Alabama Goodness

My head is still reeling from all of the awesome goodness I experienced this past weekend at my Alabama Chanin workshop.  I learned, stitched, laughed, ate, created, fellowshipped, swooned, donned and grew.  I'll be writing up a full post with details but in the meantime here are a few photos.

Little Dresses, Three

Another pillowcase dress for the Little Dresses project.  This one features fused applilque flowers with vintage ric rac stems and trim.  Using up lots of little bits and pieces for these projects feels really great.  Just finished up #4 and will take pictures when the light is better so I can share that one with you later in the week.

Those of you who have read my blog know that I really love Natalie Chanin and her work and have written about her here, here and here.  Both of her books, Alabama Stitch and Alabama Studio Style are currently on sale at Amazon for $14 each.  This is a great deal for two beautifully put together hardcover books.  You can find the link to Alabama Stitch here and Alabama Studio Style here.  Order them both and the shipping is free.  You will be inspired and delighted by these books.

Rose Skirt and T-shirt Fabric Roses

Last week I wrote about the lecture I attended at the Textile Museum by Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin.  I made an outfit to wear to the event, a pull on skirt and tee shirt with a fabric flower embellishment.  The skirt pattern is Natalie’s and comes from her Alabama Stitch book.  The pink fabric I used for the top layer is the organic cotton sold in the Alabama Chanin online store.  The green underlayer is a recycled t-shirt and was cut about an inch longer than the pink so it would peek out.  My artist friend Cyane drew the rose design for me which I enlarged and hand cut a stencil from.  The leaves are reverse appliqué and the flower is appliqué with a parallel whip stitch.

This skirt is cut from four gores, and the only thing I did not like about it was the way the center front seam laid along my tummy;  I felt it was not very flattering.  I had an “aha moment” the next day when I was hanging the skirt up.  I rotated the skirt so that one panel was centered at the front and one at the back, leaving the other two as side panels.  I’m much happier with how this skirt hangs now.

The foldover elastic waistband was stitched on by hand (the entire skirt was also constructed with hand stitching).  This zigzag chain stitch is taught in the Alabama Stitch book.  It makes for a very nice, stretchy stitch, with a lovely appearance.

The t-shirt was my second one using Pamela Leggett’s Perfect T-shirt pattern (you can see my first one here).  I used two recycled t-shirts for this project, cutting the sleeves and body from the fabric in a way that utilized the existing hems which saved a lot of time in finishing.  This time I used the square neckline which is available as a template from Pamela in her New Necklines and Sleeves pattern.   I felt the top needed something to pull it together with the skirt so I used some of the leftover pink scraps to make a fabric rose to wear.  The leaf is some of the leftover green fabric and is embroidered using a free-standing leaf design by A Bit of Stitch.

I’ve written a tutorial on making these fabric roses which you can find in my tutorial section.  I like the idea of using a removable embellishment to help tie two pieces together.  It makes the outfit looked coordinated while still allowing the top to be worn with something else if desired.  I’d love to see what you create with these instructions.  Perhaps an entire bed of roses.

Alabama Chanin, Part II

On Thursday night I took the Metro into DC to hear Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin speak at the Textile Museum.  I got so much more from the evening than I bargained for.

Natalie is a warm and engaging speaker.  She began by telling the audience that she likes to “speak from her heart” and encouraging everyone to ask questions along the way.  Her story-telling was accompanied by a slide show of pictures from her various collections as well as her books.  I found it particularly exciting to see pictures from her third book, due out in 2012.  That book will include a number of new techniques for embellishing garments, things like couching and ribbon embroidery with a decidedly Chanin style.  I can’t wait.

all photos by Alabama Chanin

Natalie covered her very interesting background and how she came to be where she is now in her business as well as why she has chosen to share her techniques and supplies through her books and online store.  As I said in my previous post about this designer and her company, I am inspired by her story as much as I am by her work, and I was so pleased to hear her talk about it in her soft Southern voice.  Her desire to remove the “elitist” label that her clothes sometimes wear by sharing how home sewers can make their own, and even providing kits to do just that, really illustrates what a down-to-earth big heart she has.

So, that’s a synopsis of what I expected to get out of the evening, and Natalie didn’t disappoint (she made me want to come home and start a new project immediately).  But I received an even bigger gift that night.  When I sat down next to two women (a mother-daughter pair, as it turns out) the daughter, Linda, commented on the skirt I was wearing and a lively discussion ensued.  It turns out that Linda, an artist and knitter, loves Natalie Chanin, too.  She very much wants to learn how to make some of Natalie’s clothes, especially the little skirt I was wearing.  Her mother, Barbara, is the sewer of the pair, and Linda is hoping that between the two of them they can pull off her desire.   Barbara and I seemed to know all of the same people and visit the same websites (we’ve probably even sat through some of the same classes at the Sewing Expo).  I told Linda I am planning to go to Alabama for one of Natalie’s workshops in November and encouraged her to do the same, to learn from the experts and have her hand held along the way.  We continued our lovely new friendships after the lecture and the entire way home on the Metro, and I feel like I met two kindred spirits that night.  Those of you out there in various sewing circles will know what I mean when I say that there is an immediate familiarity and kinship when you meet others who speak your language and who “get you”.  I came home from that lovely evening with a warm feeling, grateful for new friends and inspiration.  Grateful also for this God-given talent that has brought me so much joy, allowed me to give back (or pay forward) and has brought so many wonderful people into my life.

And, to all of you creative friends out there, thanks for sticking with me as I settle into my new summer schedule of boy watching (my little boys, that is).  I am still committed to posting twice per week though the days may not be as regular as I would like (nor will my creative time be as regular as I like, either).  On Tuesday I will be posting details about and pictures of the skirt I made from Alabama Stitch along with a little tutorial on making fabric roses from t-shirt fabric.

Alabama Chanin, Part I

It was in January of last year that I opened my Southern Living magazine and read about a clothing designer making fantastically beautiful garments from recycled t-shirts in rural Alabama.  Thus began my (admittedly one-sided) love affair with Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin and her work.  I must confess that I am a bit obsessed with Natalie these days, scouring the internet for any information I can glean and pictures I can moon over.  I follow her blog and Facebook page, own both of her books and have even pre-ordered her third, due out in 2012.  Frankly, I just can’t get enough.  And this is a little strange for me, given that I usually do not care for, let alone follow, anyone in the cutting-edge fashion world.  The clothes are, usually, too inaccessible to me.  But not these beauties. 

Photograph by Alabama Chanin

Don’t get me wrong:  I cannot afford these clothes.  But wait!  Natalie has given me all of the tools I need to create my own!  In her two books, Alabama Stitch and Alabama Studio Style she shares all of the secrets for how she creates her masterpieces.  As if that wasn’t enough, she sells all of the supplies that she uses in her own work as well as kits of some of her most popular styles.  This sort of behavior is unheard of (even frowned upon) in the world of closely guarded fashion secrets.  But, if nothing else, making your own Alabama Chanin-inspired garment will give you new appreciation of the price tags of the originals.  For my sewing friends who think that “hand work” is not one, but two four-letter-words, you’d better sit down; every stitch in these elaborate garments is done by hand.

Photographs by Alabama Chanin

I am as fascinated and inspired by Natalie’s story as I am by her work.  She has been described as a designer, manufacturer, stylist, filmmaker, mother, artisan, cook and collector of stories .  Her first job in the fashion world was in NYC working in the sportswear industry, and she later she spent 10 years in Europe working as a stylist and filmmaker.  Upon returning to New York, she tells of getting ready for a party one evening with “nothing to wear”.  The t-shirt she cut up and re-sewed launched what was eventually to become her current business.  When she found herself in need of skilled hands to sew an order of 200 t-shirts, she turned to the women in her hometown of Florence, Alabama who came from a tradition of hand quilting.  From that beginning Natalie, who subscribes to the "slow design" movement, has created an ecologically sustainable business that gives back to the community where she lives, one which has evolved from using recycled t-shirts to sourcing her own American-made, low impact organic cotton fabric.

I’ve recently completed my first garment using Natalie’s techniques with another two underway.  I can’t remember a project that felt so good under my hands.  The weight of the cloth, the texture of the stitches, in some cases the beading that adorns the piece, all add up to one big tactile love fest.  And these clothes feel fantastic on the body.

For this skirt I began with a handful of t-shirts I got from the Salvation Army for $0.99 each.  I was lucky to find three light blue and four dark brown shirts that were identical (you can occasionally find a group of identical t-shirts, often from an event, with a graphic on one side).  I started with the skirt pattern provided in Alabama Stitch but changed it from four to six gores in order to fit the fabric I had available.  The leaf design, a stencil provided in Alabama Stitch, is painted onto the top layer of three of the gores which are then sandwiched with the brown fabric.  I hand stitched around each leaf then cut away the top layer, a process known as reverse appliqué.  The six gores were stitched together by hand as was the foldover elastic waistband.  The hem is left as a raw edge.

I used the remaining fabric I had to create a matching top, brown underlined with blue. This pattern is from Lyla Messenger, The Margarita Tank.  I’ve owned this pattern for years but this is the first time I had tried it.  I love this pattern for several reasons.  It fits me great with little alteration so it was fast and easy to put together with only three pattern pieces.  The shaped center front adds a nice visual curve to the body and would be a perfect place for further embellishment.  I constructed the top by machine but added some hand stitching to complement the skirt by hand-felling the front seams and stitching the binding down by hand as well.

These two pieces are my favorite wardrobe items at the moment.  They are as comfortable as pajamas but a lot more stylish.  I am so enamored of the techniques I’ve learned from Natalie’s two books that I have signed up to take a hands-on workshop with her in Alabama in November.  In addition, one week from today I am going to meet the fashion icon in person when I attend a lecture she is giving at the Textile Museum in DC.  To say I am excited at the prospect would be an understatement.  I just hope I can finish my next Chanin-inspired garment in time to wear to the event.  I’d better get stitching.