Well, these were done a week ago, but I never got around to taking photos.

And sheesh, there were more glitches and delays sewing these paniers than was really necessary.

In last week’s episode, I was unable to cut through my hoop wire with my wire cutters. I went to OSH and bought something that looked like tin snips. Got home, went to cut my hoop wire, and nope nada nothing. They also just slid around on the bones.

Returned to OSH, with the hoop wire next time. Asked the employees what I could use to cut through it. Two of them got into a friendly wager – one believed he could cut through it, the second employee said it was impossible.

Employee #2 found some sort of snips and tried, and failed. Employee #1 tried, and he must have had better arm muscles, because he made it through! And also cut the other 5 pieces to size. No charge, no purchase necessary. Woohoo!

This is not the first time I’ve found the employees at OSH to be incredibly helpful and knowledgable (unlike, say, the Joann employees. One time I asked where I could find a zipper foot for my sewing machine, and the employee had no idea what I was talking about. Yeesh).

So, our triumphant heroine returns home with hoop boning cut to size. She wraps the sharp ends with electric tape, inserts it into the channels, pleats the tops, pins it to the bands, and proceeds to sew.

And breaks her sewing machine needle. Which turned out to be my last one, since the previous one had also broken on these paniers. This is some seriously tight-woven cotton. I tried hand sewing (since by that point it was late at night and Joann was closed), but after bending the needle I gave up.

Bought some heavy duty denim needles, and was *finally* able to get through all the pleated layers of cotton.

And then I had paniers!

Handsewing on the pocket hole and triangle. This has a super narrow hem which I wouldn’t be able to control well on machine

I like big hips and I cannot lie.

Modelled with an incorrectly-shaped Renaissance petticoat, but you get the idea.

A good lesson on why you should wear one more petticoat than you think, as the lines of this hoop show through two layers of linen