A Little Alabama

When BSF and I visited the Alabama Chanin store in Florence AL, I decided I wanted to make a simple knit dress.

Maybe I was inspired by the adorable young woman who waited on us. She wore a high-low hemmed black knit dress and a black shrug. And she described how she had just started on her wedding gown, designed in total AC style. Oh my.

Or maybe I was a little inspired by the local college girl, modeling AC dresses for an upcoming fashion show.

Maybe I was inspired by the store, classroom and workroom (no pictures allowed in there).

The AC store front is not too inspiring, is it?

But mostly I was inspired by pure Alabama Chanin knits, chocked full of hand-sewing, mesmerizing and seductive. They have a newer line that is machine made but, of course, the hand-sewn pieces are the main event, IMO. Garments sell for lots of $$$, as they should. Many hours and lovely materials go into their construction

I purchased 2 yards of dark navy blue. It's so dark that black thread is the best match in my stash of threads. Yikes it was expensive - $26 per yard, maybe? I've blocked it. It is organically grown a stone's throw from my birthplace, processed into knit yardage and dyed, all here in the USA. So it's expensive. This makes sense.

The pattern is the Swing Tee extended into a dress, as described in a tutorial from the Sewing Workshop. I followed the tutorial fairly closely on my first version of this, including the interesting pockets invisible in this print.

I was short on fabric for the 2nd one, so no pockets at all.

And on this 3rd one, I decided on patch pockets.

I added some AC touches to it though it's not full-on AC style. The leaves are hand-drawn using a white gel pen. Then I placed patches of off-white AC knit behind the drawn leaves in order to stitch and cut out the reverse appliques.

I also added some sashiko outlines to the neckline and sleeve edges.

The process is fun but a little hard on my thumb, for some reason. It's a little harder to push the needle through two layers of this cotton knit than I expected.

By AC standards, this is plain. I think it'll work for me just fine. I've worn the other two quite a lot. Yep, this must be the summer of dresses for me.

There has been a bit of other sewing going on. I made a ga-zillion (made=serged) napkins for Pentecost Sunday at my church.

And then there were left-overs just begging to become a rope bowl. Creating these makes me unreasonably happy.

Makers gotta make. Sewers gotta sew. Right?

Some Rehab

Me-Made-May generates the urge to rehab old clothes, for me. I've learned through social media that I am not alone. Here are a few of my recent rehab projects.

First up is this San Diego shirt. The pattern is from the Sewing Workshop (TSW), of course. The fabric is a wonderful silk-linen blend that I bought at Textile Fabric in Nashville TN many years ago. I love this shirt but it tended to pull open across the bust line. The one button holds it closed and there is a wide placket that extends to just under my bust. You can just see the top-stitching on that placket.

I simply sewed a rectangle of top-stitching above the bottom of the placket up past the bust line. Voila! Problem solved. And it still slips over my head.

This next one was a little more complicated but the final fix was super simple. It's a Zen shirt (from Now and Zen by TSW) made in my one-and-only Liberty of London piece of fabric. Zen is the one with the double collar.

The day I made this, I wanted to try to imitate the placket and cuff on David Coffin's book cover.

Unlike Coffin's lovely shear linen shirt, mine renders all that work invisible. More importantly I miscalculated the length of the sleeves and they were always too long. That's not a problem I usually have and it's not immediately obvious how to fix it without re-cutting the sleeve.

My first thought was to fold up a pleat or two above the placket before reattaching the under cuff. Since it is full-on summer here in Atlanta, I changed my mind. I cut off the plackets, gathered the sleeves onto a simple cuff.

For the new cuff, I used a cool Japanese remnant from a previous shirt, rather than the left-over cuff. Now the sleeves are 3/4 length.

I really like this slightly more feminine detail with such feminine fabric. And I balanced it a bit with the square on back.

Next was a white shirt made up in TSW's Liberty shirt. There were stains, probably tea.

I tried and tried to remove them to no avail.

The pin marks the top-most stain on the offending sleeve.

I brought this project with me to NH for a visit with DS and family. I knew I would have a good bit of free time. They let me set up a little work area in DS's guest room.

I had some remnants but none long enough for a new sleeve. If I cut and hemmed both sleeves at the place of the highest stain, then the sleeves would have been an awkward length. So I added these cuffs.

I can wear it with the cuffs down, but I prefer them up.

My original make included a self-drafted stand collar. It was always just a little too tall, especially for warm weather. So I opened up the top of the collar and shortened it about 1/2". You know, it's the little things...

I am quite happy with the result. I hope to wear this white blouse a few more times before I stain it with something else.

I have one more white shirt in need of rehab. I accidentally washed it with some red PJs that I had washed multiple times before. There was some free-floating dye and it attached in a number of places, staining more than one piece of the garment.

It's all across the shoulder, extending to the sleeve and front. This one will get dyed. Someday.

I also gave myself a little rehab.

Before

After. I'm too lazy today to apply make-up.

My New Favorite Dress Pattern

I may be a dress convert. This one took me right around the corner. Or the bend.

In the last few sewing sessions, I've made some tunics that were - let me be honest - dresses. Yes, dresses. How can this be?!

The one I just completed is based on a 2018 issue of Sew Confident. I had made the swing tee with neckline and sleeve mods, so I was pretty sure I would like it lengthened.

Lengthening sounds pretty straight-forward but I actually learned something from their lengthening process. If I had simply added inches to the bottom, it would have been voluminous. So I'm glad I had the tutorial.

The tutorial also contains interesting pockets constructed by drafting a side panel and pocket, so well worth the read. The pockets were a little fiddly. I'm not sure I marked enough dots as my pockets are about an inch lower than they should be. Or maybe the fabric stretched.

This version is a toile. My target fabric is a purchase from the Alabama Chanin store in Florence AL. I visited with BSF Ginny and purchased a lovely navy blue knit to make a dress. As you may know, that organic-grown-spun-and-knitted-in-the-USA cotton jersey is danged expensive. As it should be. I'm not quite ready to cut into it. I'm thinking this design would be good though.

This fabric is a poly-something I purchased in Charleston years ago from a tiny fabric and alterations shop right on King Street. I think it disappeared under the weight of high rent as the edges of downtown Charleston gentrified. The fabric reminds me of our many trips there to visit our daughter over the last couple of decades. This is a benefit of stash, yes?

It is a cooperative knit - no curling, no slipping, just a little stretching. I had to play around with needle (ball point), thread (poly, since this is poly), throat plate (straight stitch), and machine foot (mostly walking foot) to get the stitches pretty.

I'm very pleased with this dress. I had occasion to wear it to the reception for an art show I'm in. The show is titled Fiber and Folk at the new Alpharetta Arts Center. These two pieces were juried in. I'm so excited!

I like this dress so much that I made another one.

This is a piece of rayon knit I purchased in Seville Spain several years ago. I think I had a tunic or tee in mind when I bought it. I just barely squeezed this dress out. I omitted the pockets so it was a very quick make.

Now I might make it with the original target fabric - my expensive Alabama Chanin knit. I am not tired of wearing or sewing knits yet, but I will be when the real summer heat arrives.

Cottage Shirt, but longer

This is sort of a dress. It's the Cottage Shirt, from the Sewing Workshop, but lengthened per a 2018 issue of Sew Confident.

I made it as originally published first, except I omitted the collar. I often omit the collar on a shirt with both the collar and stand. It's just a lot cooler during hot weather, I think. I love that first version, partially because of the gorgeous light weight linen. Also I love the deep hem that gives it weight and perfect drape.

I've decided I like this version too. It is a little different. It is comfortable. And the fabric is a gorgeous cotton ikat I purchased from Linda Lee when she came to Atlanta to teach. It was a dream to sew.

To avoid distracting show-through, I used solid white cotton batiste for the collar band facing, as well as the yoke lining. 

I made an attempt to chevron the back and failed. I'll re-do this part, with a single piece of fabric on the bias. Or maybe not. That is one thing I love about sewing my own clothes. I can make adjustments as the spirit moves me.

As usual I held my breath after completing all buttonholes except one. You know the one, right? The collar stand can be a stinker. I carefully trimmed the seam allowances for it and used my clapper to make sure it was as flat as possible. I've learned to use the manual buttonhole on my Bernina, rather than the automatic button hole for this spot. It worked!

As I worked (and worked and worked) with this ikat, I learned that there is virtually no symmetry in it. It was impossible to match the side seams AND the front, so I chose the front. Sort of.

I do love this piece of fabric. I think I have enough left to make some pretty placemats for the kitchen. But that won't happen until I fix that yoke!

Grand Sewing

This week I introduced grandchild number last to the joy of sewing. He's 3 1/2. Like his siblings and cousins before him, he started by standing to my right, removing pins as I approached them. He learned how to put them in the magnetic pin holder and how to snip threads.

Of course, this is never complicated sewing, but it is a kind of joyful sewing, just being together.

Truthfully, I made major portions of these projects while he napped.

I suggested a back pack and he approved. He suggested a lunch bag and I approved.

After we finished he packed his lunch and his back pack. We marched into the sun room and played school.

In related news, we inserted zippers with sergers during my neighborhood group, Sew Incredibles. Another quick project - thanks, Rita!