Fort Douglas Day Ball

Friday evening before our big Saturday at Fort Douglas, we had a ball.  It was wonderfully fun!  Old Glory Vintage Dancers do a fantastic job of calling and teaching us dances.  We had a nice turnout.  About half of those that attended were from the Utah Civil War Association group, and the other half were just folks that heard about it and came out for the evening.  These two pictures here were ones the Salt Lake Tribune fellow took.  They turned out pretty good.  I am in the light brown dress, so up above you can see the front of me, Amanda, Steve, and Austin, and then the below picture shows the back of me and my fluffy hair.

These are just a few of the pictures I took at the ball.  I always tell myself that I will take more pictures, but I seem to enjoy myself too much to remember to take pictures!

Here is the ball gown I had been working on all week.  I should have had a picture taken somewhere other than this narrow hallway, but it was the end of the evening and I was in a hurry to get out of the dress!  I finished the hook and eyes to attach the bodice to the skirt together while Amanda did my hair just a few hours before the ball!  I used the Simplicity 2881 pattern for the bodice of the dress.  I already had the skirt, I just needed a ballgown bodice to go with it.  I tweaked it a little bit to make it a bit more modest for me - the period correctness of the dress WAY off the shoulder is just a little too much for me!  I also didn't add quite as much embellishments as the pattern suggests, because I am a bit more plain than fancy and that suits me the best.  I think it turned out pretty good, and it was fun to wear.  We had a fabulous evening at the ball.  I love mid-1800 dances, they are so much fun.  Hopefully I will have a few more chances to wear my new dress!