How Exciting V

Aloha!  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! What do you say we get right down to business?  I have a couple of winners to announce.  WOO  HOOO!  For everybody who left a comment on the last post, or emailed me directly, I assigned a number starting from top to bottom.

In went all the numbers....

 
And out came two lucky winners!

Bells and Whistles!  Drums and Crackles!  Confetti and Balloons!

Congratulations to the two winners!  Number 11 wins the Turtle Market Bag and Number 13 wins the FANcy market bag.  I'll be sending the winners an email shortly.  And thank you to everyone who left a comment and to everyone who stops by for a visit.  I appreciate you!  I'll be back in a couple of weeks.  ALOHA!

Another Jalie 2919

Its been another busy week here.  How about you?  I am glad the weekend has arrived.  Today I finished a gift for my best friend.  She will soon be taking a trip to the cold mid-western United States and hopefully this will help to keep her warm.  I have made Jalie 2919 again with a double-sided, grey, ponte knit from Marcy Tilton's website.  Unfortunately, this exact fabric no longer seems to be available, but there are plenty of other double-sided knits to enjoy perusing. 

Close-up of fabric

Shawl collar made with horizontal striped side of fabric.

A much anticipated trip to the mainland is coming up for me too!  I can hardly contain my excitement.  I plan to visit all my old familiar fabric shops and hopefully a couple of new ones too.   I had intended to take this trip last October, but my plans were thwarted by a health issue, which thankfully is all cleared up now.  So it's time to go, and go I will!  Do you know how hard it was to postpone fabric shopping last fall?  I really don't know how I survived!  Well, maybe I do.  It is all those awesome fabric shops on the web that let an island girl like me stay stocked up on some pretty amazing cuts! Thank you!  And thank you to all my dear readers who come by for a visit! 

I think it's time to have a reader appreciation give-away before I go, maybe spread some of the joy and excitement around!  This is going to be quick, since I leave on Monday, but if you are a regular reader, located anywhere on this planet, and would like to be included in a random drawing to win the market bag and Maui pin below, then leave a comment, with your email in this format: upcountrymom"at"yahoo"dot"com, and you will be included in a random drawing to take place on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 8:00 pm Hawaii time.  I will send you an email right away, and if you respond quick enough, I will get this off to you on Monday before I leave the ROCK.  Don't worry I do plan to return in case I miss you on Monday ;-)

PS: I have not heard from my last Facebook winner, located in Australia, (December 14th drawing), and I had no way of messaging you. (Scroll back and you will see who you are.)  You will have one more chance to respond here, or the FANcy bag will also be given away on Sunday night.  Don't miss out, I sure do appreciate you "liking" my FB page!  Good Luck and thanks for visiting!!!

The Green Skirt - Kwik Sew 3513

After teasing my best friend that she had better wear green when we met for an early morning Chai Tea Latte on St. Patty's Day, to be followed by a long walk on the beach for some exercise, I realized I had nothing green to wear myself in an appropriate frock.  To the stash I went and found the perfect GREEN rayon knit for Kwik Sew 3513.  No pinch for me.  Whew!

I've made this before, so all the pieces were ready to go.  I had the skirt whipped up in about an hour using my serger for construction and my coverstitch to hem. (Truth be told, I didn't hem it until today, because I thought it would be fine left unfinished, but I ended up not liking the look.)  My version is shorter, and the skirt is a double layer.  This rayon knit was just a wee bit too thin for me to feel comfortable with just a single layer of fabric on the skirt portion.  Some day I will learn to do a rolled hem with my serger, because I think that would be a nice finish for the hem too.  I paired the skirt with some rtw tops here.

This skirt is so comfortable with its wide yoga style fold-over waistband and with the cool softness of the fabric against my skin.  I knew it would feel great being blown all around while walking on the beach.  Did I mention how soft the fabric is?  By the way, I found this at Fabric.com a couple of years ago.  

After tea, my friend and I headed to the nearest beach for that long walk in the sand.  I wish I hadn't left my camera at home!  As we got toward the middle of our walk, there in the sand about 20 feet up from the water's edge was the biggest sea turtle I have ever seen.  It appeared to be basking in the early morning sun.  We just stood there awestruck.  I don't know for sure how big these get, but seriously, this one was gargantuan.  What a fantastic memory I'll treasure from this Patrick's Day weekend.  Did you all make some good memories too?

PS: We watched the turtle eventually turn itself around and head back into the ocean where it was quickly joined by another large bright green turtle before heading into deeper water.    

Jalie 2919 Cardigan

As many of you know, Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics celebrated five years in business with an awesome anniversary sale recently.  I have really enjoyed seeing the blog posts out there showing what you have purchased.  I also found some lovely fabrics.  When she posted some gorgeous sweater knits, I knew I had finally found just the fabric for Jalie 2919.

I will do a complete review of the pattern over at PatternReview.com and hit the highlights here.  First of all, it's easy, clever, and perfectly drafted.  I like that the sleeves are slim, the length over all is long, and I love the pleat detail down the front.  I cut out a size "s" and did not make any adjustments to the pattern.  I used my serger to construct most of the garment and used my coverstitch machine for the hems.  Take a look at the finished front shoulder area.

 Here is a look at the way the front comes down to a point:

And here it is styled casually with jeans.  It has been unusually chilly, wet, and windy in upcountry Maui lately, so I will be getting some good use out of this right away.  It will also be perfect for my upcoming trip to the Pacific Northwest.  If you have been thinking about making this pattern, pull it out!  You won't be disappointed.  While I didn't see this same fabric on Ann's site, I did see some other pretty prints, like this one, that make me want to make another one right away.  Hmmmm....

Also, thanks so much for your lovely thoughts and comments on the last outfit.  I did wear it Sunday, and felt so good in it.  Regarding comments, I tried taking off the word verification for a short period of time, but had too many spam comments coming through to feel comfortable leaving it off.  I know it is a pain, but I think I will be keeping mine on for now.  Hope your week is off to a great start!

Miami? No still Maui! New Look 6874 and Jalie 2804

Aloha!  Have you ever finished a project and just felt so good about how it turned out?  Well this is one I am feeling that way about.  I LOVE the bright colors, but I also love the fit.  You will most likely recognize that the top is another Jalie 2804.  I have made this one in bright blue cotton/lycra jersey.  The only change I made was to shorten it by 2 inches.  I wanted to be able to access the pockets on my skirt easily.  Here is a close-up of the top:

The skirt is made with New Look 6874.  I have made it before in a grey linen.  The skirt has a narrow waist band, pockets, back darts, invisible zipper and a back vent.  I made it with a WILD, medium-weight, cotton/lycra, woven which I picked up from Fabric.com when it was on sale last year.  Here are a couple of close-ups of the details:

Front Pockets

Invisible Zipper Center Back

Back Vent

And here is the completed outfit.  I plan to wear it tomorrow.  If I want to tone things down a bit, I could also wear the skirt with a white cardigan or white button up shirt.  I have to admit, I like how LOUD it is though.  It makes me think of Miami!

 Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Another Basic with Burda 7371

I have completed another basic knit, but this time it is a pair of black, ponte-knit, cropped pants.  I used Burda 7371, View A, as a starting point.  This knit came from Marcy Tilton's website.  I won't be able to wear them too often here in Maui, unless I am in cooler weather upcountry or inside with air-conditioning.  Today was overcast, and I spent 3 hours sitting at the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) this morning waiting to renew my vehicle registration, so they were a comfortable choice.  (Apparently the state of Hawaii will be implementing stricter laws regarding license renewals on Monday, March 5th, so many people were there to renew their license before that date.  They won't have to renew their license again for 8 years, thus the mad rush. I tried to go yesterday and the computers were down due to a power outage.  I tried to go on Tuesday, but the wait was also 2-3 hours and I didn't have time that day.  Next time I think I will mail mine in 10 days before the due date, as they suggest!)

Oh, but I digress, back to the pants.  I used Burda 7371, which is meant for woven material.  I definitely needed to make some adjustments since I used a stable knit.  I cut out the size 10 and shaved about one inch off the hips at the side seams, and I took out about an inch width on the inner back leg seam near the crotch then tapered back into the original seam line at the knee.  I also omitted the side zipper.  According to the pattern, the waist is finished with facing.  I realized that the waist was drafted to sit lower than I like, and I also didn't want the bulk of a waist band facing.  Therefore, I used the waistband from my favorite knit pants pattern, Burda 7890.  This raised the waistband height by 1.5 inches, and gave me a way to insert 1.5 inch wide elastic into the waist to keep the pants up.  I left the back seam of the waistband open, on the inside, to insert my elastic through. The pants have front and back darts.  Here you are seeing the front.

I like the slit in the side seam at the hem.  I reinforced mine with some zigzag stitches, but probably didn't need to.

 This is how I wore the pants today...to sit at the DMV....for three hours....

I am not sure I like the length, but I'll give it some time.  I had fun coming up with some other outfits to show you.  These pants are certainly versatile and comfortable.

Wishing you all a restful weekend!