Tropical Hawai'ian sarong dress: A sewing challenge made from scratch

It's been several years since I've become a super Hawai'ian addict. I'm not certain about where my deep love for Hawai'i and everything related to it comes from, but it has shaped my taste and driven an important part of my style toward tropical themes. I even decorated my room, celebrated my last birthday, themed our wedding and planned on setting part of our new home with a Hawai'ian design.

Following this trend, it's natural that I feel quite attracted to tropical patterns (especially on fabrics because of my seamstress instincts). That is why as soon as I spotted this light blue and pink hibiscus fabric, I knew it would be perfect for a new sewing project. It wasn't that hard to imagine what kind of garment could work nicely with it: I pictured a classical sarong dress almost immediately.

Since I didn't own a sarong dress it would be a great addition to my closet. The problem was that I couldn't find any sarongs or similar dresses among my pattern stash. After taking an online tour through some of my favorite but few shops that sell sarong dresses, I realized that most frocks featured faux wrap-around skirts. I really wanted a real wrap-around model, so I finally decided to take a leap of faith and create my very own pattern from scratch.

Drafting a pattern off the top of one's head is quite a challenging task, especially if you have no guidelines to help you do it. With a little imagination, calculating, a somewhat bold combination of two different bodice patterns, and a blend of hope and luck, I traced out a complete sarong dress pattern tailored to my measurements. After analyzing it for a while checking for imperfections, I crossed myself, began cutting out the pieces from the fabric and hoped for the best. There could be no room for big mistakes, since I always tend to buy only the necessary amount of fabric in order to reduce costs.

When all the pieces were cut, I proceeded to do everything the way most of us sew our garments. First I matched the edges and pinned them down, and then I basted everything in place. This was a specially tense moment because it became the first time I tried on the dress. To my very good luck I only had to perform some alterations to size it down and make it fit more snug. Then I sewed all the way until the dress was finished.

In the pictures you can see me wearing the completed dress, paired with a pink flower hair comb,  a white puka shell necklace, a pink Chinese parasol (which I got from the China pavilion at Epcot), and black sandal wedges (I forgot to pack more theme-appropriate shoes). The dress is made from lightweight printed cotton, with a light blue background covered in pale pink hibiscus and palm leaves. As I mentioned before, the garment is fully wrap-around, featuring a small side buttonhole that allows the inner belt to tighten the fit, wrap the open dress, and come forward to make a nice frontal bow with the other end of the belt. The bodice is made with two overlapping panels connected by a halter strap, also forming a sweetheart neckline. You can appreciate some subtle pleats in top half of the skirt, neatly draped forming a curve over the other half.

I have to say that the most challenging part was creating the pleats of the skirt without making it look bulky, as well as making sure that the wrap-belt was tight and strong enough to hold the whole dress in place. It is definitely one of the most daring sewing projects I've ever pursued, but after taking the risks I was extremely happy with the final results. I think I'll be making a couple other sarong dresses when I find the right tropical fabrics, which of course I shall be sharing in a future blog post.

Thank you for reading and keep a look out for more articles in the near future! 

Tiki Oasis 2016 will bring a party to Monster Island

The 16th anniversary of Tiki Oasis is right around the corner, so put on your best Hawaiian outfit, sip on an ice-cold Mai Tai and relax to the beat of Polynesian Pop!

Did you know Tiki Oasis was originally conceived as a fundraiser to help out on the refurbishment of Palm Springs "Caliente Tropics Motel"? The main idea was to conduct an extreme makeover on the already Hawaiian-themed hotel in order to attract hundreds of Tiki lovers as a great vacation site.

Year by year, Tiki Oasis has been adding more features, booths, acts and performances, accommodating more guests and growing in popularity. For each event, Tiki Oasis features guest bartenders, artists, musicians, DJ's and other personalities to entertain the audience, who also have the chance to enjoy wonderful meals and appetizers at tiki restaurants, or delight themselves with eye-catching cocktails straight from the bars of experienced mixologists.

Be prepared to receive all the 86 special guests that will be coming this year to Tiki Oasis 2016. The planned musical lineup includes King Kukulele, The Sonics, Sid Presley, Jimmy Psycho Experiment, The Wogglers, Jason Lee & Riptides, Howie Pyro and Cali Kid. The event will also introduce a roundup of over 20 burlesque shows, and 29 educators will bring exhibits and presentations, including Vaudeville Vixens, El Vez, Mike Skinner and Kelly Patterson. 

Other important shows at Tiki Oasis include car showcases, educational seminars and merchandise stalls who display their stands around the magically decorated hotel following a chosen party theme. Previous editions of Tiki Oasis have included Tiki Surf City, Hulabilly, Exotic Espionage & Polynesian Pulp, Hawaii-a-Go-Go, and many other well-thought ideas. This year's theme is "Party on Monster Island". 

Tiki Oasis has become the largest and longest-running festival worldwide to celebrate island and tropical lifestyles, and to gather tiki lovers from around the globe. Get ready to experience four days of Hawaiian splendor every day from Thursday, August 18 through Sunday, August 21 at San Diego, California.

Don't forget to get your tickets and book your reservations on the event's official webpage:

http://www.tikioasis.com/

Hawaiian Tiki Masks and Door Decor

Since I'm very much in love with Hawaiian stuff, I've been creating Hawaiian-themed decorations for my room, one of which is a set of four papier-maché Tiki masks and a bedroom door guardian. My inspiration for these Tiki gods comes from the ones featured in Disneyland's "Enchanted Tiki Room".

Meet Disneyland's Tiki gods!

I chose to make Tangaroa, father of all Tiki gods, large enough to fit my door… Similar to the doors featured in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas when Jack walks into the woods and stumbles upon the different holiday doors. Then I picked four of the other gods to hang masks of their faces in each of my closet doors. Pele, Hina Kaluua, Ngendei and Tangaroa Ru were the chosen ones.

All of the masks and the door decor are made out of papier-maché with a cardboard base. First I traced and cut each of the silhouettes out of a sturdy cardboard. Then I rolled and flattened 2-3 centimeter newspaper tubes of several lengths. I taped them accordingly in order to create the base forms for the facial features and the face edges. Later the papier-maché magic started, glueing lots of newspaper and toilet paper strips to make the Tiki form. After covering all the needed parts, the Tiki gods were let to dry for a couple of days.

Once dry, the painting process began. I chose several colors and alternated them between the masks. I followed some of Disneyland's colors such as the pink and purple lanterns that hang from Tangaroa. After the paint dried I added a special detail with neon glow paint on the masks' eyes. Then I hung them on the closet with yarn and attached the door decoration using four thumbtacks.

Now you can make your own Enchanted Tiki Garden in an easy and simple way!