27 Dresses...at Least

I wrote a post about my dad for Fathers' Day, but today is his 76th birthday...Happy Birthday, Dad! Hope all your wishes come true.

So last night I told you the Dog Walker had arranged himself a date for the Homecoming Dance.  He is SOO excited! And thanks for all of your fun “invitation” stories btw. It was so great to get some new ideas since I have all of these kids to get through high school still, although the “sack of crap” one is not happening on my watch…

Anyway, all this talk of high school dances got me thinking back to some of the dances the kids have attended, most especially the girls. Then Teach went downstairs and dragged out all of her old formals (and even one that belonged to Bossy) and tried them on. I took the opportunity to snap a few pics with her fancy camera although I’ve decided that it takes more than just a camera to make good pictures. Hers always look so much better than mine.

I have made about 20 dresses for dances (not including the ones I made for myself) and Bossy’s wedding dress. Bossy had a boyfriend through her junior and senior years, and they went to all the dances, and of course she wanted a new dress for each and every one of them. Being the kind and thoughtful mom that I am (can you say Pushover?), I sewed most of them.




Some, like Bossy’s Prom Dress, were absolutely outrageous in maroon and black with a long train. Maybe I can get her to pull out some of those pics and put them up. Teach’s were a little more tame. Unlike Bossy, she didn’t like having a dress that she could trip over. The blue/green one is the closest she came to ever having a train.

I only made a couple of dresses for the Drama Queen. She was never really interested in dancing unless it was for a musical on a lighted stage. The very first fancy dress I made for Bossy was during her Sophomore year. Since it was Bingham Ball, I chose the school colors, blue and white. It was one of the few dresses that were two separate pieces, a skirt and a blouse. The white blouse was covered with lace and pearl buttons and the full skirt was a sparkly metallic blue. Yeah, styles were a little different 15 years ago.

They had the dance at Saltaire, a huge dance hall out near the Great Salt Lake. But it wasn’t a very nice venue then, and when she leaned up against the stage to take a breather from all the action, she caught her lacy blouse on a nail and tore half the lace. Not a very fun ending for her first big dance.


That white and gold dress was made for Bossy. It was one of my favorites. You can’t see it from the pictures, but it has about 50 pearl buttons running down the back and 15 more on the inside of each sleeve. They were a pain in the butt to sew on and a pain in the butt for the wearer…literally. Not the smartest dress, but definitely one of the prettiest.

I’m glad the Dog Walker is a guy. Now all I’m faced with is helping him order flowers and picking up a new pair of pants from JC Penney. Maybe I’ll splurge a little a grab him a new tie as well…I’ll keep you posted.