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!

My New Favorite Tracing Paper

I finally found it! I knew there had to be something available for tracing patterns that didn't cost more per yard than the fabric! I stop in Big Lots once in a while to buy $1 cookie mixes and ran across parchment paper for baking which was on sale for $2.30. I picked up a couple of rolls along with my cookie mixes. I needed to size down a basic skirt pattern for my daughter so I decided to try out the parchment paper. It worked great! Easy to see through, easy to write on, easy to fold up my new pattern when finished. I like to place my original pattern on my gridded cutting board so that it's easier to draw straight seam lines and grain lines when tracing or altering patterns.

I went back twice and bought several more rolls. Actually, I think I bought all they had. I think I'm pretty well set for patternmaking and tracing for a while.

And, guess what! It works pretty well for cookie baking too!

Don't you just love to find uses for things other than what they are intended for?

SA Curve Ruler Giveaway!

I've always wanted to host a giveaway and, thanks to Claire at SA Curve, it's happening this week! Claire designs these great rulers for adding seam allowances to patterns. They are perfect for tracing from multisized patterns and adding the seam allowance at the same time. Claire was kind enough to share a couple of her 5/8" rulers with me - one to keep and one to give away. Tracing from multisized, overlapping patterns is not my favorite part of sewing but this ruler should make the process so much easier! The ruler is also available in 3/8". Check out the video links on Claire's blog to learn more about how to use this seam allowance curved ruler.

The ruler is great for pattern drafting, tracing European patterns, making adjustments, adding seam allowances after altering patterns, pattern grading, etc. This is going to be one of those sewing notions that I wonder how I ever lived without! I've already traced a pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross that I had been putting off because I thought it would take forever. It didn't with this ruler!

Leave a comment below and tell me how you would use this ruler to speed up your sewing!  I will draw a name randomly at midnight CST on Sunday, October 28. This giveaway is open to U.S. addresses only.

Simplicity 2004

It's good to be back to sewing and blogging after a little time off to deal with an appendicitis attack. I'm so glad that's all over with and I can get back into my routine, especially the sewing part of my routine!

Simplicity 2004 is one their Sew Simple line of patterns. The price is around 99 cents at WalMart. The picture on the pattern envelope doesn't show the lines of the pattern very well but it is actually a great basic pattern which could also be used as a top. I had pinned a dress from Anthropologie on Pinterest several months ago to use as inspiration for this dress which can be seen here.

The fabric is a medium weight cotton blend and the yoke is linen. I graded the yoke down to an XXS and it is still just a tiny bit wide across the shoulders so I'll cut it down a bit more next time.

I need to start sewing for fall now even though the temps are still in the 80's and 90's. What are your favorite trends for fall?

New Look 6104

I finally found time to get back to a little sewing and blogging after catching up on spring chores. I bought this pretty eyelet fabric at Hancock Fabrics to make my very petite daughter a blouse.

We both really liked New Look 6104 for this fabric, however, the smallest size is a size 10. She probably needs a size 6 and that would still have plenty of ease but since she doesn't wear blouses snug, we went with one size down. I should have tried two sizes down (size 6) since I still had to take up all the seams. I wanted to learn more about pattern grading so I did a little research and found these extremely helpful sources for grading up or down sizes.

Patternreview -  I used this method to grade my pattern down a size.

Megan Neilsen Design Diary - I didn't think this method was the best choice for this blouse but I think it could be extremely useful as a quick fix for a simple design.

I should have moved the dart up about 1/2 inch. After I finished this blouse, I found this method for moving darts, not pivoting but actually moving them. I have already tried it on another project and it works great!

Hopefully, I'm back in the sewing groove now. I had a few spring projects that I needed to get done quickly. One of them was to make a walking path through the "meadow" behind my house so that I can get a little exercise. I just don't think sitting at the sewing machine burns very many calories!

What is on your to-do list for spring?