Rubbah Slippahs

I found the shirt at a thrift shop and knew right away I wanted it, but didn't know what I'd do with it. I liked the linen-like texture with the bright island print. Very quickly I decided it had to become the background for my next round of fabric postcards for the A2M exchange group.


I disassembled the shirt, saving the labels and buttons for other projects. I cut my Peltex 72 to size (4" x 6") and fused the shirt pieces to make the fronts of the cards. I tried to be sure each card had a nice, tropical flower.

At first, I just had pretty rectangles until an article about "Rubbah Slippahs" (flip-flops to us mainlanders) in the Hawaii Tribune-Hearald. I had subscribed online to keep up with the volcano and local events in preparation for my trip during Spring Break. I had never been to Hawaii and only had a few days, so wanted to be sure every minute counted - even the time just sitting on the lanai eating fresh papayas and bananas!

The concept was born, but the execution took some thinking. I decided on grosgrain ribbon for the straps (originally they were to be green, but when I saw this blue it just popped out at me). Below is my first attempt. It looked okay, but not right. I cut the corner on a curve and it was better. Then, I realized that the toe strap needed to be off to the side, not in the center.

I was busy before leaving home, so all the materials had to come in a bag with me to my Mom's. Luckily, she had bought a sewing machine a few months back. I ran out of thread near the end and the local fabric store was out of that thread, but another brand made a close enough match to complete all the cards.

I planned to write and mail all of them from the island to add to the Island Spirit. I wrote several during our breakfast stop about 20 miles south of Kona. We were eating outside at a small, rustic cafe - lots of fresh fruit and a fabulous view. But the best parts of breakfast were the little geckos on the railing! My daughter and I were thrilled!

The postal worker in Hilo would not accept my postcards because of the curved corner (and I had forgotten to pack my cellophane envelopes). I didn't want to argue, so I put mailing off until later (wound up mailing from California after the trip). Funny, when we got to Volcano House, they sold wooden postcards in the shape of surf boards! I guess it depends on who is working at the time! :-) Aloha!