Alabama Chanin, Part 4
Skirt, DIY Alabama Chanin, made by Tracey
DIY Kit, Swing Skirt, Bloomers Stencil
Fabric, Alabama Chanin Organic Medium Weight Cotton Jersey in Earth
Top, Sleeveless Shell by A. Chanin
Skirt, DIY Alabama Chanin, made by Tracey
DIY Kit, Swing Skirt, Rose Stencil
Fabric, Alabama Chanin Organic Medium Weight Cotton Jersey in Camel and Taupe
Top, Long Sleeve Raglan by A. Chanin
Photography by Santiago Vanegas
Hi Everyone! Welcome back. As promised, two skirts to finish off our Alabama Chanin month at Featherstitch Avenue. I think it’s probably fitting that we end with the first two Alabama Chanin garments I ever made. The rose skirt (the second one pictured) was started at my first workshop with Natalie Chanin. Natalie and I discussed modifying their original design to incorporate more than one technique and that the skirt would act as a kind of sampler. (The original design was done in appliqué with beads.) In my case, I used appliqué on the roses and reverse appliqué on the stems and leaves. I sewed clear beads on select areas as a kind of highlight to the rose petals.
For the bloomers skirt, I used only reverse appliqué. I chose to make my knots on the outside of the garment to give the skirt a more fringy feel. Both skirts have an elastic waistband in a coordinating color (included with the kits). I simply folded the elastic strip over the top of the skirt and hand stitched it down using a herringbone stitch. I provided a link to the Alabama Chanin page of available kits above (or you can click here). These two skirts are older designs, but if you want these exact styles, go to the Custom DIY (here) section to build your own kit.
Both of the tops are from Natalie’s machine made line A. Chanin. These tops were purchased and not made by me, but they go perfectly with these skirts and I wear them constantly.
We can’t finish out this month without mentioning Natalie’s new book Alabama Chanin Sewing Patterns. I have been obsessively reading and re-reading it. And my mind is all abuzz with ideas on how to customize the new A-Line dress and the wrap skirt patterns. Now if I can just find the time to manifest some of these ideas!!
I also want to say a very big thank you to Sarah at Goodbye Valentino for her very gracious introduction of our blog to her readers. If you are new to Featherstitch Avenue, I am so glad you’re here!
Don’t forget to check out our Featherstitch Avenue Instagram. I post more detailed photos there. And our Facebook page has some extra content too. We occassionally post time lapse videos of our photo shoots in progress. So if you are curious about how we work, be sure to check those out.
Have a wonderful Fourth of July! I’ll have a new dress to show you soon. My injuries have healed and I’m back in the sewing business! Wahoo!
Alabama Chanin, Part 2
Skirt, DIY Alabama Chanin, made by Tracey
DIY Kit, Swing Skirt, Paisley Stencil
Fabric, Natural Dye Organic Medium Weight Cotton Jersey
Hot Water Music T-shirt, reworked by Tracey
Photography by Santiago Vanegas
Welcome back! Last week, I gave you loads of information (and lots of links) about Alabama Chanin. This week, I want to talk more about the Alabama Chanin techniques. The skirt pictured above was made using reverse appliqué. For each garment piece there are two layers of cotton jersey. The top layer has the sprayed-on stencil made with fabric paint. After pinning the two layers together, I sewed a running stitch around each stenciled motif, knotting off each time I finished a shape. After everything is stitched, I carefully (very carefully!) cut the top layer of the inside of the shape away, leaving about an 1/8 inch of the painted fabric. Using this natural dye fabric with color variations was such a treat because I was pleasantly surprised by the changing color as I cut away the top layer. It gives the skirt such a subtle dimension. The garment pieces were joined using a running stitch, then the seam allowances were folded to the same side and stitched down. (Check out Featherstitch Avenue’s Instagram for more detailed photos.)
As I explained in last week’s post, I order a kits with precut pieces already stenciled. But there are a number of ways to customize a kit depending on how you stitch it together. You can use beads, you can use a backstitch, you can use embroidery floss. There are many ways to make it your own. Natalie’s third book Alabama Studio Sewing and Design is a wonderful resource on all the different possibilities.
The t-shirt is a redesign by me. I used the cretan stitch (Instructions for this stitch are in all of the Alabama Studio books) to bind the neck and arm holes.
Hope you are having a great summer! See you next week.