I was going to make myself a brand-new pair of hoops, but all of a sudden, the light-bulb clicked on. Why not take my existing hoops and rework them slightly?
The plan then was to remove the bottom two hoops and rearrange things a little so the second to last hoop was now the bottom rung--with the freedom to re-attach the nearly 5 foot bottom hoop as needed (aka when I wear my ball gown).
I pulled the hoops out of the closet and put them on. Hmm...I had, several years ago, removed a fifth hoop off this set, the original set being a little too large in circumference for my short frame. The rest of the hoops had not been re-arranged, so my whole hoopskirt was actually a little too short (I think).
With that being noticed, I decided to rip all four rounds off the tapes (and then wash those! they were quite dirty) and re-attach the first three in a more pleasing shape, leaving enough room at the bottom to add the largest hoop back on at the bottom. Now, a three-rung hoop skirt is actually rather minimalistic, but if it works for my hoopskirt smuggling impression (which is yet to be seen), then I won't complain. The less drain-snake hung about my waist, the better in this case. ;)
Photos then:
I adjusted the position of the hoops up and down the tapes until I was finally satisfied with the "hang". My first go, the lowest hoop literally sat on the floor! I think it was the third go that got them properly positioned.