Hawaii Fabric

I ended up going to Fabric Mart a couple of days ago. What fun! I've never been to a nice big *garment* fabric store. I've been to lots of large fabric stores but most of them sold quilt fabrics. This place had lots of everything. I ended up buying some very Hawaiin fabrics for kid pillowcases. I also bought some knit prints for kid jammies and a fun purple/gold georgette for me. More later. We are still in Hawaii but fly back to the frigid north tomorrow night. I'm posting via my iPhone so the formatting will be all wonky. I'll fix it when I get back to town but I just wanted to check in with y'all. :)

Aloha

Here's the Kwik Sew swimsuit in action. I'm glad I added that extra inch in torso length. Aloha!

Kwik Sew 3578 - Pleated Knit Dress Again

Ya'll know I'm headed to Hawaii tomorrow right?? So my BFF and I were talking Thursday night. She's my nanny and she is coming with us too. We are meeting another couple there.

 

BFF: So, what are you wearing to the wedding?

Me: Wedding? What wedding?

BFF: J (the other couple) said we are going to some wedding on Thursday night.

Me: What kind of wedding? Casual? Beachy? Shorts? Formal? WHAT KIND??

BFF: Well I'm wearing this. (BFF pulls out these totally hot, chic knit halter dresses)

Me (panic mode): I don't have anything to wear! All of my dresses and skirts are WOOL! Wool, dammit! I have nothing cute to wear to a Hawaii wedding!!!!

 

So, I pulled out my favorite Kwik Sew knit dress pattern and whipped out a cute (short) dress last night. It has pleats at the neckline which hints at a bust I don't own and it shows off my toned arms. My husband likes my (short) dress but isn't happy that I'll be at a wedding without him in this (short) dress. This is one of those Fabric.com cotton/spandex knits I bought the other day. I've made this pattern once before. That dress fits well and I love the design but I disliked the BRIGHT turquoise color. I have still worn it to a few casual get-togethers and a wedding, I think. Neither of these dresses are formal by any means but I've heard through the grapevine that the wedding is more casual than formal.

 

 

I adore the keyhole opening. My husband is less than thrilled about the length. If he gripes much more I'll add a knit band to the bottom and give it a few more inches. I don't have a chest but I do have legs and I say, flaunt it if you got it. Apparently, my husband and I disagree on this point.

 

 

I love this bright button at the back. And this time, I'm actually happy with the button loop. I looked in my ancient copy of the Reader's Digest Complete Book of Sewing and they sew you how to make the blanket stitches. I think it looks very nice.

 

 

I doubt there will be another post before we leave tomorrow. When I get back I'll show you all the pictures and maybe some fabric (???) purchases. We are headed to Oahu this time. Anybody know of any fabric stores there I need to check out? Keep sewing you guys! I'll be keeping up with my blogrolls from afar but I may not be commenting much.

KS 2605 Girls' Swimsuits - They're done.

I finished the four swimsuits for my girl-kids. They are pretty cute. The only alteration I made was to add an extra inch in torso length for my girls and to line the entire front instead of just the crotch lining. They did not have them try these on because they are part of their Christmas gifts. I'll use this pattern for years. It goes all the way to size 7.

I did what Kwik Sew recommended for applying the elastic and it turned out great. Here you can see that I serged on the elastic with black thread. Then, I folded it over and zig zagged from the right side. This is the inside.

This is what it looks like from the right side.

These are the original photos from this post.

Complete with weird poses. Those girls crack me up.

KS 2605 Girls' Swimsuits

First off, let me just say that I have no idea what these poses are about. They are both a bit crazy.

This is KS 2605. Their sizes in the envelope go from 4-7. My girls are three and skinny for their age. I downsized the pattern by one size and it fits really well. The only thing I should have done is increased the length of the torso by about 1/2" My girls are skinny but tall. This red suit is snug but will certainly be fine for January. I plan on making four suits total and giving them to the girls for Christmas. They'll never remember this suit until they open it on Christmas day. Then it'll be a Gift and that will make it exciting.

Here's another Vogue pose. Weirdos.

It is a nicely designed kid suit. The only change I made is to line the entire front of the suit with swimsuit lining.

I really like the racer back on it.

I have the three others cut out and sewn together but, in my wisdom, I only bought enough elastic for two swimsuits. So the other ones are partially put together. When you assembly line items like this they go together really, really fast.

Happy Turkey Day to my US friends!!

Wild Chickens and Other Fun

Kauai is covered in chickens. They are wild there. I never could get a straight answer from anyone about whether you could kill and eat the chickens. Not that I was going to kill and eat one but coming from a family of hunters, one is curious about this sort of thing.


We did several fun hikes. This one was about 5 miles round trip.



I couldn't resist going to a fabric store. It was mostly quilting cotton and all of it was Hawai'i inspired. I came out empty handed. The fabrics were beautiful but not my cup of tea.


This was a leafy corridor on our 5 mile hike. The trees seemed to be closing in around you.

You've got to click on this one to appreciate it. It another panoramic my husband took. If you click on it and see the whole thing, you'll see the people on the observation deck which puts everything in scale.

Another Installment

There is a sewing update at the bottom of this email if you want to skip the pictures. My husband is a great photographer (IMO) so I want to add some of his pictures over the next few posts. Skip to the bottom when you get tired of looking at them. :) Some of them are wider than Blogger will allow. If you click on them, they will show up whole, I promise.

This is Pakala Beach. Miles of coconut palms, crabs, and sandy beach to ourselves. Red, red, red dirt there.


One of the few couples shots. He balanced it on a log so it's kinda crooked. I like it.


This is where a river and the ocean meet. This was on our way to the Pools of Mokolea.



These are the Pools of Mokolea. I had to be careful to not walk too close to the surf. I guess several people have died by getting sucked into the "pools". This is a panoramic view. My husband's will take three pictures and stitch them togeter automatically.

The Kilauea Lighthouse. It has the largest clamshell lens ever used. It has been replaced by an electric powered version now.

Sewing:

I have the Burda jumper almost done but I have a bit of tweaking to do on the swayback part. There is no CB seam so I think I will change the way the pleats lie on the back. I may do something like Adriana of The Princess Seam and make four pleats instead of just the two. The two seam far out to the sides and they stick out strangely. Pictures tonight?

Stick a Fork in Me . . .

We got in at 5:24am this morning after flying all night. Then, we picked up the kids. They were overjoyed to see us and were bouncing on us like little rubber mallets. My husband is the picture taker so you'll see very few of him. He likes it that way. I am thinking I'll just post a few pictures at the top of each new blogpost for a while. He took tons of pictures and a lot of them are really good. But, I don't want to deal with Bloggers weird-ass photo upload. It's more fun this way.

Me on 'Anini Beach. It's on the north part of the island. Beautiful beaches and great snorkeling.


Beautiful sunrise.


Me hiking along the Pools of Mokolea. Every time you turned the corner, big black crabs would scramble off the rocks. They looked like really fast tarantulas.


This is Waipouli Beach early in the morn'. It's pretty windy out.

My husband liked these footprints in the sand and so do I. I don't think any of these belong to us. Well, I'm for sure on the small dog tracks.

What's up with sewing?? I plan on making up Burda 7761 (an envelope pattern, gasp!) in a blue double knit from Gorgeous Fabrics. The things that put me over the edge is Angie's version. It's from the 09-07 BWOF. The pattern is #121. It's an easy jumper that I think is cute, cute, cute!! I'll have to figure out how to do the swayback adjustment but I think it will be okay if I just adjust the pleats at the back.

Man Jacket, Hawaii, and Thanks!

I finally completed my husband's jacket. It's KS 3187. I snagged this from Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics when she had a "Culling the Herd" give away. I've been waiting for-ever for zippers to show up. I wanted the super nice, waterproof kind. I ordered them before Christmas but I guess those type have to be ordered directly from YKK. So, I ordered them from ZipperStop who, in turn, ordered them from YKK. YKK has a major holiday shut-down so they didn't get sent to ZipperStop until the end of January. Then, he sent them to me. The jacket turned out nice. My husband is going to bring it to Hawaii with us for the light rain showers we are sure to encounter. I'll take pictures over there and do the review when I come back.

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Tomorrow is the big day! We leave for Kauai in the morning. I'm all packed, lesson plans are done, and kids are all taken care of. I'm make sure to grab lots of pictures while I'm away.

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Maja had a give away on her blog and I was happy to win this. Thanks Maja!!!!! I'll be taking a better look at this when I get back from Hawaii. I love the fabrics they used in this magazine.

Burda 07-2008-124 Teeeeeeny Beeeeeeekini

Well, it's very small. I have no bust and with this pattern I'm lucky that I don't. It does hold my bits and pieces completely. Any one else and it would not cover you. Well, it wouldn't cover you much. The bottoms are another version of KS 2689. This fabric is from Spandex House. I cut the triangle pieces carefully so I didn't have bulls eyes.


Nothing exciting from this angle. It's a string bikini so there are a lot of strings on the back.



The original pattern is just the nylon-lycra with no lining or padding. I added a lining and sandwiched these bra cups in between the two layers. I made it look like I sort of have a bust. Sort of.

Only 12 more days!

One Down, One to Go

This is KwikSew 2689. I made this today and it was very fast so I'll probably whip out another one before we go to Hawaii in February. I really like the simplicity of the pattern and the fit. My husband picked out the fabric and I didn't really like it. As a swimsuit, I think it looks nice though. Go husband! Here's the full review.

Thanks Gwen!

I've been a bit slow to sew this week but it's not for lack of trying. I'm almost done with a dress and I received my swimsuit fabric in the mail. But . . . my mom is here and she sleeps in the sewing/spare bedroom. That means that my sewing has been toned down to a minimum. On top of that, one of my retailers just ordered a passel of slings. I have to do that first since they are paying customers. Drat. I've been patient but I'm getting frustrated with the lack of progress.

But, I did get a delightful gift in the mail today. Gwen from After the Dress posted a give-away a while back for this pencil roll pattern. How perfect is this for a few gifts for kids? I can see these in all sizes for crayons, pencils, paintbrushes, etc. Thank you Gwen!!!

Hopefully you'll get to see some bathing suit pictures soon. I ending up getting four (I know, who needs four?) cuts of fabric. I hope to make at least two tops and bottoms to wear while I'm there.

Hello, Moron. BWOF 01-2009 #125

So, who's the moron that cut this top on the cross grain? Oh, yeah, that would be me. Fortunately this has 4-way stretch so it still stretches around my body. What a doofus. Here's the full review at PatternReview.com.

This is the first Hawaii-inspired top. It is #125 from January 2009 BWOF. It's the sewing course so it's easy-peasy.


It's got cute gathered sleeves that aren't toooo poofy.

You can tell I need a swayback adjustment. I refuse to cut a center seam on most knit tops and I think that is really what I need.

Cute snaps? Like them? I put them in with my snap press. You guys need one.

Here's the question of the day. I did my shoulder to bust tuck like I normally do but I did the sleeve tuck differently. To reduce the sleeve, I matched it along the sleeve seams and drew a line that matched where I normally shortened the front and back. I continued that line (and tuck) on the sleeve. I did that on the front and the back. What do you guys think? The pink is where I put the tucks. (click on the photos to see both front and back)

This is what I normally do.

Another SWAP?

Yes, I think another SWAP is in order. I am still working away on my f-ing cold SWAP. I should have the purple jacket ready later today. I have some topstitching to do and then I'll attach the lining. After that I want an easy, fast project. Come to think of it, winter sewing is usually structured, tailored, fitted clothing which takes longer. It makes sense to do a summer and winter SWAP together so you can alternate a fast project with a long project. I don't know about you guys but after a challenging jacket I want a simple knit top. These are my Hawaii clothes. I have three pairs of shorts that I made last summer. I am not going to make any more because you only need three pairs of shorts in Alaska. I do need some cute knit tops though. Here are things I may make.

This is January 2009 BWOF.

This is from the May BWOF. I like the top and dress from this pattern. I didn't give it a second glance though until I saw this review from mikkim.

I like it as a dress too. I'll need a knit dress while I'm over there.

I'll also make the Jalie 2804 with the runched shoulders. This top fits me well and it's already traced. That's another key thing right now. I'm out of tracing paper so I can't work on my winter SWAP anyway.

Have a happy Sunday! I'll be sewing!