Hand Stitching - Alabama Chanin Pattern

It's been forever since I have had the itch to write a blog post. 

This blog has for many years been my baby and my happy place.  

This summer has been a complicated one for me with my immediate family (DH and kids) doing very well, but a couple other family members were working through health challenges that kept me from hanging out here as much as I would have liked.

That aside, I have still been stitching away and I'm excited to share something that I actually finished with you.

In the Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin there is a pattern for a corset.  I cut out Nani Iro knit jersey some time back to make this but it was not easy for me to finish it.  Other projects kept making it higher in the priority list.  I finally sewed all the seams down and added an edge band (kinda like a binding) to the neck and arm openings.

I'm happy with how it turned out but it is maybe a little loose in spots (neckline/armpits).  I may try making another one in a slightly smaller size.  I've found their patterns in general run a little small so I have been going up a size so I don't feel like a human sausage.  

The edge treatment I put on is also a bit too thick.  Next time I'll make a thinner one.

The Nani Iro jersey I used is not easy to find.  SuperBuzzy (very cool online shop) has it - along with a big collection of other awesome Japanese fabrics.

They also have some cute jersey by Heather Ross that might be fun to play with especially for a kid/niece project.

Anyhow, just a quick post to let you know I haven't fallen off the deep end.  Hope your summer is moving along smoothly.  I have a London travel brain dump on my mind still, stay tuned for that soon.

 

Feeling Super

Recently one of my best friends knit a couple of one inch tall super hero characters for my boys.  I kinda wanted to steal them for myself, but they are very loved and take care of by the kids.

It made them feel super to get them and she did a super job of knitting them.  Well of course she did, she's a super knitter.

Anyhow, I'm finally feeling super myself after finishing my Alabama Chanin DIY skirt.  I work it around town last weekend and it was a lot of fun.

The girls a A Verb for Keeping Warm got a kick out of seeing it, as the all the employees at Heath Ceramics.  I felt like a rock star.

I hope to get back to Verb to their Alabama Chanin sew in event later this month.  It's on a week night so it will take some doing to actually end up there, but I hope to go.  If you're in the bay area, check it out...it doesn't cost anything but you will want to register to hold a chair for yourself.

Nice to meet you: A Blog Post written by an in-progress Skirt

Hello.  Nice to meet you.

I am Marisa's DIY Skirt (in progress) and she asked me to write a guest blog post for her today about my life as a half finished skirt.

Let me start by saying that I am really thrilled that the entire back half of me has now been stitched and all the cut-outs are complete.  I'm feeling really confident when people admire me on that side.

The front of me, as you can see from the above, has been progressing slowly but surely.  There is still a long way to go.  One of the front quarter panels is almost done, and the other one is almost started.

Marisa does not neglect me, so please don't think I'm trying to throw her under the bus here when talking about my half completed state.  She puts new stitches on me each day although she's busy and at times only works on me for 15 minutes.  I'm still feeling the love, and I know that she will eventually complete me.  I'm not getting the feeling she will give up on me.  I am admittedly complicated...a project that cannot be rushed.

I hope that your long term complicated sewing projects find inspiration from this blog post and that you can also empower them to write in your own blogs.  It isn't every day that a Skirt gets to write a blog post.

Best wishes to you, and perhaps I'll come back and write again when I'm almost complete.  I'm really looking forward to getting out of the house.

When Quilters Make Garments: Nani Iro Jersey

My quilting needles have been bumping into the squishy-ness of cotton jersey lately. 

It feels like trying to nail jello to a tree when you compare it to the act of working with quilting cotton. 

The Alabama Chanin DIY skirt that I'm making is still on the front burner and it is progressing but it seemed like a tank top to match would be a fun project.  I cut out a corset top from the pattern in her book and made it with jersey Nani Iro that I got from awesome online shop Superbuzzy.

It's my own person Japanese twist on this cool process.  I have a few more alterations to make and I'm even toying with adding a few beads to it.  I might also put some of the gray fabric used on the skirt around the neckline and arm holes to tie it together. 
Either way, it's looking good but not done yet. 

Alabama Chanin Skirt - Progress Report

Just a quick progress report for you on my Alabama Chanin DIY skirt.

It's almost 25% done and I'm still really REALLY getting a kick out of working on it. 

Because the paint color is almost the same as the background fabric, it is strangely easier to work on in the evening with a lamp rather than in daylight.

It's easy to cut out the pieces though on the weekends during the day so that is sort of how I'm sorting out the sew/cut work.

Maybe I'll finish it up over the Winter Olympics or something.  I'm already looking forward too that.

I think that the Alabama Chanin Company will soon come out with a non-hand made line of clothing that should still be made in the USA but will probably be more affordable.  I'm really looking forward to checking that out.

Happy 2014!

Hope that your new year was full of joy and peace.  We had a great holiday in general and relaxed for once.

I'm still working away on lots of creative projects.  Progress is more tortoise than hare, but progress is progress.

My Alabama Chanin DYI skirt is almost 1/4 done after a road trip of working on it and some evenings watching movies.  It will probably be a while before it is actually done.  I may have to have a small party whenever I get another quarter of it finished.  I'm also thinking of playing around with some embroidery on the waist band just for decoration and to have some fun.

Some movies I saw were good, some not so much:

The Internship - feel free to skip it
South Pacific - time to re-watch this movie is always now, I could watch it all day
The Perfect Game - awesome, inspiration story of a Mexican little league team, highly recommend

Next up for me is The Lightening Thief.  I hope it's worth seeing.

I'm also knitting my first KnitSpot knitting pattern by Anne Hanson.  It's a sock pattern so very portable called Waffle Cream socks.  I'm knitting them for my DH.  It's a lot of 1x1 work, so slow, but looking ok so far.  Photos of that soon.

As for my theme for 2014, I think it will be Finishing.  I have so many incredible projects that deserve to be finished, let's see what I can do to put a fork in a couple big ones. 

Wish me luck on that.  It won't be easy.

You have your theme picked out?  Broken any juicy resolutions yet?

The Holiday Skirt that Wasn't & The Great Search for the Perfect 2014 Calendar

Before I turned my eye to the final push of Christmas cards and gift wrapping, I had lofty ideas of finishing my Alabama Chanin DYI kit skirt before the holiday party.

Well...it's looking like I may wear it next year instead.  Maybe I'll have to host a summer BBQ or something when it is finally done. 

It's not that sewing it is a chore or anything, it is just slow going because I think the pattern I picked out, called Facets, has mostly very small pieces with only a handful of larger cut outs.  I'm enjoying it and plugging along at it, and will probably not drink red wine while wearing it if you know what I mean.  I am also really glad that I decided NOT to put beads on this project.  That might have killed my chances of ever finishing it.

In past years I have had more cycles for play time.  I used them to create a custom Quilt Otaku Calendar.  It was really a labor of love and took me several hours to create.  This year, I'm behind the 8-ball so to speak and looking to order a calendar made by some other creative genius.

Design Milk hosted a modern calendar round up which I really liked.  The Risograph calendar by Jp King from Paper Pusher is a leading contender for me, but I haven't bought it yet.  I'm open to other ideas if people have them.  What calendar are you using in 2014?



Is it too much to also get the daily Polaroid calendar?  A new Polaroid photo each day...it's called the Poladarium 2014.  They even have a call for entries into the 2015 version.  Hm...I wonder if any of my favorite images will make the cut for that.  Cross your fingers.

Hand Quilting: Beads and more Yoko Saito...in English!

Natalie Chanin's hand applique work often includes beads.

I have tried using them here and there on small projects, but I have it in my mind to try and make a larger garment with them all over it.  Either a tank top or a skirt probably.  I have ordered some of the beads from her site and starting to play around with them a bit.

One of the tricks is finding a needle small enough to get them on there but also with a large enough eye to get the thick button craft thread through it.  A delicate balance for sure.

Jennifer from See How We Sew blog recently alerted me to a give away she hosted some time back for Yoko Saito's new book.  It's quite rare to run into a publication by her in English, so I'm excited to get a copy of it.  it's called House Warming Patchwork.  Looks like you can already order it online.

Not sure I can wait for Santa to get my own copy of it!  ;)

Hand Stitching

I've been playing around with another little swatch of fabric using hand stitching and Alabama Chanin jersey fabric.

Looks like they will have a sale on the web site on black friday.  Not sure what else I need, maybe I should look.  I think my knitting friend Sharon may be getting more into sewing.  She's making one of these small projects too.

Two colors of button craft thread on light fabrics gives it a little interest.  I think a larger piece like a table runner would be fun to do.  The light, white on white look, makes me think of snow.  I can see a little mini winter scene set up on here.  Mini lego houses and all.  

We are starting to look forward to Thanksgiving already.  Is it too soon to be doing that?  I hope not. 

I'm also still working on the hex quilt, but small amounts of time devoted to it here and there is making for progress at a snail's pace.  I'm still happy with the results so far.

In other news, I'm reading the twitter feed called "Today in 1963" which is pretty cool, a project by NPR Kat Chow.  Amazing what you can fit into 140 characters.  Today was an eventful albeit sad day with the anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination.

On a happier note, I'll be visiting the SF Heath store sometime this weekend to see what's brewing on their annual sale.

Jersey Gored Skirt: Alabama Chanin Pattern

A quick photo for you of the simple skirt I made.  I'm no seamstress mind you, I'm really just a wandering quilter looking for another hand applique outlet.

It's from the Alabama Chanin Gored Skirt pattern in the book called Alabama Studio Style, p101.

When the skirt is dirty, I find myself willing to do laundry just to get to this garment again.  I'm thinking a 2nd one is in my future.

The instructions in the book is to do everything by hand.

I wanted to follow the instructions, but you know...I've never been one to follow the rules.

The important part of sewing jersey on a machine is to get yourself a jersey-friendly ball-tip needle for your machine.  I did that for less that $4 on Amazon.

It worked well, and I used pins when putting the seams together.

The top layer of the garment is black and the bottom layer is a dark charcoal.  I didn't actually have 4 yards of any fabric, so that is why I ended up with 2 colors.  It didn't matter much since it was an experiment anyhow and I was really just making it to see if it would fit.

After it was finished, I put an elastic waistband in using fold over elastic I got from the Alabama Chanin web site.  I also used the felled seam technique, hand sewing to have the excess seam fabric lay flat.  I was not sure if this was a good idea initially but I LOVE the look and will be doing this on all my jersey seams from now on.

I'm thinking of making a more complex project soon.  Something similar to the skirt made by Bowersette of the From These Hands blog, perhaps. 

Until I get more than 5 minutes to rub together, it looks like I'll be washing (and re-washing!) this skirt.

In Search Of Alabama Chanin: a visit to Verb and Heath Ceramics

A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland, California recently had a trunk show where we went to try on the various different garments and consider what our next sewing projects would be.

There were a lot of beautiful garments there as well as sample fabrics in different colors with different treatments on them either with or without beads.

It took some time for use to check them all out.  Good that my kids are so fascinated by the ping pong balls they have at the shop, and good that the shop is so kid-friendly.

I think the only person who was really bored silly was my DH, but he did some web surfing on his phone so he survived and smiled at me with that smile that says he's glad I'm having so much fun.

Some additional photos for your enjoyment below.  I have not started a huge Alabama Chanin garment project, but I would like to soon before the weather gets too cool for the air brush paint to dry quickly.  I think warm weather really is best for the painting work. 

Enjoy the bonus images, captions are below the related photo.

One of the sample fabrics with black beads on it.  So many beads, very beautiful.

Another sample fabric with both beads and reverse applique.  These beads were brown on dark grey fabric and looked pretty.

Another sample fabric with reverse applique and knots on top.  You can see the beautiful shop in the background.

This is my charming friend Marianne modeling some of the sample garments.  She is even more sweet and lovely than she is beautiful.  Always more fun to shop with a good friend.

 Here is another sample fabric with embroidery and beads.  White on white.  Stunning.

Another sample piece.  It had both embroidery and beads.  LOTS of beads!

 This is my DH.  See the smile?  I know I'm biased but I find him so hunky-handsome sitting in a quilting/knitting shop. He may be thinking he'd rather had his teeth cleaned.

 Another sample fabric with beads, reverse applique and embroidery.  This was one of the more complex pieces.

Sample fabric with reverse applique and heavy clusters of beads inside of the cut out applique.

 On a different trip we visited Heath Ceramics in San Francisco.  This is an Alabama Chanin flag that was hanging there.  So very stunning.  All shades of blue.  Out of this world beautiful.  Lots of hand work, reverse applique.

This is another piece that was at Heath.  Sampler quilt with many different treatments including some beads.  Beautiful and also for sale!

A photo of the Alabama Chanin plates at Heath along with the books that I have and highly recommend.  I would love to have a set of these plates.  They are hand etched, so more costly than the other Heath plates.  Time to save up your lunch money.

Alabama Chanin DIY Trunk Show: Run, don't Walk!

It's rare that I attend an event that I am this excited over or this pumped up after.

Now through August 26th A Verb For Keeping Warm in Oakland, CA is hosting a DIY trunk show for Alabama Chanin's DIY clothes collection.

You can try on all the finished garments from the kits that are available on the Alabama Chanin web site, and Verb will order kits for you including 10% off!

I met my friend Marianne there and we had the best time looking at all the details of the garments and trying them on.  I was the most fun I've had in a long time.

After we got home, I was so excited to make something that I whipped up a skirt.  Yes, an entire skirt in 1 evening.  Oh yes, my first skirt that I have ever made.  And in case you're wondering....it fits!

More on that later with photos of the event including my beautiful friend, DH who sat there for likely more than an hour while we drooled and kids played with ping pong balls (thank you Verb for having ping pong balls!!!), and some information about how I cheated on my homework when I made the skirt.

So run, don't walk over to Verb, try on some incredible garments, order a kit, and get cracking.  The sample fabrics they had there we just stunning and so inspirational. 

It's a hand work / applique dream come true.

Handmade Garment Label

Putting ink on fabric is something that I have a little hankering for at times. 

After my made my Alabama Chanin t-shirt corset, I couldn't help by try to put a custom handmade label on it.

The garments she does have labels that include some hand writing on them for that personal one of a kind touch.

I wanted mine to look similar.  A quick search for washing icons gave me some ideas for adding some cute laundry care pictures.  The little "Q" "O" (Quilt Otaku) logo could use some more playing around with, but for my first try, I'm happy with it. 

Red button craft thread was used to attach it, used 2 threads at once.  I left the knots showing on the outside back of the garment.

Reverse Applique: What's Black and White and Red all over?

The conventional answer to that one is The Newspaper, but I'm not sure anybody really reads that anymore these days.  A bit of a shame really, but too easy to get news on your tablet I think.

Although my initial efforts at reverse applique on jersey fabric (ala Alabama Chanin) are far from perfect, they are moving along, and IMHO looking rather cool.

This one is white on top, black as the 2nd layer with some pinkish red paint.

I made a front and a back and hope to turn it into a bag eventually once I get more than 2 seconds to rub together.

To those of you who have been hanging out recently at Quilt Market, it all sounds very exciting this year.  I'm looking forward to seeing all the season's new fabrics for us quilters to play with.

Meeting Natalie Chanin at A Verb For Keeping Warm and...brain teaser answer!

The brain teaser post was so long ago that I'm sure you all know you got the right answer.  It was of course the ark from the Raiders of the Lost Ark movie.  The Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California had an exhibit of items that were brought in not only from the movie itself, but that were also real 'found' objects from actual real live archaeological digs.  

It was really cool.  We had watched the movie before going to the exhibit so the kids were excited to see all the stuff from the movie in person.  I'm not sure if kids or parents enjoyed it more. 

I recently had the amazing pleasure of visiting A Verb for Keeping Warm's stitch-in session with author Natalie Chanin.

My friend and I headed up from San Jose to Oakland in rush hour traffic, but it was after all very worth it.

Natalie spoke of her current endeavors as well as thoughts for the future of her company.  I didn't get the feeling that she is super keen to write another book, but I did beg her to anyhow since the first three books are so amazing. 

She gave us choices of all the colors of organic cotton jersey that her company uses for their clothes so we could combine them in different ways and have a small fat project to experiment with color.  

The clothes that some of of the students were wearing were made from some of the books.  They were just spectacular. 

Natalie is super down to earth and just about the nicest person I think I've ever met.  She was so sweet to spend time with us and to teach us a bit about her hand stitching processes.  I am off to try and make a garment now.  Not sure if I'll start with a tank top or a skirt, but either way the wheels in my head are turning.  

A little photo of me and Natalie.  I'm on the left, she's on the right.

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Creativebug: I've been bitten - Make Your Own Stamps

There are several online learning / crafting sites out there.

I decided to sign up for 3 months of access at Creativebug mostly because they had classes by Natalie Chanin, but also because the rest of their video classes looked pretty good.

I have been very pleasantly surprised at how cool their videos are.  Some of the classes that they have relate to sewing and I think they are planning to have some quilting classes soon.

For now, I took some classes on ceramics and knitting, but my favorite one was on making your own stamps by Christine Schmidt of Yellow Owl Workshop.

It isn't hard or expensive to make your own stamps.  You can get started for about $20, and have a really great time with it.

I asked our kids to write their names out in their own handwriting.  I then transferred this to a signature stamp for them and glued the stamp itself to a vintage wood block in the shape of a house.

Kids love that they have their very own signature stamp.  Capturing their little kid handwriting is fun, and having a stamp is super cool.  It's like a snapshot in time of their writing.