An Aloha Shirt for Hubby

Last summer, my family took a trip to Honolulu to show my daughters where their Dad grew up. He was born and raised in Honolulu but hadn't been back to visit for 30 years. We visited Pearl Harbor, North Shore, Blow Hole, and all the must-see sights of Oahu. We had a small Memorial Service for their grandparents at Hawaiian Memorial Gardens and took the girls to Punchbowl to locate their great grandparents' graves. We went to Leonard's Bakery for malasadas and W & M Burger for teriburgers.We found all of the nine houses that my husband lived in while growing up there.

Now this is a sewing blog so you know where this story is going. I asked my family if I could make a quick stop at Fabric Mart. I knew this would not be a quick stop. Thousands of rolls of fabrics! I bribed them suggested to them that if they would each choose a fabric, I would make everyone a garment to help them remember Hawaii.

They were agreeable and this is what we came up with. Shirt for hubby, shorts for son-in-law, blouses and dresses for my daughters and myself.

I bought the Hawaiian Classics aloha shirt pattern from the Victoria Jones Collection at Fabric Mart for my husband's aloha shirt. He likes the authentic aloha shirts. He also likes his aloha shirts made wrong side out for a more muted appearance.

Patternreview Link

There are lots of great tips included in this pattern. For example, the pattern not only suggests grading certain seams, it also indicates which seam allowance to cut wider and which to cut narrower. There is also a tip for preventing the undercollar from peeking out.

I used Pro-Woven Shirt-Crisp from Fashion Sewing Supply for the front band and collar and Pro-Woven Super-Crisp for the neckband. This interfacing is great! I probably would not be making shirts had I not discovered this interfacing.

 

I think my favorite detail of this aloha shirt pattern is the side vent. It is an overlapped vent and makes the shirt look very authentic and classic.

The instructions for this vent are very good, but just to be sure that I understood them before I "clipped to the dot" on the real thing, I made a mock-up with a scrap of nonwoven interfacing.

Now that makes one finished and six more to go from my Hawaii stash. This project was the most detailed of the seven so the rest should be a breeze!

Thank you to Patternreview and Sawyer Brook Fabrics!

I've had a little excitement in my little sewing corner of the world.
I won the Patternreview Little White Dress Contest!
 Thanks to Patternreview for sponsoring such a great contest.
 The contest encouraged me to work on my fitting skills and add a few extra little touches
 to make the LWD in a classic style that my daughter can wear for years and still be quite in style.

Thank you to Sawyer Brook Distinctive Fabrics for sponsoring this contest. I can't wait to sew

with your beautiful fabrics!

And this is the dress that I made for my daughter to wear to the Kentucky Derby. She bought a beautiful hot pink hat to wear with it. She is all set!

A Katniss Cowl

I don't often find time to blog two days in a row. Sunday night we had ice and then snow on top of ice so I haven't left home since Sunday. The mailman hasn't delivered mail for two days and I couldn't make it to jury duty today. However, I am catching up on UFO's, Ravelry projects, photoshoots, and blogging.

My daughter loves The Hunger Games and really wanted to knit a cowl similar to the one that Katniss Everdeen wore in the movie. We found a pattern on Ravelry and I helped her start it back in January. It was a quick, chunky yarn kind of knit but she would get busy with classes and put it aside for a week or so. Then we would have to reacquaint ourselves with the pattern and knit a few more rows. I helped her refashion the neck section last night to a more wearable version of the Katniss cowl and she was able to quickly finish it up. This post is a little heavy on pictures but it was good to get out of the house so we really enjoyed the photoshoot in the snow covered field, or should I say, District 12!

Ravelry Link

If you would like to knit your own Katniss cowl, check out these links.....

Katharina Schnorr's blog

Pattern Information on Ravelry.com

My Katniss cowl and project notes on Ravelry

I'd love to see pics of your Katniss cowl!

Welted Fingerless Gloves and Shear Madness

A couple of years ago in Savannah, Georgia, I found this beautiful merino/silk blend fiber at Wild Fibre Yarns. It was very easy to spin so I spun it up pretty quickly and added the yarn to my stash because, as usual, I couldn't decided what to knit with it. I have always had my eye on the Welted Fingerless Glove pattern by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. In my destashing frenzy of 2014, I matched up the yarn and pattern and, after a few evenings of knitting, ended up with these warm and cozy mitts.

Ravelry link

My first Ebay purchase many years ago was an assortment of 1200 small pearl buttons! I used 10 of them to sew onto the welts of the mitts.

If you are looking for some knitting or spinning inspiration, check out Shear Madness on National Geographic about a city girl turned sheep farmer with her husband and five kids. It just started last Saturday night. I missed it but caught up watching On Demand. I don't watch a lot of TV but this is pretty interesting stuff for knitters and spinners.I had to turn my head in one scene - a little more animal science than I needed to see!