Shuffle ‘n Swing – A Lindy Hop Game

This post was written by Lindy Shopper.

Lindy Hoppers like to draw things out of hats – maybe it’s a contest partner, maybe it’s an ice-breaker, maybe it’s a pop quiz, but what if this evolved into something more? That’s what happened with Ron Smits, an instructor in the Netherlands and founder of Key Town Swing, who evolved a draw from a hat game in his Lindy Hop classes into a full-fledged card game and learning tool.

Ron ran a successful Kickstarter to bring this game to life, here’s what he says about the game:

“In our classes, we tend to see the dance not as a sequence of moves, but as a series of movements and techniques. All moves can be deconstructed into smaller building blocks, most of which fit together in many different ways. This deconstruction led to a number of Positions and Movements, which make up the two base decks of Shuffle ‘n Swing…To help us build a single move, we draw two Position cards (yellow) and three Movement cards (green). The objective is to work your way from one Position to the next, using all drawn Movement cards…Of course, no game is complete without extra challenges. Draw Styling cards (purple) to add flavour and attitude to your moves, jazz things up with Solo Steps (blue), or increase the difficulty for yourself through Handicaps (red). The cherry on top is our Follower Hijacks deck (orange)! These cards are the followers’ little secret. The deck contains ten cards with various ideas for a follower to surprise the leader during their dance. Taking control, redirecting the leader or deciding to hijack the dance by putting in as little effort as possible, and more…”

You can read more about how the game would work on the Kickstarter page, but I love that this would work with a one-on-one situation as well as for a large group class. Part of Shuffle ‘n Swing’s mission is to encourage and support dancers at all levels and to honor and and continue Lindy Hop’s legacy through diversity and inclusion. The deck is a rainbow, the cards use gender neutral language, and the characters are designed to be equally dark and light skinned with simple outlines of features and clothing. You can also opt in for a Frankie Manning card and all proceeds from that card go to the Frankie Manning Foundation‘s Black Lindy Hoppers Fund.

I’ve caught Shuffle ‘n Swing at a sort of odd time, where the Kickstarter has wrapped, but they are still setting up their website. If you’d like to order a deck, have questions, or want to reach out, you can send an email to info@keytownswing.nl, message via Instagram @shuffleNswing, or contact through the Kickstarter page. The basic deck is €25, XXL deck is €35, VIP Signature deck is €50, and the Frankie Manning card is €10.

Enjoy this game now or add to your post-pandemic stockpile – the end is in sight, can’t wait to dance with you all again!

New Vintage Lady Kickstarter with Rewards for Both Sewers and the Not-So-Thread-Inclined

This post was written by Lindy Shopper.

il_570xn-597407563_6fvj — This green 30’s dress…it’s like she channeled my thoughts on the perfect day dress.

As most ladies know and Tim Gunn has spoken out about, the clothing options for women over a certain size range are particularly limited, even though they make up hundreds of thousands of shoppers in the US and beyond and spend significant sums on clothing for themselves. Compound limited selection with a preference for vintage styles and your options are even more limited.

I’ve had my eye on New Vintage Lady’s Etsy site for some time and I did a post on her in 2011, but I’m excited to see that she keeps showing up on my radar and continues to expand her line of vintage patterns, offering fantastic designs that are all the things we love about jazz age and swing era clothing, with all the wonderful details that make them great (and she has a great eye! I love her selections, artwork, and fabric choices). This latest endeavor is via Kickstarter, in an effort to expand her size range to cover bust sizes from 40 inches to 52 inches, as well as improving her existing patterns in terms of graphics and descriptions. Offering a range of sizes is a lot of work – often, you only find one vintage pattern of a certain dress and it comes in the size you found, not a range, and it’s not simply a matter of adding inches around to increase the size, of course it’s MUCH MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT, in that way that all of our bodies are a complicated mix of measurements.

il_570xn-362011664_me18 — I LOVE a sailor collar.

The obvious rewards here are reaping the benefit of the new patterns once the Kickstarter is funded, but if you don’t sew there is an AMAZING reward – the New Vintage Lady will make you a dress, one of HER garments from the Kickstarter! What could be more amazing and more personal and more lovely than that? (I see she also does men’s trousers *ahem* maybe…if you ask nicely?) If you’ve ever wanted a reproduction dress to your specifications with your fabric choices and you haven’t done this for yourself, this is a great opportunity to help not only yourself, but others of a certain size range to gain access to these wonderful patterns.

There’s so much to love, go check out her line and video and consider backing this project!

il_570xn-590933331_i1m3 — There are separates, too!

il_570xn-253663332 — Yes to all of this!

il_570xn-209230005 — There’s even workwear!

SJC Spectator Crusade: Women’s Sizes & Small Men’s Sizes

This post was written by Lindy Shopper.

As you may have read in a post earlier this week, I wept tears of infinite sorrow that there were no Simon James Cathcart spectators in my size that I could order through SJC’s wonderful summer shoe Kickstarter, BUT THROUGH THE MAGIC OF THE INTERNET I have spoken with SJC and he has offered to make this shoe available to us sizes 7-8 US women’s/sizes 5-6 US men’s/sizes 4-5 UK men’s (I wear a US women’s 7) on one condition: he needs 8 of us to back the shoe at each size in order for it to be cost-effective for the factory to produce this size as a part of this run.

I wasn’t sure if could rustle up enough support from people wearing these shoe sizes, but this is such a quality, unique shoe that I thought there might be enough lady dandies or gents with smaller feet that we MIGHT be able to pull this off. It can be any of the three colors, we just need 8 people to back the SHOE at each SIZE.

Can I find 16 people who love this shoe and need it in their lives? I know you’re out there!

A few more details on this marvelous shoe:

They are made by hand in Northampton (the shoe capital of England) on 1930’s lasts, so the shape is there from the start.
They will last a lifetime. How? They are “Goodyear Welted” (the gold seal of quality) which means as the soles wear out they can be easily replaced while the shoe remains totally intact.
The shoes are lined in soft calfskin for comfort, with a super comfortable cork footbed so your feet breathe.
They come in three gorgeous shades; Navy, Oxblood and Acorn – order whatever color you like, we only need 8 people to order a particular SIZE.
The real bargain here is they are going to be 2.5 times this price out in the real world and if we don’t do this, the real tragedy will be they will never be in our size. NEVER AVAILABLE TO YOU EVER AGAIN.

As per usual Kickstarter, you don’t pay until the end of the project and you only pay if the project is funded. If you are ordering a size 7 US women/ 5 US men/ 4 UK men OR for size 8 US women/6 US men/5 UK men, SJC has added a special early bird spectator reward/pre-order option just for us – you can see it if you scroll down “Lindy Shopper Deal” – click HERE if you want this shoe as much as I do! ❤

Wearing History Kickstarter – Get Your Pre-Orders In Now!

This post was written by Lindy Shopper.

Wearing History has been a go-to referral for me when people ask about reproduction vintage patterns, but what if the clothing from Wearing History was already made for you (for those of us with less time and skills)? It’s happening and it’s adorable – the collection features 40’s style trousers, blouses, dresses, and a matching sash/head scarf, BUT before this collection exists, it’s got to have capital. The owner of Wearing History, Lauren Maringola, had the brilliant idea to use Kickstarter as pre-sales for the collection – for me, pre-sales are the best way to use Kickstarter because we backers are getting what we would have received anyway, only we’re actually helping make the entire thing happen! Her Kickstarter reward price points for each garment are comparable to similar reproduction garments I’ve either had made or purchased on Etsy.

Please watch the video and read the summary – it doesn’t come out and say it, but basically these clothes were made for dancers – durability, practicality, and vintage style. Dudes – if the Kickstarter goes nuts, they might add a menswear line! Even better for our US readers, these garments will be made in the USA, so you are supporting the sustainability of the US garment industry. Some of the rewards are limited in quantity, so go get your order in now!

Thinx: Smart Underwear

This post was written by Lindy Shopper.

I often write about undergarment options for coverage when we wear skirts, but what about what we wear under our bloomers or our pants? What about the material? What about all that gross sweating we do? Where dudes bring multiple shirts to a dance weekend, I bring multiple pairs of underwear because there’s nothing worse that sitting around or dancing in a puddle of your own sweat (along those lines, there’s nothing better than putting on a fresh pair of underwear after you’ve danced, especially between a main dance and late night – file that under my body odor commentary).

Cotton breathes, but it also soaks everything up. Synthetics can be icky in terms of odor and I usually don’t like they way the feel against my skin. Can we get some technology in here to engineer us some undies?

Montreal dancer Alisha Ruiss sent me a link to this great Indiegogo campaign for Thinx: Change Your Underwear, “where technology and fashion intersect to solve a global problem.” How is this underwear smart? You can check out the diagram to the right, and then listen when I tell you that it

1) Is leak/stain-resistant, anti-microbial, moisture-wicking and lasts for several years

2) Acts as back-up to traditional methods of leakage prevention during your period (but will not replace these during heavier days – they are working on creating this style next!)

3) Completely replaces liners on light days

Thank you for the different coverage options!

Whaaaaaa?! So this is obviously super practical in real life, and in your dance life having that bit of extra protection there for potential leakage (because we move around a lot, just like athletes, and we sometimes lose track of time…) or just sweat absorption could make the world of difference in your comfort at a dance, on any day of the year.

They had a previously successful Kickstarter campaign, but due to the nature of Kickstarter they were not able to raise money for a cause, which is the intersection of this project.

From the Indiegogo page:

For more information on AFRIpads, visit afripads.com

“Beyond our own desire for the smartest underwear for our drawer, we found out that there was an even bigger problem for girls and women in the developing world.

Girls in the developing world are missing up to a week of school per month and using unimaginable things to manage their monthly cycle like twigs, leaves, newspaper, plastic bags or dirty rags. In Africa alone, 67 million girls have dropped out entirely which overwhelmingly leads to early marriage, pregnancy and a greater difficulty in raising themselves out of poverty.

THINX is part of the solution. For every pair of THINX you buy, you help fund the production of a 7-pad washable kit for a woman or girl in the developing world via our partnership with AFRIpads. This kit helps create local jobs and empower the economy while also helping keep girls in school during that time of the month.”

Can you imagine what these girls have to give up? I know I can’t – and I’ll remember this every time I take my ability to leave the house during my period for granted.

I am excited that smarter solutions are being developed, with women all over the world in mind. Looking forward to seeing more from this company.

Mint Julep Jazz Band Kickstarter

This post was written by Lindy Shopper.

While I have your attention with yesterday’s post, I’ll make a shameless plug for my band, the Mint Julep Jazz Band, and the Kickstarter we are running through December 30 to fund our first CD! We’d love to have you as a backer in exchange for copies of the CD, dance shoe bags, and other fabulous rewards, but the best reason of of all – we make music you can swing out to!

You can get more information about the band in general at our website, or visit Swing DJ Resources for a post about the band, its relationship to the swing dance community, and the Kickstarter campaign.

We would also encourage you to talk to Kate Hedin, David Rehm, Chad Skeeters, Abigail Browning, Chelsea Lee, Breanna Perry, Corey Manke, Shana Worel, and Rob Moreland about why they backed our Kickstarter and ask anyone who attended EBC this year what they thought of the Friday night band. This disc is gonna swing, I promise! 😀