Debuting: New Sierra Hillbilly Visitation Outfit!

The Visitation Outfit Committee is delighted to tell you that the club has spoken! A new visitation outfit was voted on at our General meeting on February 19, 2004.
Thanks to the efforts of the committee members, there were 5 wonderful outfits to choose from! After 2 rounds of voting, a black and white gingham apron option offered by Gwen Kofnovec was the final selection. The new outfit consists of the following pieces:
For Ladies:
- Black-and-white gingham apron
- Solid black skirt (of your choice)
- Solid white blouse (of your choice)
- Black or white pouffy
For Men:
The men have their choice of two options:
White western shirt with black-and-white check gingham yoke and tie
Or White western shirt with black-and-white gingham vest and tie.
Either option is to be worn with jeans (preferably black).

A pattern for the apron and tie will be available at the next few dances, with tracing paper available for you to make a copy. Instructions for assembly of the apron will also be available. Ladies may use a 5 or 7 gore apron, based on their needs. The committee feels that the apron looks best when it goes all the way around the skirt. Some ladies may also wish to lengthen the gores for the apron,
depending on their height. If you need assistance with this, please see Laura Kelley.
If you wish to make the man's vest, please use a simple vest pattern with rounded corners, such as McCall's pattern #8285.
Here are the estimated lengths of fabric for the pieces:
Five-gore apron
- approximately 1 1/3 yards 1/4 inch black and white gingham
- approximately 8 1/6 yards "Radiance" large hole white eyelet trim, pregathered*
- approximately 4 yards each of 1/4 inch satin ribbon, black and white
- interfacing, if desired

Seven-gore apron
- approximately 1 2/3 yards 1/4 inch black and white gingham
- approximately 10/1/2 yards "Radiance" large whole white eyelet trim, pregathered*
- approximately 5 1/3 yards each of 1/4 inch satin ribbon, black and white
- interfacing, if desired
*If you are unable to find this particular eyelet lace, please match it as closely as you can. The eyelet is white, 2 1/2 inches wide, gathered and has VERY LARGE (1/4 inch) eyelet holes.
Tie
- 1/3 yard 1/4 inch black-and-white gingham
Vest
- approximately 1 1/2 yards of 1/4 inch black-and-white gingham
Western Shirt
- Will depend on the particular shirt you choose. It shouldn't be more than 1/2 to 2/3 yard if you are using a ready made shirt and replacing only the yoke. The fabric is readily available at both Walmart and
Joanns and was recently priced at $2.99 per yard. The trim is available at Walmart and was recently priced at $.75 per yard. I am working with the Stevensons Ranch Walmart to see if I can get them to order a large lot of the eyelet trim.

It was so very nice to see so many club members at the general meeting and expressing an interest in the club's "official" appearance. MANY THANKS TO THE COMMITTEE:
Gwen Kofnovec, Gay Emans, and Harry Fields.
Stitchingly yours, Laura Kelley, Committee Chairman

Here are Bob & Gwen wearing the winning outfit, one of two outfits she presented at our Feb. General meeting. Gwen obviously has
her finger on the pulse of our club! She has been instrumental in designing many of our past club outfits. Here are her comments:

"About l972, I worked on the committee that chose the Big Apple. Always liked that one. Later I worked on the two committees that chose denim with red-and-white polka dots and the denim with red-and- white gingham. About l983, I showed (and it was chosen as the club outfit) the black dress with black-andwhite gingham. Later, I worked on the committee and showed the grey gingham and it was chosen as the club dress. Seems like I have done a lot of sewing!!"

Way to go, Gwen! Thank you for all your hard work on our club outfits over the years!


Help for Non-Sewers
Since our new club outfit calls for a black skirt and white blouse of your choice, I thought you might be interested in the following information I discovered in designing my teal outfit for the club's consideration:
I purchased my square dance clothes at Promenade
16210 12th Ave S.W., Curien, WA 98166-2810
I did it over the internet. Their email address is:
sales@dancecenter.com
Toll free number is 800-342-6947.
They were very easy to deal with...the only call I made was to give them my charge card number. They have pictures of their clothing on line...and I made my selection from those pictures. The name of the lady was Ginny Lemmon. --Gay Emans, New Outfit Committee, 2002-2003

Updated 05/30/06