Vintage Pants

So a while back I was jabbing about a pair of men's vintage pants that I was making for a local dancer, but I never showed any pictures of them. That is because I didn't take any. DOH!

But here they are in action. The couple that starts dancing second at around 1:45 is Bobby White and Carla Heiney (she is wearing a red dress). I made Bobby's pants. :-)



They placed second in the competition. I am not saying my pants had anything to do with that. But I am not saying they didn't either.... Ok, they didn't. Dammit. If I could make magic pants like that I would totally make them for MYSELF!

Bobby is an absolute sweetheart of a guy and a dancer, and I am taking a few private lessons from him in exchange for the sewing. I swear half of the D.C. swing dancing scene (and beyond) owes or has given me lessons in exchange for sewing (for any dancers out there familiar with The Jam Cellar, ask me sometime why I "own" it. Ha!). Nina...Jeff...Frida...Bobby...Meg....the list continues.

Bobby (and his gal Kate, who came over to me while I was dancing last week and stage whispered, Those pants are AWESOME!) must have liked them, because he asked me to make two other pairs, exactly like the ones I made. Being the crankypants about fit that I am though, I see a few problems with the pants in the video, so Pair Number Two will be even better (I hope).

ETA: The dance they are doing is called Balboa and it is kinda a form of swing dancing. I do Balboa and I also do Lindy Hop.

It is also worth noting that the above clip is the finals from a Jack and Jill contest--Jack and Jill competition is where you are randomly assigned rotating partners and have no idea who you will end up dancing with, although most J & Js are broken down by level so you are dancing with someone at approximately the same skill level. So Carla is from California and Bobby is a local here in DC, so while they know each other (the dance world is like that, particularly the upper levels), it isn't like they dance regularly. Everything you see in that clip is lead/follow, no choreography. J & J competitions are much closer to regular social dancing than some of the other competitions.