That would be from December, and then January and February of the next year - in reverse chrono order. Just click on the bold type to ...
Woman's stays of pink linen, 1780s, British; reinforced with baleen
I recently won second place in a Pattern Review contest for my Trapunto Tank. Since then, I have had a few requests for custom tanks and DIY kits. I have recently completed and mailed this custom tank to a customer. She choose an aqua top layer with a chambray blue bottom layer and white thread an paint. The tank was stitched with reverse applique and trapunto design elements. The bindings on the neck and arms were secured using a herringbone stitch. I have to admit that I am nervous about this; I hope it exceeds her expectations. Happy Sewing, Bianca
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Sew Can You.
Hand sewn
I wish I was a regular yoga exerciser. I like the idea of being the type of person that is zen. meditative and relaxed. I own a yoga mat and I've attended a few classes. Every time I do I realize it hurts it's not as easy as it looks and I would rather sweat hard for 30 minutes then be silent for an hour. I recently had reinvigoration of the idea of doing yoga. There I was, downward facing dog, staring at my yoga mat. Sweat beading on my brow, wondering if I would get to the point when this would be fun. Suddenly, it hit me! The mat I have been staring at would make an excellent stencil! With a blast of creative inspiration, my burning limbs and taut muscles suddenly did not hurt so much. Using the stencil making steps I previously wrote in this post; I got to work. I photographed my mat and manipulated the image in Publisher to get the 18in x24in image to use as my stencil image (Thanks Dr. Fun). I decided to use my stencil for shirts hand-sewn in reverse applique and applique techniques on cotton jersey. I will show the reverse applique shirt to begin with. I decided to use my trusted vintage Simplicity 9300 pattern that I used to make a halter top. I have an airbrush and love the results painting with it produces. It is however, 100+ degrees in my Texas garage. I was not willing to spend any time in there to paint fabric. I also know you may not have one, so I wanted to show an alternative. I applied a light layer of spray adhesive to the back of my stencil and positioned it on top of my fabric. This helps me get crisp edges around the shapes and helps the stencil stay in place when using an airbrush. Using a 3-1, paint to water ratio, I thinned it out a bit. Using the paint as is, makes the fabric less flexible than I like. (Okay, I really didn't use that ratio. I just poured about an inch and a half into another bottle and added some water and shook it!). I sprayed multiple light layers to get the saturation I needed taking care to let each layer dry before the next. Next, I cut the front of the shirt and made a tiny hole in each large shape. This makes the cutting out easier later. I then basted it to the red backing layer at the arms and neck. Stenciled top layer basted to the back Shape with hole to aid in cutting later. I prefer to join my layers while it is in an embroidery hoop. Using button and craft thread, I sew a running stitch around each shape. I tie a double knot to secure it after each shape. Using the hole I previously cut as an entry, I removed the middles leaving about 1/4 of the silver paint. Here is the completed shirt. I sewed the internal seams on my machine and hand-sewed the external seams laying them down toward the back. I really like the curved hem on this. I bound the neckline with a bias strip and secured it with a herringbone stitch. I am still working on getting it to slant less. I really do enjoy the puff sleeve on this. I am very happy with this result. The bold red is very striking when paired with the silver paint and black fabric. This stencil size is large and relatively fast to sew. This look can be created using a tried and true t-shirt pattern. Use a dinner plate to cut the curve of the hem and end your stitching about 8-inches up. I enjoyed this stencil so much, I made another in the applique technique using vintage Butterick 3681 to make view A. Mccalls 7093 is a currently available close pattern match. The beginning of the process is the same without cutting a hole in the shape before sewing the layers together. For the applique, I cut around the shapes outside the gold paint by about a 1/4 inch. All the outside fabric is removed. The internal seams of the top and skirt were machine sewn. The visible seams are laid down and hand-sewn. The neck binding was secured using the herringbone stitch. I like the depth of the neckline, raglan sleeve with a shoulder dart. The sleeve and bottom hems are left raw; they will curl when washed. Speaking of washing, I machine wash on delicate inside out. The quality of the stitching and paint have not been compromised in my many hand-sewn garments. The texture in this effect is so fun, isn't it? If you want to make these tops, or some other garment you can! You can download the pdf image of this stencil for free in My Craftsy Store the link is in the right column. It is a 6-page landscape layout that you can download, piece together and make. If you use it, please share your projects with me! Happy Sewing, Bianca
Sew Can You.
Tweedale court dress suit consisting of an embroidered coat and waistcoat, possibly made in England or Scotland, ca. 1800
Several weeks ago Andrea and I were chatting about our favorite hobby, sewing. In our conversation she talked about doing an "Alabama Chanin" project. I vaguely heard of it, but wanted to know more about it. So of course, I searched for websites that featured Alabama Chanin. Here are a few pictures of beautifully hand sewn garments, Alabama Chanin style. In closing, here is a little video on Alabama Chanin.
Long and sleeveless evening dress made of silk tulle and sequins, designed by Chanel, Paris, ca. 1932
The summer break is over and our home is finally settling into a new routine. It has been a difficult adjustment for me to change our waking and sleeping schedules to accommodate early rising for school. I got used to my children's daily naps as a chance to sneak in a bit of hand-sewing. You may remember seeing this hand-sewn reverse applique top with the asymmetrical hem seen below and blogged here. When I stenciled that fabric, using the Moroccan stencil by Stencil Ease, I prepared teal fabric for another garment. This time, I used the stencil to create the opposite effect of a texture filled applique design. To get this look, I cut the pattern front twice and basted them together. Using white button and craft thread, I then stitched a running stitch along the lines of the painted shapes. I tied the threads off on the underside of the fabric so the the applique shapes are the only feature. When the top layer shapes were stitched, I cut between the spaces leaving a little bit of the unpainted edge visible. When washed, the edges will curl up adding to the texture. I machine stitched the inside seams and then hand-stitched them down toward the back. For the binding on the armscye, I used a machine applied decorative stitch on 1/2-inch bias binding. I chose to use this method because this area is not a focal point and is faster than hand-sewing. It is more subtle than the hand-stitched binding on the cranberry and slate top above. I paired this halter with a maxi skirt in the same teal fabric. I made it using a vintage Mccalls 4021 skirt pattern. Of the two techniques, reverse applique was faster to stitch. I was able to sew continually along the outside of the shapes and tie them off less frequently. I love both tops and this stencil. I plan to use it again to make a wrap for my many jersey maxi dresses as we transition into fall. Project Breakdown: Fabric cutting time: 1 hour Stencil setup and application time: 2.5 hours. Fabric Yardage: approx. 5 Yards Sewing time: Top: 23 hours Skirt: 2.5 hours Thread: 2 Spools of White Button and Craft Thread One of a kind hand-sewn piece: PRICELESS. Happy Sewing, Bianca
I can't pinpoint the exact moment that I became smitten with the idea of making something from one of Natalie Chanin's books, but somewhere along the way that's exactly what happened. And the more that I looked at her work and thought about the process of making one of her patterns, the more I became enthralled by the idea of making something entirely by hand. There's something about it that goes against almost everything that we do as home sewers. I mean, how many times do we choose certain fabrics or finishing techniques because we want our handmade items to look like ready-to-wear items? And yet, here's a process that fully embraces the fact that something is not only handmade but that it looks handmade. And the fact that it looks handmade is a good thing. No. It's a great thing. I can totally get down with this philosophy. But enough blabbering on. Let's get to the good stuff. The top that I ended up making is the fitted tank top pattern from Alabama Studio Style and the great part about this book (and her other books) is that they essentially offer one or two patterns that are available in all different lengths, from a top all the way down to a maxi dress (and you can also just cut the skirt out if you're only looking for a bottom). Ingenious. The other great thing about these patterns is the cut of them. I love that they're incredibly simple, but really feminine. They emphasize the little curves that I have up top while working great with the much bigger curves that I have around the hips. Based on my measurements I was at the bottom range of the size medium, but because they recommend a fitted fit I went down to a size small but graded out to a medium at the hips. I'm really glad that I ended up going down a size because it turned out that the shirt would have been much too big in a size medium. As it was, I sewed all the seams with a slightly larger seam allowance than recommended (3/8 inch) to get a better fit. Also, because the top has a fair amount of flair around the hips I probably didn't need to grade out to a size medium for the bottom half, but better safe than sorry I suppose. I also cut out a size medium in length because I'm oddly paranoid about having shirts that are too short, but I don't think that the extra length was really needed. Oh, and I also sewed the shoulder seams with a 1/2 inch seam allowance to raise the neckline a bit since it's definitely on the low-cut side. While my lazy-butt almost never makes a muslin, I did make one in this case because I didn't want to sew everything by hand only to have it not work out in the end (I think I might have cried if that happened). Plus, I ordered a yard of Alabama Chanin fabric to make this top and that fabric ain't cheap, people, so I didn't want to waste it. I made the muslin entirely with the sewing machine and while it was helpful in working out the fit, there were a couple things that I guessed on because my muslin fabric was quite a bit stretchier and thinner than my garment fabric, especially since I made my garment with two layers of jersey. About that - initially I was just going to make the top with only one layer since I wasn't doing any fancy stenciling or cutting away the top layer, but in the end I chose to make a two-layer top because of the stability that the two layers together provides and I'm really happy with that decision. Two layers for the win! The top layer is the fabric from Alabama Chanin (storm color way), but I only decided to make it a double layer garment after I had already received my Alabama Chanin fabric so in an attempt to save a couple bucks I ordered the second layer from Organic Cotton Plus, based on Jessica's post about her beautiful dress. She was spot-on when she said that the weights are similar and I've already placed another order from them in order to make a dress from this pattern. What can I say? I'm hooked. I used the button/craft thread that the book recommends and was just able to find it at my local craft store. I did, however, spend a good 15 minutes combing through the thread aisles looking for this particular type of thread because it only comes in like 4 colors so it's hard to find amid 100's of other spools of thread. I opted not to fell any of my seams because I just like the clean look of leaving that step off. As for finishing the neckline and armholes, I stitched the binding on with a cretin stitch and while it was slow-going at first, once I got the hang of it, it went pretty fast. And dare I say that I actually enjoyed all that hand stitching (I know!?! Who am I?) I should probably also add that I bought a package of beads from Alabama Chanin with the intention of beading a part of this top, but in the end I just couldn't do it because I love the look of it without any kind of adornment. What can I say? I'm a boring type of gal. A boring type of gal in a totally handmade shirt. Boo-ya!
Woman's stays 1780s, British; Crimson silk damask, partially boned, back lacing
Woman's stays 1780s, British; Crimson silk damask, partially boned, back lacing
Gael Towey, our Chief Integration and Creative Director, visited Alabama recently and shares this blog with all of you. You may have heard of Natalie Chanin. She is the designer and founder of Alabama Chanin, the southern couture dressmaker. She has become known for using local artisans and quilters to make highly detailed, exquisitely embellished
Woman's stays 1780s, British; Crimson silk damask, partially boned, back lacing
Okay, let's start out by just acknowledging the fact that this dress is super-wrinkled. I swear it's not because I'm lazy. Rather, it's just because I'm a poor planner and I ended up taking these pictures after wearing the dress all day at work. Just squint your eyes until you can't see the wrinkles anymore. There, problem solved. Now on to the details! This lovely white dress - that I finished on September 2nd, just in time for it to be a fashion faux pas - is yet another Alabama Chanin garment. The pattern is the short fitted dress pattern from Alabama Studio Sewing and Design and when they say fitted they mean fitted. I cut out a size small - the same size as the tank top that I had made (although this time I didn't grade out to a larger size at the hips) - but this garment came out much, much smaller. In fact, after sewing it up (by hand!) I tried it on for size and found the stitches under a lot of pressure in the bust area (and I don't really have a bust area, so if I have a problem you know it's pretty tight). In the end, I went back and reinforced those stitches with smaller stitches which ended up helping a bit and then I felled all the seams (by hand!) and that ended up helping a lot. Who knew? All that felling actually serves a purpose! The hand stitching of the dress actually went by pretty quickly and was enjoyable to do. The felling of all the seams? Well, that felt like a chore, probably because there was a lot more pressure to make the stitches nice and neat because they're so visible, but I really love the dimension that it gives to the dress and I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat. As for the neckline and armholes, I used the cretin stitch to attach the binding once again. The only real change that I made was to make the overlap of the binding on the neckline right behind the shoulder rather than in the back of the neckline. The low back neckline is such a design feature that I didn't want a big old overlap right in the middle of it. As for the fabric, I bought it from Organic Cotton Plus again and I'm incredibly happy with it. In fact, it's taking all sorts of self-control not to place another order so that I can make an Alabama Chanin mid-length skirt for winter. Right now self-control's winning. We'll see how long that lasts. Oh, and remember how I said that I wore it all day at work today? Well, it turns out that this dress goes perfectly with the Ikat blazer that I made several months ago. It's a handmade match made in heaven!
OK everyone, here's my second top for the Spring Top Sewalong!I finished it yesterday around dinnertime, hand-stitching like a maniac while the kids played outside in lovely balmy weather. Mr...
Dress and textile fragments of printed cotton, England, ca. 1828
Woman's stomacher of blue silk taffeta, 1730-50, British; embroidered with coloured silks, silver thread, block-printed linen lining
Woman's stays and busk of watered pink silk, probably Dutch, 1660-1680
Rare Examples of Extant 17th Century Clothing For most of us, paintings are as close as we get to seeing what 17th century fashion was like. They’re a wonderful medium, but like fashion magaz…
Cotton with piping at hem, frontless; England; 1820s.
Printed wool dress, 1836-1838, English
