Happy Halloween!

This image came from a 1939 Band-Aid ad - 

but if that knife slips, she'll need something a little bigger than a Band-Aid, I think!

How's your Halloween season going? I'll admit, I've been actively avoiding it this year (though I am looking forward to passing out candy to trick-or-treaters). As much as I like dressing up in weird clothes, I only do Halloween every 3 years or so - most of the Halloween events we go to are dances, and it's just not fun to dance in a giant foam head. Too hot! ;)

Fine & Dandy Outfit Challenge

A couple weeks ago Bobby White of Fine & Dandy  and Swungover challenged his readers to present a Fall-to-Summer transitional outfit. I try to confine my outfit posts to things I've made or special events, so I took this as a challenge to do a dress revamp that's been waiting a couple years.

I've got a few Loco Lindo dresses that I've picked up at sample sales - I love the vintage-y rayon crepe print fabrics so I'm a sucker for grabbing ones that are too big for me with the intention of fixing them. This dress always vibed early 1930's to me, so I finally got to work at making it wearable. I wore the finished dress out dancing Friday night, and it was so much fun! The skirt length is technically too short for early 30's, but I'm more comfortable with knee-length anyway.

My new-to-me 30's watch, picked up at an antique mall last weekend. 

It keeps good time when I remember to wind it!

The original dress was too big in the width and length for me - I raised the shoulders about 2 inches (giving me nice high armholes that are so great for movement and dancing) and turned the front darts into princess seams to remove about 4 inches from the circumference (bodice and skirt). The green neck contrast originally wrapped around as a back neck yoke, but I lost that when I raised the shoulders, so I just added bias tape to finish the back neck.

I also removed the self tie and made it into a belt, and added some matching buttons to add to the 30's look. After I figured out how to reduce the bodice size, it was an easy revamp -  but I almost didn't make the submission deadline due to being super sick the last couple weeks, so I gave up some housecleaning to finish the project. I should do that more often! ;)

Bal-Aska 2012

So things are getting all jumbled and out of order because my blogging isn't keeping up with events, but that's a good problem to have - and we just keep pushing on! :) Last weekend Chris and I went up to Anchorage, Alaska to teach at their first ever Balboa event, Bal-aska - and we had a ball! It was a whirlwind trip of only 3 days plus travel time, but we managed to sneak in a little sight-seeing between classes.

No fancy-pant camera on this trip, this time my phone was in charge of recording memories. And DJing for classes, and mapping out the wild streets of Anchorage. Smart phones and jet planes are 2 reasons I'm glad I didn't actually live in 1938. Anyway...

Our trusty rental in The Last Frontier

With the promoters and staff of Bal-aska - Patrick, Roxanne & Binky

Chris got in the spirit of Autumn up there -

 it's painful coming home to 100 degree weather!

Friday night's band - featuring the youngest member of the clarinet section!

Outside of the Saturday venue

This incredible book was one of the weekend's prizes, 

and there was a shriek from every girl in the room when it was announced. :) 

I snapped a photo as a note to buy it, and my own copy is racing to me right now!

Friday afternoon we stopped by the zoo - who let this animal out of the cage?!

Playful Otter

Polar Paws

Chipmunk in the tree was squeeking and teasing the foxes behind the fence.

Black Bear, Black Bear

Overlooking the bears

Little Campbell Lake

Don't fall in!

Hiking on one of the Kincaid cross-country ski trails

And Sunday morning we took a scenic drive along the south coast. Beautiful!!

International Lindy Hop Championships - Live Streaming

This weekend is the International Lindy Hop Championships in Washington D.C. - after only 4 years running, it has quickly established itself as one of the premier swing events. 

Yehoodi is hosting a live streaming feed for the evening competitions, so if you're interested in seeing what's currently happening in the world of swing dancing, check it out!

Click to Watch the International Lindy Hop Championships, hosted by Yehoodi