18th Century Hoop Pockets

Back in January, after my car accident (I didn’t want to mention I was in a car accident here on my blog until I got everything settled. Since it’s settled, I can now mention it.) I was still shaken up and needed something to get my mind off worrying about my car. I needed to make a pair of 18th century hoop pockets for dresses I wanted to make in the future, so I decided to make that.

The hoop pockets were made using J. P. Ryan’s pattern for hoop pockets. Although the instructions are good, I misplaced them while working on the hoops. I ended up making the hoops without the instructions, but when I found the instructions I realized I did some things wrong. Unfortunately, I finished the hoop pockets before I found the instructions so I had to rip the pockets apart to fix them. I think there are still things I did wrong, but I did my best.

Here’s what the hoop pockets look like on my dress form…

The tie is some left over ribbon I had in my ribbon stash.

Although I made mistakes making the hoop pockets, they seem to give the shape I want under the dress I’m currently making. I’m not sure if this will continue after I finish the dress and put the full weight of the skirt with the trim on it over the pockets, but if they fail I have the instructions so I can make a new pair that will be stronger and not fail. 🙂