A Little Alabama Chanin

In a recent issue of Sew Confident, there was an article on sewing with tissue knits. The pattern used was the Hudson top from The Sewing Workshop. Their tissue knit was light-weight cotton jersey from Alabama Chanin. Lovely stuff - 100% organic cotton made in the USA. I already had some in the stash!

The Hudson is a nice basic, a canvas for great fabric or a special technique. I have been wanting to try my hand with the AC reverse-applique technique for a while. In fact, I've made two samples and tested them in the washer and dryer. This knit behaves beautifully. 

Both the black and the red knits are considered light-weight, but there is some noticeable difference in the weight. The red is a bit lighter. I found them to be close enough for this technique.

These knits are stable and not very stretchy. They like to curl on the edges so I played around with that but let it go. They also like to stick together and to my high hip fluff. A-hem. 

Because I had already made up TSW's Ivy tunic with my cut of black knit, I had only small remnants to use in this shirt. 

After sewing the shoulder seams, I opened it out on my sewing surface wrong side up. Then I placed some pieces of the black on the shirt, also wrong side up. After pinning each piece in place, I hand-basted around each remnant.

Next I flipped the pieces over and used my quilter's pounce and a hexie stencil to transfer the design to the right side of the shirt. The real AC technique involves paint and so a lot more effort, IMO. I stitched around each chalked hexie using a running stitch and size 8 perle cotton thread. It's quite a lot like sashiko, so I loved this part.

Lastly I cut out some of the hexies, allowing the black backing to show. This is where the tendency to curl really shines. It provides a nice finish to the raw edge.

wrong side of shirt after completing it

I tried playing with the curling action to create a cuff but ultimately cut it off. I stitched plain hems and push up the sleeves for comfort. No need to try everything in one garment!

Now I want to apply this technique to a full garment. This was a fun make.