Costume for highland dance
Some hints on the costume. These suggestions have been collated from the
highland-dance mailing list.
Hornpipe costume
The BATD hornpipe book says:
Jumper - to be of navy blue material (serge or twill) or white drill,
shaped to the body and with set in sleeves. V neck front opening with
double thickness collar attached. the bottom of the jumper should be in
line with the fork and the sleeves to extend to the wrist-bone.
Trousers - to be made of the same material and to be the same colour as the
jumper. Bell-bottomed style, the circumference of the trouser-bottoms to
be two to three inches wider than the cicumference of the knee. trouser
bottoms to be plain.
Vest - to be white drill with square neck and bound with navy binding.
Cap - regulation white or navy blue with circular crown.
Collar - navy or blue denim with white stripes. Should be worn with either
navy or white suit.
Some suggestions by list members:
- [Posted by Ngaire Glover]
During my (many) years I have seen some incredible ways in which
sailor's hornpipe pants have been folded - that is, the way the
pleats are ironed or pressed in, so I thought I'd share a little
bit of info which is printed in Kath Harrington's book "Start on
the Right Foot" which is a bit of a guide for 'young teachers of
highland dancing', first printed in 1987.
- Turn the pants inside out and spread on a table, front upwards
- Take one trouser leg. Fold it up to the crutch of the pants.
Firmly press this crease across the leg.
- Open up that fold. Take the hem of the trouser leg up to that
first crease. Press the new crease well.
- Then concertina the trouser leg for seven creases.
- repeat with the other trouser leg.
- Have both legs folded. Then fold one on top of the other for
packing.
Very clear, isn't it? Mind you, I haven't turned any inside out for
years - too used to doing it, I guess. How many of you have seen the
creases all squashed in to the first half of the leg - that is under the
knee? Just for those who don't know, the 7 creases are meant to
represent the seven seas! Happy ironing!!!
- [Posted by Justine Griffith]
We have found that the best material to make a hornpipe outfit from
is stretch gabadine. It doesn't crease and - better still - no chances
of split pants when doing the pumping step as it has that little bit
of 'give' in it!
Extracted from postings to highland-dance, the highland and scottish step
dance mailing list.
See
http://www.scottishdance.net/highland/.
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Edinburgh, Scotland
