It’s done! My new elliptical 1860’s hoop skirt. Some info:
Pattern: Truly Victorian 103
Fabric: White cotton
Notions: Loads of bias-tape for the bone casing, white tapes for the vertical support, 11mm steel hoop boning, 8 end-caps for the half-circle hoops and heat shrink to clasp the bones together.
The hoop is not entirely even, but close enough that it doesn’t matter with a petticoat over it. It is also similar enough to my previous hoop skirt to still fit with the petticoat and skirt I made before. It feels a lot sturdier than my previous hoop, and I’m very happy with it. I’m making my previous elliptical hoop into a 1850’s round hoop, but progress on that will follow later.
The side view. Here it’s still knotted together at the waist, but by this point I’ve a clasp in place to reduce the bulk a bit. The tapes holding the half-hoops together behind the bum and legs also don’t work quite as well on the mannequin as on me, as it doesn’t have legs. The ‘gap’ between hoop four and five isn’t as obvious when I’m wearing it.
A close-up of the half-wiring at the back.
Another perspective.
And the back view.
With petticoat and skirt. The skirt is slightly long on the sides, but I’m confident that will be less when I wear it, as the mannequin was rather low and the hoop stands out a bit more towards the back on me.
Atelier Nostalgia 
I’ve been considering this pattern for a while so I’m happy to see that it came out so well for you. Now I know I’ll be adding this one to my pattern library. Thanks!
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I am currently gathering supplies for this pattern and I am curious… where did you end up getting your clasp from? I’ve found a few modern options (plastic lock-buckles, D rings… but I’m finding out that 3/4 inch buckles are hard to find!
I ended up using one of the modern options for the full hoops, heat-shrink tubes. I didn’t look for clasps too hard, but I suspected I wouldn’t be able to find them easily honestly. The heat-shrink worked well, although it’s not very period.
For the half hoops I used end-caps, which I believe I got from the same place as I got my hoop boning from, a little store in Utrecht called Ria’s fournituren. (http://www.riasfournituren.nl/) I just saw that they now have a webshop, but I can’t see the boning on the website yet. I don’t know where you’re located? If you’re in Europe you could try sending them an email asking if they ship abroad, and if they have what you’re looking for. The website only has info for Dutch deliveries.
My hoop skirt has turned out super droopy and wonky and i have absolutely no idea why. How did you manage to get the bottom bag to sit straight. I had to chop off one of the 3 bottom boning layers because the skirt was too long for me. Should I have gotten rid of one of the single hoops instead?
I don’t recall doing anything in particular to make it take this shape. I think ideally, you’d make it shorter by shortening the distance between the hoops rather than removing one, that would help. But reducing the overall size might also help, and it might also have something to do with the type of hoop steel.