Alright, so I've got an itch to sew a new waistcoat or something for New Year's Eve. As a former physics geek, thinking about "Over the Rainbow" suggests the ultraviolet spectrum, of course. (And if it was the "Under the Rainbow" dance, then I would look to the infrared, though the red will likely all come out for the February Gaskells.) So, I was thinking I could make a purple vest and then put some 9 Volt batteries in the pockets to power several small UV lamps clipped onto the lapels and be sure to bleach my white shirt so that it will really fluoresce and maybe ...

<ahem>

Uh ... Cary, this is a formal New Year's Eve dance, not a Steampunk Ball.

Oh, right ... well ... um ... Say, I did have another idea. See, we get a group of a dozen people together and go to Jo Ann or some discount fabric store and buy a whole bunch of fabric in some stripe or brocade -- no, not in pink or teal :) -- in a half dozen* different colors of the rainbow. Then we can use the fabric to make matching pairs of waistcoats, ties, and gowns running all the way from red to violet ... Well, okay, yeah, we could just resurrect the green Emerald City thing from a recent PEERS dance. But rather than a half dozen Dorothy costumes and one flying monkey, I'm trying to imagine a half dozen couples dressed to the nines and lined up in matching colors covering the whole visible spectrum and ... wouldn't that make a fabulous picture? :)



* Wait, aren't there seven colors in the rainbow? Yeah, I'm quite aware of ROY G. BIV, though I'm betting it might be easier just to leave indigo out. Not that I have anything against indigo -- I was at the very last Indigo Swing concert =) -- but I imagine it would be difficult to find matching fabric available in blue and purple *and* indigo, which would leave just the six common colors (i.e., ROYGBV), Newton numerology be damned.