Tops – Page 3

A Silver Lining

07.19.2015 by Tracey //

Shirt by Tracey

Pattern, drafted by Tracey and Lindsey Knott

Fabric, Liberty Lawn Paisley Print, B&J Fabric

Did I fool you with the title? Since it’s a sewing blog, you may have thought that I meant a silver lining literally. Like a lining on a garment. In this case I meant a silver lining as in what a dark cloud always has. My grand plan for this week was to post pictures of a dress that I’ve been working on for awhile. But like many grand plans, it just didn’t work out. I had a choice point a few days ago that I could rush through to get it done or I could take a little more time and get it right. I opted for the latter. So, as of Thursday, I had nothing to post. Santiago and I talked through our ideas and discussed skipping a week, but neither of us wanted to do that. Then I thought of this shirt. I really hadn’t planned on putting it up on our blog. Not that I don’t like it. I actually love this shirt. It’s one of the first patterns that I designed and drafted and therefore it’s intentionally simple. Because it’s more of an everyday shirt, it wasn’t an obvious choice to post.

Santiago and I looked it over and well…I can’t say that we were overwhelmed with ideas about how to photograph it. But you know, sometimes having limits can really be a blessing. What we had–a basic shirt, a small amount of time, our own home as a location, and my bad mood, forced us to get creative. Not only do I like how the images turned out, but I love it that this humble little shirt is getting its moment in the spotlight (literally!).

As I said earlier, this is one of the patterns that I designed myself and then drafted with my instructor Lindsey (read more about her here). It’s made from a really nice Liberty paisley print and it turned out to be a great project to further my pattern making skills.

Next week we are going to show you something fun. And if all goes according to plan (haha!!), you will see a dress in two weeks. If you don’t, then you’ll know I’ve gone further down the rabbit hole with this thing.

See you soon.

Alabama Chanin, Part 2

06.14.2015 by Tracey //

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.

French Vest

03.29.2015 by Tracey //

French Vest by Tracey

Pattern, Vogue 7975 (modified)

Cotton Canvas, B&J Fabrics

Metal Studs, M&J Trimming

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

This vest is one of my go-to items for spring. Since I made it out of canvas, it’s got some weight to it, so it works really well on those “sort of”‘ warm days. (Anything below 85 is not warm in my book. Yes, I’m a lightweight.) I was obsessed with an Isabel Marant vest from a few seasons ago, and decided to make my own version. I rounded up all my supplies on a trip to New York which involved buying lots of bags of pyramid studs from M&J Trimming. Opening my suitcase at home, it was no surprise to me at all that I had a note inside announcing that my bag had been checked. All those studs probably landed me on a watchlist somewhere. And those studs did end up causing pain, but only to me and my pattern-making instructor Lindsey as we sat there puncturing our fingertips trying to push the little buggers through the fabric. But when all was said and done, I was pretty happy with the result. And our babysitter said, “I would actually buy that!”. High praise indeed.

We’ll see you in two weeks. Happy Easter!!