Dancing our feet off

Much belated posting (but what else is new) of fun had at local dances! It's a delight to look back through photos again and relive the events several months later because they really were highlights of my year! This blog is ending up serving as the perfect scrapbook of memories.

First up was a ball in February in Ste. Genevieve where we met up with our friends Ron and Justine and had just far too much fun. Displeased with the Marie Antoinette portrait trim of the last blog entry, I ripped off all the lace and self-trimmed the jacket -- now I like it so much that want to wear it all the time when the weather cools off again. 

 

My husband has been complaining for a while now about his lack of fancy wardrobe, and while I love him, I don't love him enough to stumble through a J.P. Ryan frock coat pattern, so I gave Butterick 3072 a try for the coat and a new vest. The results were delightful! I could stand to add more buttons at the coat's skirts and beneath the pocket flaps, but it went together on the first try for the mockup and this was one of the fastest men's makes I've ever done. There are a number of stash taffetas set aside for more 18thc ensembles for my husband that will be done with this pattern. I don't think the pattern called for a stiff facing for the front edges but I knew even with the fairly hefty lining, the buttons would go all twisty and the edges would droop, so I added an interior strip of canvas. The breeches are Simplicity 4921 and while it may be a tacky pirate pattern, the pants are actually really decent for fall-front breeches. He was happy with it and comfortable in it anyway, so that's what matters to me!

 

 

 We ended up matching Justine's brother, and then their friend Michael was wearing red, so we joked that it looked like the "Christmas War" between red and green. 

 

Somehow we're just not made for the solemn and serious life... any time the four of us get together we can be sure there will be goofing off.

 

 

The BostonTea Boys were getting ready to drop a hot new album, I mean, crate of goods into the harbor...

 

 

These shenanigans were followed up by a late night Taco Bell run so I can't say it was the most historical of events but one of the most enjoyable 😂

Not long after, on my birthday weekend, a small public dance event was held under the St. Louis Arch, and I finished up long corduroy Regency pants for my husband from Laughing Moon pattern 131 (which have since been very much taken in because we both were not happy about how baggy they ended up being but that was entirely my fault over-estimating how much room his legs would take up, lol, not the pattern at all), Laughing Moon 125 for a vest, and then there was a half-finished Regency tailcoat passed on to me that had been sitting in a bin for years, so out that came and was duly finished... I thought he looked quite handsome in the whole ensemble!

 

...even though the pants clearly didn't fit right.

 

 

 

 

 

I feel very lucky he's willing to play dress-up with me, so all the tailoring for these events didn't feel like much of a chore. Usually I hate sewing for other people and avoid it like the plague, but for a well-dressed escort it's worth it!  He is very much a Mr. Bingley... very amiable, good-natured, and ready to please.

 

After the dance (which we weren't at for very long, I was running out of steam that day and working on a headache) I persuaded him to stop at a local mausoleum in our county that I'd heard of but never actually seen in person. It's extremely impressive, built into the side of a bluff overlooking the Mississippi flood plain.

The honey-colored limestone looked warm and inviting next to my gold dress (silk is from my friend's shop at Ensembles of the Past) and I almost felt like I was stepping forth from some ancient Venetian doorway -- at least, so said my wishful thinking and FOMO over all the folks who were at that time attending Carnevale.

And to wrap up the dancing sessions, just this past month we met up with Ron and Justine again for the first (and definitely not last!) dance in many a year held at the Peterstown House in my hometown. The president of the historic house's association estimated that probably no dancing had been done there in a hundred years, but it used to be a very well-trod floor according to local documents!

 

 

Of course historic house air conditioning is never going to be up to snuff and we knew it would be a toasty evening, so the men went very rural-casual in their shirtsleeves and vests, and I wore an older cotton gown (from my favorite Regency pattern, Laughing Moon #126) rather than sweat to death in silk! You can see E's pants are considerably less baggy here than last time after some hasty downsizing, haha.

...I won't show you the more ridiculous selfies we took; good thing we are both wife'd-up, because no respectable man would have spoken to us after our nonsense.

 

(the very picture of gentility, for a couple seconds anyway)

 

 

 

 

 

And we can't seem to be together without needing to get food at some point, so of course we opted for yet another historically-accurate food source on this evening: strip-mall sushi!!

 

 

 

Until next time!