Aloha, as in "Shirt"
- fabman556
- Mar 2, 2018
- 3 min read
A Little Bit of Hawai'i on a Hanger
On our recent vacation to O'ahu I learned that the "Aloha Shirt" is a real thing, with origins back in the early part of the 20th century. Stores in Honolulu, as you might expect, were loaded with them, at every price point and quality, many aimed at the tourist trade. They are worn appropriately as business attire on the islands, as well as casual wear. Read about them here: http://www.thealohashirt.com/history/
While hitting the fabric shops on O'ahu during our trip, I picked up four pieces of tropical-look fabric at Fabric Mart to make my own versions of the Aloha shirt. It was no easy task to narrow down my choices to four pieces among the hundreds of possibilities! Read about our adventures at the Hawaiian fabric shops here: https://fabman556.wixsite.com/dan-the-fabric-man/single-post/2018/02/21/Aloha-By-The-Yard
The following are the pieces of fabric I chose:
Left to right, Barkcloth Hibiscus Print (100% cotton), Palm Tree Batik Print (100% cotton), Graphic Print (poly/cotton) & Bird of Paradise Floral Print (100% cotton)
The Real Aloha Shirts
There was quite a bit of variety in the ready-to-wear Aloha Shirts in the stores along Kalakaua Avenue. (This is the street running the length of Waikiki Beach; this part of the avenue is aimed squarely at tourists, with plenty of shops from cheap souvenirs to high-end designer shops. It reminded me of the Strip in Las Vegas, without the casinos.)
Aloha shirt styles included the usual camp shirts with short sleeves, and traditional shirts with short or long sleeves and some with button-down collars. Many of the shirts were made with the right side of the fabric facing inward, resulting in a more muted look that is fairly common. (I won't be using this technique.)
Planning Ahead
Pinterest provided some inspiration for me to make up these souvenir fabrics. Check out my Aloha Shirt Pinterest board here:
Based on my Pinterest inspiration, below is what I plan to make from each piece.
Barkcloth Hibiscus Print
This one is already sewn up; we had a near-80-degree day in Rock Hill the week after the vacation, and I made up this fabric quickly to extend the aloha feeling of the trip for another week. The barkcloth was easy to work with and very forgiving, and it washed up quite well. What is barkcloth? Find out here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barkcloth
Palm Tree Batik Print
This one will use my traditional shirt pattern; if I have enough yardage, I'll make it with long sleeves.
What is a batik? Batik is a "resist" process for making designs on fabric. The artist uses wax to prevent dye from penetrating the cloth, leaving "blank" areas in the dyed fabric. The process (wax resist, then dye) can be repeated over and over to create complex multicolored designs.
Bird of Paradise Floral Print
Pretty straightforward here; I'll make another camp shirt in this beautiful print.
I bought extra yardage to match the pattern on the shirt front.
Graphic Print
I like how different this print looks from all the others, and it will become a camp shirt, too.
These shirts will be fun to make and wear this summer, as we remember our great week on O'ahu. Fabric makes a nice souvenir, don't you think?
Until next time, keep those sewing machines humming, and start thinking about what YOU'LL make for the upcoming summer season!
DTFM
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