All posts tagged: swing dancing

Windy Lindy: What we wore

I’m sure that you are all wondering what I eventually decided on as my Windy Lindy dress. Well, as per popular demand, I wore the green dress. OK, in all honesty, I didn’t feel like wearing the serious undergarments that the white and black dress require, and I didn’t find the red dress until a few hours before the dance. You have excellent taste though, dear readers, as I did feel that I looked rather fetching. I paired the dress with a gold necklace, a silk peony rose and a butterfly in my hair, and gold dancing slippers. Madame Ornata looked rather fetching too.  We didn’t quite finish her dress (we had to sew her into it as the back fastenings weren’t done), but I do believe she was the belle of the ball.  She just looked so perfectly period, and the sapphire silk was so striking – you could spot it anywhere in the room.

Another dress for Windy Lindy

I’ve found a way to satisfy my desire to make a whole new dress for Windy Lindy 2010.  I’m helping Madame Ornata make one. Madame Ornata doesn’t swing dance, but she does dance, and she loves to dress up. So I convinced her to come to Windy Lindy. It turns out that she had a half cut out version of the notorious Vintage Vogue 2241, an original 1931 design. Now, 2241 is notorious for being difficult to adjust, fussy to put together, making no logical sense as a dress or a pattern, and (worst of all) looking like a sack when you do figure it out, unless you happen to have the approximate figure of a snake. The pattern looks like this: Now, Madame Ornata’s figure is deliciously un-snake-like, she doesn’t like to show off her back, and she needs to be able to dance in the dress without it falling off her shoulders.  So the dress as it is was a no-go. But she already had the skirt cut out in the most fabulous …

What shall I wear to Windy Lindy 2010?

Last year I got your input on a costume for the big Wellington swing event.  And you have seen the Dorothy costume from the year before.  So of course I need your input this year too! This year the theme is ‘Puttin on the Ritz’. Woohoo!  Right up my alley! Unfortunately, I’ve decided that 1) I should be good and finish all the projects I have started already rather than making something new, and 2) I already own enough fabulous 1930s-esque evening gowns anyway. Blast.  I really, really wanted an excuse to make Ginger Roger’s Night and Day dress: So, as I’m giving up this excuse in favour of practicality, which of my (gorgeous, but not quite as gorgeous as that dress) 1930s evening dresses should I wear? Any of these can be dolled up with fab accessories and fabric flowers up the wazoo. Yes, it’s my wedding dress.  And yes, I firmly believe I should wear my wedding dress as often as possible.  I could add garlands of fabric flowers ’round the neck and …