Trivial Trivia - taking trivia to new levels

[Anita]

How did they sit down?[in a hoop skirt....]

Hoops collapsed, one ring upon another. They are fairly easy to sit down in; but you don't want to try and sit in a chair with arms; the hoops will fly up in front usually! One could take out an entire small room, so housewives typically worked in a dress with multiple petticoats; not hoops. Likewise, lady nurses during the war wore multiple petticoats and no hoops - they were usually not allowed.

Thanks Betty. It is really an impressive bit of engineering, except for the problem of the chair with arms!

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Laurie, thanks for the wealth of info in your post. I enjoyed the story of the little girl on the tour who was afraid afraid of ghosts and your creative solution using the hoop.