This petticoat is made from metal wire and cotton tape. It would have been covered with an additional fabric petticoat to protect the dress worn over it. The hooping of cage crinolines could be made of whalebone, cane, or steel. The concentric skeleton of the cage would be held together with cloth tapes or it could be wholly encased in fabric. The expanse that could be achieved with this understructure was even greater than that provided by eighteenth-century panniers.
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