alabama chanin

Oh, Silly Me

09.12.2018 by Tracey //

Hi guys! Welcome back! The kids are back in school and I can get my head together just enough to sit down and compose this blog post. Wahoo!

Today I want to talk about a good friend of mine. We’ve known each other now for a long time and this is how our friendship began. On our very first coffee get-together, she told a story on herself that I will never forget. She said that she had recently had a morning that she woke up full of confidence. She looked in the mirror and decided that she was having a “cute day”. You know what she means—it’s one of those rare days when you look good and you know it. So she put on her special vintage swimsuit and took her kids to the pool. While she was there, she noticed a young couple who were looking at her. And she thought, “Yep, I knew it. I AM having a cute day. Even the twenty-somethings are looking at me.” She had one of the best days at the pool ever. It was only after she got home that she realized that her tampon string was hanging out of her bathing suit.

I knew right then that we were going to be very very good friends. For me, there is no better quality to possess than the ability to laugh at yourself. It’s a trait that a number of my friends have, which is no surprise, because I find it so endearing and attractive. I wish I could say I’m drawn to people like my friend because I’m like that too. But the truth is I’m attracted to people who don’t mind embarrassment because I’m the exact opposite. I mind it A LOT.

I have been actively working on cultivating the ability to laugh at myself for years and my thoughts on the subject kind of clicked into place this summer when our family was on vacation. The kids decided they wanted to try water-skiing. Before they went out, my mom and I both tried to tell them that it takes a lot of practice to get up on water skis and it may not happen on your first time out. The oldest of my nephews brushed it off. He’s a natural athlete and wasn’t worried. But when he came back, he announced decisively that he would NEVER water ski ever again. Oh man, this child is so much like me.

I worked so hard without much success to convince him to try again. I told him the story of how I learned to get up on skis. My grandfather wanted to give us some practice before we got out on the lake. So my sister and I put on our skis in the swimming pool and he got out the ski rope. Then he ran poolside holding the ski rope and pulled us on top of the water, which worked fine until we let go of the rope. At that moment, he would go careening face first into the lawn. And we would all crack up laughing. His willingness to risk not only embarrassment but life and limb to teach us to ski will always make me smile.

The truth is that most creative pursuits (or athletic or academic ones) will eventually lead you out of your comfort zone. And if you are so worried about embarrassing yourself that you stay in safe territory, you will end up cutting yourself off from a multitude of opportunities and experiences that can really open up your world. I speak from experience. It’s too bad that I wasn’t wiser when I was young. It’s only after many years of practicing tolerance of embarrassment that I learned to do things that have become deeply satisfying to me.

Creating this blog is surely an example of this. When I started to build my website, I called tech support often. As I listened to the recording “This may be recorded for quality assurance purposes”, I’d think, “Yeah, you may just want to record this to play for your friends so you can share a good laugh!” But hey, I got through it with my ego only slightly bruised. I’m more proud that I stuck with it than I am worried about how the tech support guy must have found my lack of knowledge hilarious. There’s some personal growth for you!

And just to really drive the point home, I’ll tell you another story. That same friend who is impervious to embarrassment mentioned to me that I had a chin hair that I may want to pluck. Good God, y’all!! This thing had gotten so long, I swear it curled like a pig’s tail! There! See?? It’s just like my mom says, “I’m living proof that you can’t die of embarrassment.”

Pattern, Panel Tank, Alabama Chanin

Fabric, Organic Cotton Jersey in Peacock

Details, Featherstitching in Button Craft Thread in Dogwood

Photography by Tracey Hogan and Santiago Vanegas

Video by Santiago Vanegas

Location, Inspire Health

Okay, time for some details about my top. The panel tank is part of Alabama Chanin’s Build a Wardrobe 2018. I stitched the seams to the outside, opened up the seam allowances, and then featherstitched on top. (About time I showed some featherstitiching on Featherstitch Avenue!) I used the stitching template from The Geometry of Sewing to get my stitching nice and uniform.

In keeping with the theme of this post, I had to overcome a little embarrassment to pull off this photo shoot. The best Pilates studio in Atlanta, Inspire Health very generously allowed Santiago and I to use one of their workout rooms. We both work out there. Our photo concept required me to ham it up in front of Inspire’s big mirror while snapping the photos myself with a cable release button. That’s what I’m holding in my hand in case you didn’t know. So, here I am, acting like a goofball in front of the mirror while the other clients are walking by, giving me very strange looks. These are people that I see regularly, so I can’t even console myself by saying that I’ll never see these people again.

And lastly, given how I put myself out there, Santiago decided he would too. What you have here is his debut as a composer and performer!! The music score of the video is a Santiago original. And just so you know, you can see more of Santiago’s videos on his You Tube Channel. Please check it out!

The Oscar Dress

04.16.2018 by Tracey //

When you hear “the Oscar dress”, you think red carpet. In this case, I’m talking about a different Oscar. I’ve named my dress for Oscar Wilde and stitched my favorite Wilde quote around the hem of the dress. To understand why, I’ve got to tell you a story. I must warn you that some of this post is dark, but if I’ve done my job, hopefully it will make some sense when you get to the end.

Many years ago, I was lucky enough to be able to study at Trinity College in Dublin. Having already earned my BA in psychology, I was at Trinity to do some graduate work. I had this incredible tutor who not only taught me, but also allowed me to shadow him at his job at a children’s clinic. He was working with families who had significant challenges, like a four year old girl who had a metabolic condition that was so severe that if her food intake was not managed to the finest detail, she could die. She was a really smart girl who had learned how to use this situation to her advantage and had become a tyrant worse than Veruca Salt. She cursed like a sailor too!

Wrap Dress in Ireland

But by far, my tutor’s favorite client was a nine year old boy named Graeme. He was a sweetheart who had some developmental delays that his family was trying to come to terms with. One afternoon, Graeme’s family dropped him off at a video game arcade. It breaks my heart to tell you that he was taken from the arcade into an alley by a pedophile and molested. Here’s the part where words fail me. How can I possibly describe the utter devastation that followed. After many re-writes, I’ve decided not to even try. For Graeme and his family, their lives became permanently bisected into “before” and “after”. My tutor, well, he was so distraught that he couldn’t even teach me anymore and pretty much told me to stop showing up.

Wrap Dress in Ireland

For reasons that are too personal and too complicated to explain here, the whole thing was more than I could handle at the time. And although I didn’t realize it fully then, that event was the end of my pursuit of a career in psychology. I looked for an escape and found it in a literature class that focused on Oscar Wilde. We read everything by Wilde—his novel, his plays, his essays. It was while reading Lady Windermere’s Fan that I encountered one of Wilde’s more famous lines, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. And like all universal truths, when you hear it, it resonates.

Wrap Dress in Ireland

I could write pages and pages on what Lord Darlington was thinking and feeling when he said that line, but the truth is that you don’t need to know the story to understand the sentiment. We are all in this beautiful mess that we call life. And it gets really ugly sometimes. But, we can aspire to be better. We can look outside of ourselves to find answers or to seek solace. We can change our perspective. One of my favorite pieces of advice to give to new parents is this—if your baby keeps crying after you fed them, burped them, and changed their diaper, then change rooms. Or go outside. Most of the time, that is all it takes.

Wrap Dress in Ireland

In a way that’s exactly what I did when I stopped studying psychology and jumped into that literature class. I was still grappling with life issues, it’s just that I was doing it through a different lens. Oscar Wilde was certainly no stranger to tragedy and some of the themes we covered were difficult emotional territory. But for whatever reason, I could process what happened to Graeme and what happened to me through the study of literature. So, at a time when I was in a foreign country away from the support of family and friends, it was Oscar Wilde who held me and comforted me. To this day, my favorite photograph of him hangs in my home. And now my favorite quote is stitched on my dress. It’s a reminder that even in the darkest times, I can always look up and be guided by the light of the stars.

Wrap Dress in Ireland

Pattern, Alabama Chanin Wrap Dress, Build a Wardrobe 2017

Fabric, Alabama Chanin Medium Weight Organic Cotton Jersey

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

As you can see, we took these photographs in Ireland. We had an amazing time and it was so great to be back there after all this time. The dress is a pattern from Alabama Chanin’s Build a Wardrobe 2017 collection. I had been wanting to stitch the Oscar Wilde quote for quite some time, but needed to find the right garment to do it on. It took a bit of planning to get the scale of the words right, but I’m happy with how it turned out. I used embroidery floss to chain-stitch the words and I used bugle beads, chop beads, and sequins to make the stars. I also stitched smaller stars along the sleeve hem. And as in all Alabama Chanin garments I’ve made, the entire dress is hand sewn.

Next up will be the first garment that I’m making in a little mini-collection that I’ve envisioned. Most of the patterns are going to be drafted by me, so it may take me awhile! Until then, be well everyone!

Wrap Dress in Ireland

Rosebud

02.06.2017 by Tracey //

I swear I’m going to talk about my dress, but first I have to tell you a story. I lived in San Francisco for about 10 years. After I moved from New Orleans to San Francisco, I got swept up in the outdoor adventure culture. Living in New Orleans, when I would tell my friends that I was going to workout, they would say, “Uh, wait, what are you going to do?!” Not that I’m knocking New Orleans. It remains my favorite city and I miss it everyday, but it’s not necessarily known for fitness. So, when I got to San Francisco and everyone was so active, it definitely marked a change in my environment. I would casually ask a friend what they were doing over the weekend and they would say, “I’m going to climb Mt Hood”. Then it was my turn to say, “Uh, wait, what are you going to do?!” With all this going on around me, I decided to get on board. What I settled on was swimming.

I heard from a friend’s husband that he was planning to swim a race across San Francisco Bay. I know, I know. I’m like you. I didn’t think people did THAT. I mean, haven’t we all heard the stories about how you couldn’t escape from Alcatraz because no one could swim the bay? Apparently, you CAN swim the bay and people do it all the time. The trick is swimming at high tide when the waters are at their calmest.

Rosebud Dress

Yep. This is what I decided I would try. I registered for the race that began on the beach of Angel Island and finished on the docks of Tiburon. I bought a wet suit and trained for months at the relatively quiet, but frigid waters of Aquatic Park. On the day of the race when I would finally be hitting open water, my friend Kenneth gave me some very important advice. He told me to count my strokes and go to a high number like 50 before I looked up to see where I was. He explained that when you get in the bay, everything seems very far away and it’s hard to judge distances. Count your strokes, check to make sure you are headed in the right direction, then put your head down and do it again.

Of all the training I did, this was the most important lesson of all. You can’t imagine the overwhelming feelings that come when you find yourself in the middle of San Francisco Bay with the waves pounding you and the tide pulling you and you can barely see the shore. It would be so easy to panic. But Kenneth taught me the right mindset. Head down, stroke hard, stay measured, check your bearings, then do it again.

Rosebud Dress

Lately, I am having days that feel like I’m in the bay. With the ground shifting beneath my feet, it’s no accident that the creative project I turned to involved slow, measured hand sewing. This is the Factory Dress from Alabama Chanin’s Build a Wardrobe subscription. A completely hand sewn garment. Obviously this approach to sewing is very different from sewing on a machine in a whole slew of ways, but to me the most important aspect is that you cannot be focused on finishing. If you are sitting there trying to figure out how much more you have to do before you are done, you will be miserable. The point is to sit down, breathe, and stitch. I’m actually always a little surprised when I reach the end. I wouldn’t say that it takes patience so much as determination. I’ll be forever grateful for that lesson I learned swimming. Put your head down, do the work, but also enjoy the journey. Feel good about your focus and your strength, whether physical or mental. And know that you may not see the finish line, but each action gets you closer.

Rosebud Dress

Okay, more about the dress. First of all, I encourage you to check out this year’s Build a Wardrobe subscription. I think the patterns are amazing, each one lending itself to so much customization. You can really get creative! I love the basic silhouette of the Factory Dress but there are a couple of changes I made to the pattern. I enlarged the neck opening one inch equally around the neckline. And I added sleeves! I drafted a puff sleeve, with a puff to the cap but not the hem. And of course, I had to embellish it with a triple stripe stitched down the front with the rosebud stitch (my favorite!). I made the stripes using strips of matching jersey cut about 3/4” wide and stitched over. Let’s talk about the rosebud stitch a bit. I think it’s so lacy and beautiful, but if you try it, be prepared to use up a lot of thread. I think that I went through 3 spools on this dress. Each thread length (I use a length that reaches to my elbow) stitched a little less than 2 inches. Yes, the going is slow! Now you can see why I told my swimming story. I have about 200 inches of the rosebud stitch on this dress with the stripes, the neckline, and the sleeve hem. That’s a lot of rosebudding! (Instructions for the rosebud stitch are found in all of Natalie’s books.)

Rosebud Dress

If you haven’t tried an Alabama Chanin project, I highly recommend it. And when you complete your garment, you can give yourself a big pat on the back and all your friends will be so impressed when you tell them that the garment is 100% hand sewn! Bragging rights for life! Because let me tell you, I’m still bragging about the fact that I swam the bay. Whenever I took my kids on the ferry, I would make sure that I was surrounded by tourists, and say VERY LOUDLY, “Hey kids, your mommy swam from there to there”, dramatically waving my arms and pointing from Angel Island then way, way over to Tiburon. I was sure to get at least a few oohs and aahs from someone. My children, not so impressed. They just roll their eyes, “yeah, yeah, whatever”.

Lessons learned from swimming. Lessons learned from sewing. Lessons that come in handy when I’m trying to maintain balance in this ever changing landscape we live in. You may laugh but I keep thinking about what Dory sang in Finding Nemo, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming”. Or if it applies, “Just keep stitching, just keep stitching”.

Rosebud Dress

Pattern, Factory Dress, Mid Length Option, Build a Wardrobe 2017

Pattern Adjustments, Enlarged Neckline and Puffed Sleeves

Fabric, Alabama Chanin Organic Cotton Jersey in Plum

Thread, Coats and Clark Button-Craft in Black

Stitching, Fell Stitch and Rosebud Stitch

Photography by Santiago Vanegas