These are my first two Alabama Chanin-inspired garments, stitched three summers ago. Both pieces are based on the designs in Natalie's first book, Alabama Stitch Book -- though I wish I'd made the corset a size smaller as she suggests. And I hadn't yet discovered Mokuba elastic ribbon, so don't look too closely at that waistband.
When I first started hand-stitching, I gravitated right away to freehand painting my own motifs instead of stencilling them -- both for the organic nature of painting (the occasional "whoops") and my comfort level with the materials. I still prepare my projects that way, but have been looking at other options as I expand my skills in surface design: painting with thickened dye and screen printing. As always, more ideas than time. Enjoy the long weekend!
divine....absolutely. you are ready for summer with this one...what else could you need? happy weekend!
Posted by: sharon from farm and fru fru | May 27, 2011 at 08:46 AM
These are amazing!!
Posted by: chel | May 27, 2011 at 09:50 AM
Great to see how you made these up. I am very much lookingforward to making my own -- the kind of thing I wouldn't sit still to do in my studio, as there are so many other pressing things to work on, so this should be sheer pleasure. See you in Minneapolis!
Posted by: Lfntextiles | Jun 03, 2011 at 11:32 AM