CW ball (with wow dresses!) in Mich 2/25

Hi all-- Some of the dresses I photographed in May (and posted for your enjoyment) will be present and in motion at this event. It's in Lansing on Saturday night, February 25.

Beforehand the organizers are hosting a swap meet, and I expect that the local wild seamstresses will be set up and displaying there.

Complete details at

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and then clickon Upcoming events. (Joy, here's your chance to put Scarlett into her dress and see her dance!)

--Karen D.

Reply to
Veloise
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I might think it looks super fun just to go....but I did take Paige to one dance last Feb. and she ended up taking the hoop off. She was the ONLY one there with a hoop and the place was VERY small with too many people and it was all quite akward. Joy

Reply to
Joy Hardie

There will be at least 100 people present, about 55 of them female. And I can guarantee that **every last one of the women** will be wearing a hoop. Including yrs truly and the dulcimer player.

When we did this dance a couple of years ago, a guy brought his GF who wasn't into it (yet). She was wearing some sort of lowcut mermaid sheath sparkly confection, and the rest were all 19thC in wool and chintz, silk, lace, layers and tiers. (Oops, one fellow wore his real Army uniform (modern). Was it on here someone posted "wear your uniform; it's not your fault"?) Anyway *she* looked out of place. Did I mention the foofy little silver high heels she wore--and she knew what sort of dancing she'd be doing?!?

This hall is a lot bigger than the showbox we've tried to deal with in the past. There is room for hoops. Music's great, dance instructions are clear and fun (ahem), food is good. No one will bash your costuming but there will be much discussion. "I see you have new gloves." Once time on a CW newsgroup there was pre-ball chatter about how someone was going for his weekly bath in honor of the event, and sure enough, someone else noticed the writer, walked up, and sniffed him. (It was funny. Maybe ya had to be there.)

HTH

--Karen D.

Oh! There are unattached gents, everyone will have on party manners, and your *supposed* to mingle and ask someone new to dance. No wallflowers.

Reply to
Veloise

o.k. I guess my interest is reallypeaked now. Maybe I will dust off a pattern a make a gown for myself and we should come. If the men don't have outfits....what's your best suggestion for me dressing them so they don't look too out of place? Is there a website for this event?

And.... if you have cable or other....have you seen the show "Handmade Music"? They show craftsmen giv>Joy Hardie wrote:

Reply to
Joy Hardie

X-Trace: DXC=0c6j]9k?XiV]V73oH9 a pattern a make a gown for myself and we should come. If the men

Hire white tie and tails - and boiled shirts! Those ones with the stiff fronts held shut by little gold studs.

NOT Mos Bros Morning dress a la weddings, but proper black tail coats and matching trousers, such as you see ballroom dancers wearing.

White gloves for the men.

As for uniform: mess kit, not daytime uniform. With medals. And swords! But check that these are still part of the dress code. E.G.

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's mess kit.) What my dad wore:
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officer's mess kit:
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And.... if you have cable or other....have you seen the show "Handmade> Music"? They show craftsmen giving directions for making dulcimers> and lot's of other instruments.> Joy

Ooh, fun!

Reply to
Kate Dicey

Contact Diana via my website (the special events listing).

Various civilian gents are pictured in the backgrounds here:

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could make them vests (the gaudier, the better...plaids, home decprints, jacquards). I like Simp 8910. The Fashion Historian collectionhas another pattern (and the guy is holding a fiddle!). Black pants in an unobtrusive style. I see fellas in plaids or stripes, too.

And either a tailcoat or a formal-wear jacket that has some "swing" to it. Will look for a picture of what I mean. And I'll post a message on our CW discussion group.

As Kate said, white gloves. Other accessories could include watchchain/pocket watch, hankie, colored tie. I wouldn't bother with a hat. Plain black shoes & socks.

Simp 5023 has the correct dropped shoulder look. For formal wear, white. I'd just find a blousy shirt at a thrift and wear that (another reason to make the waistcoat in a style that would make my fiddle player's look drab).

I don't watch TV!

Hope to see you and your gang there, Joy. (No Rockettes excuses this time!)

--Karen D.

Reply to
Veloise

Found it!

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how his coat is moving? This is a slightly less formal look than atailcoat, which can properly be worn only after 5. (This is my favorite dance caller, Glen Morningstar, some time prior to the final regular contra dance held at Lovett Hall. He always wore this tux for the dances, and he wears it for CW too.)

--Karen D.

Reply to
Veloise

Hello! I visited your website. The gowns are beautiful! It looks like everyone is having a great time. My 19 year old niece goes to CW re-enactments with her grandmother (from the other side of the family) in Gettysburg PA. Grandmother and granddaughter share dresses to save cost. Needless to say, it's NOT a good fit. My niece has been after me to make her a gown of her own. I'm in the dark about CW clothing but I think I can make the $40.00 dress you have pictured. What pattern number did you use?

Thanks, Liz W.

Reply to
Ward

Dang, I wanted to go to the November G'burg ball. (F/T work really cramps my fun.)

The only dresses I created are the ones I am wearing in the pics. I don't have a pattern that matches the calico dress, but it resembles one of the Big Three's workdresses with sleeve modifications. It might be McCall 4744 without all the tiers and bertha.

Periwinkle: I used Kate's favorite Simp 5724. This is a popular pattern amongst the CW sewing crowd, but if you even consider it, you need to read Kate's trials and tribulations on her website (Dickens ball gown). You can see how nice it looks without all the tiers (and tears!) in green and gold.

Holiday tablecloth: Brick 6195. This is a reasonably accurate-looking pattern if you make it lace up the back and hook up the front. Another version is on my events page, in blue. Unlike Simp 5724, the instructions are written in a comprehensible way and there's no extra frou-frou stuff that wastes time and fabric. It's rather low-cut but you can add a bertha collar or some 2" lace along the neckline. One-piece style is easy to wear. As you can see from the tablecloth pics, it provides a lot of bang for the buck if done up in a good print. I have at least three dresses made from this pattern.

Summer print was a McCalls sundress pattern with modifications. It still has a zipper! (Someday I'll make that 20thC item go away.) FYI, same underskirt as periwinkle.

Patterns to avoid: the other Brick CW dresses. 2-pc visiting dress with long sleeves (one of the photos shows a bunch of nylon net yo-yos stitched on the skirt as trim). Complicated instructions.

Simp 9761 is asking for trouble. IIRC it wants NINETEEN YARDS of fabric. For a dance you want airflow and a minimum of self-fabric ruffles (extra weight). The design isn't real bad, but why put yourself through that? (Each trim strip has to be cut, hemmed, and sewn in place. On a pattern review site someone wrote that you'll get dizzy from going around and around and around.)

Brick 6693 has a lavish V-neckline and collar (very complicated) and the bodice has a waistband which is then sewn to the skirt. The white with swags is not unlike the solid gold one dancing on my page. It Is A Pain. Sometimes a pattern is created with details and features that are worth the trouble. Not this one!

(I know a pattern is bad when it doesn't get reassembled into its envelope and then into the box where it belongs. If its pieces are still scattered in project boxes, I was frantically finishing it after months or years of UFO status.)

A 19yo would wear bright light colors and trims, while Grandma would be in more somber tones. 19yo would have her hair out and decorated, like the gals on Brick 6195. Grandma's would be cover in a dark snood or otherwise not fussed with as much. (Think about retail: showcasing a product which is available. That's the general idea.)

If they've gone to a couple of balls she would have a pretty good idea of what she'd like. And as you probably know, do not replicate what's on the envelope. Making Simp 5724 in white with black and red trim is...not good.

HTH

--Karen D.

Reply to
Veloise

And for God's sake use taffeta or a crisp glazed cotton if you DO want all the tiers! My favourite (NOT!) bridal satin (el Cheapo crepe backed poly satin) is no good al all for this!

Also take into account that the gown is designed for an OVAL crinoline - one that is fuller in the back than the front! My client had a round one, so we had to hitch it up quite a lot at the back.

A good wheeze for easy access is to put mock lacing up the back and an invisible zip in a side seam. We modern ladies don't have the personal maids and dressers of the upper crust of former times!

Some bits of the gold ball dress pattern are still floating about... I need to get it packed up and off to the customer!

Think 19YO in periwinkle taffeta and granny in bottle green velvet!

I think it was done as a wedding dress. Even so, I still think it looks like a lamp shade!

Reply to
Kate Dicey

I'm sorry it has taken so long for me to reply. My trusty Outlook Express access to newsgroups has failed. I'm trying Google Groups now.

My niece and her grandmother have been going to CW events for at least

10 years. You are right, she knows what she wants. S> Liz wrote:
Reply to
Liz W

Liz W wrote: ...

Under no circumstances should you make up any Vivian Leigh dress for a CW ball. No one will walk up and say, "how farby," but they'll be thinking it. Use any pattern you want, any color schemes...except the barbeque scatter green print on white, and the the green velvet portieres!

One thing you might try: have your niece browse some of the fabric sites and pick out a nice pattern of cotton print. And if she likes the look of anything on my website, she could spec that in a certain color/fabric. If it works for bridesmaids...

HTH

--Karen D.

Reply to
Veloise

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Reply to
Pogonip

(Carol Burnett's "Scarlet" BIG GRIN!!!! One of my fave's!)

I was doing a wedding gown for a friend and we wanted a sparkly ivory organza overlay. The dress fabric department did not have the right color but the home dec department (drapery dept) had it. I told her to tell her mother that we were doing the "Scarlet O'Hara thing" by using drapery fabric for her dress... We giggled...

Cappy

Reply to
Cappy

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