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.