Saturday 15 January 2011

Moderately sized panniers in progress.........

I came to realise that the panniers I made previously were ultimately just too big to work with and require gargantuan amounts of fabric - although I do still love them and hope to do something with them in the future.  These panniers are based on the idea of pocket hoops but with fabric connecting them across the front and back for extra stability.  I'm not too keen on the instability of pocket hoops that just sit on the hips with nothing to control them.


Each hip has three horizontal channels of boning plus one vertical channel which goes almost right up to the waist edge creating an arch strong enough to support a gown.  My boning of choice is a plastic called 'Triple-flex', it's so lightweight which is perfect for crinolines and bustles etc, although not if you're looking to be historically accurate.




















All that remains is to tidy up the insides, apply a waistband and finish the hem!