Farthingale help......

About two years ago when I started getting into period sewing I made a french bodiced Elizabethan gown and the whole kit and kaboodle for it. There Is a reason you will not see pictures of this gown any where. It was pretty darn bad, and the worst part of the whole bit was the farthingale. I had small fundage at the time, so I used the plastic piping that sarabellem recommended on her website. It collapsed at faire, collossially. Between my heavy skirts and the rain that followed, I had panniers. Not at all pretty. Soooooo, I'm trying again. I took all the piping out of my farthingale and tried wire rope. It's still not working.... The wire, piping, anythng I seem to use wants to curl in on itself. So , for all thiose costming guruus that read this.....Help! Is there anything beyond actual hoop wire that I can use? What types of wire works best? If I have to order the wire it's going to have to wait till at least next month as tuition is coming due soon....