's a feat in itself!

The whole thing will be covered in a gorgeous gown that Queen G has on one short month to create!  Wish her luck- she's going to need it! And, if postings are light for a while, you'll know why! But if you can't stand another day with the Queen's snarky wit and humor, just check her out on Facebook- that's where you can usually find her, when she's not at the sewing machine!