New Alabama Chanin Dress

I received the latest Alabama Chanin book " Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns" in early April. I was a little frustrated at having to print out the patterns myself.  I have copies of the patterns from earlier books, but I really wanted the A-line dress from the most recent book. I finally took the CD to Kinkos and had them print out the A-line Dress, the Coat, a circle stencil and the new leaf stencil. It cost about $40 for the 4 large printouts. One of the frustrating thing about multiply sizes on one sheet is that sometimes you forget what line you are following. I think I saw this tip in a Craftsy video...trace the size you want to cut out in a specific color. I decided that red was the easiest since I had a large red sharpie handy. I then put the pattern paper under the pattern and use the tracing wheel. The nice thing about the tracing wheel is it leaves a line of dots on the pattern paper...if you are lucky the color you used to trace your size will bleed through a little making the lines easier to follow. Once you have the pattern for your size cut out you can put the pattern away till you need a different size. 

I cut our a large dress because the jersey fabric I used was very stretchy. I think it had spandex in the material mix. That was nice because it will keep it's shape longer, where as 100% cotton jersey will stretch out too much sometimes. Anyway I added pockets to this dress and I'm kind of happy with the results. I cheated on this project because I didn't want to put a lot of time into the dress, so I serged the dress. I hand stitch the bias tape on the neck and arms. I will make this dress again. I also want to try some of the new tips that are given in the latest book. Things such as color blocking and pockets. These dresses are so easy to make and the most comfortable pieces of clothing I have in my wardrobe. I really want to try to make the coat next. I think a heavy jersey such as a sweatshirt material will make a fun short coat, it will keep me warm on chilly evenings but look better than a hoodie. I can also do some nice details on the coat to dress it up a bit. 

An Art Show, some more bags and a book

My neighbor is very talented. She has a show up in the gallery at Powell's Bookstore. She does some amazing detailed drawings. Her theme often has cats in what looks like underground environments. The show is called Curious Nature and is up till the end of April. Check out her cute tote bags, the cat is wearing a backpack and carrying a map. She details the bags with puff paint on the cat's eyes and the map. They are very cute and only $15, which is quite inexpensive for an original piece of art.   

 Yes, I'm hooked on making these bags. I made 3 bags using Violet Craft's fabric line called Waterfront Park.  One of the fabrics is line drawings of Portland Bridges. I really loved the fabric and because my husband & his best friend like to climb bridges I bought several yards of the bridges. I made a shirt for my husband but he thought it was too uptight...so he gave it to his best friend John Law who is a bridge tender down in San Francisco. Since I have scrap of the fabric I made several of these cute little triangle pouches. I added a Portland Oregon specific crushed penny to the zipper. Now that's a cute souvenir of your trip to Portland. 

Last week I received my copy of the latest Alabama Chanin book "Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns". This book includes all of the previous patterns published in Natalie Chanin's books as well as 4 more garments. The thing I like about this book is all the patterns are on a CD, I can take it to my local printer and have the patterns printed out. There are also great suggestions for variations on her patterns. Things like adding pockets, adding pipping, altering waist lines & busts, adding a color strips to hem lines as well as several other great tips. There are also new stencil patterns, one of my favorite is called New Leaves. I can't wait to get that stencil made so I can make a skirt or dress made for the summer. 

One of my favorite craft thrift store is Scrap. They recently moved from my neighborhood to the other side of the river. The good thing is they have expanded.  Last week I finally went to see the new store. It's a lot larger then the old space and it looks like it's more organized, thought that may be because they just moved...so it's still clean and new looking. The fabric area is well kept there is room to walk around the shelves and there is a nice area for you to sort through all the things you have picked up, you know when you get excited at all the cool things and pick up a lot more then you need..then you need to filter it all..because you really don't need all the stuff..but you might!. I bought some really nice Hawaiian fabric, though it was printed in China. I also found some large interesting wool scraps with ice skaters and trees, some nice checkered fabric and a cute little wash board. I came home with about 6 yards of fabric and a few knick knacks all for less then $30. 

My lilac tree is in bloom, I have 4 lilac trees in the yard. This is the only purple one, all the rest are white. This purple lilac has some really large blooms and it smells wonderful. SPRING IS HERE!!!!

Alabama Chanin Dresses

I have several Alabama Chanin Dresses. The top photo shows off my favorite and likely the one I'm most proud...the Turquoise and Silver Paisley Fitted Tank Dress. This pattern is from Natalie's last book "Alabama Studio Sewing + Design". The pattern has 4 panels, making it really hard to mess up. The pattern is called the Fitted Dress/Skirt/Tunic you can make a skirt, a tunic or a dress all from the same pattern, just cut off the top or the bottom of the pattern piece. It's very simple and flattering pattern, the nature of knit fabric helps it fit to your own body. "Alabama Studio Sewing + Design" includes more stitches which compliment the simple lines of the patterns in this book. 

I have made 5 of the Tank Dress from Natalie's 2nd book "Alabama Studio Style". This is a 6 panel dress that flairs out quite a bit on the bottom. A fitted top with a nice swing to the skirt of the dress. The tank dresses were made with one layer of fabric except for the Burgundy Merino Wool with a mauve cotton layer under it. This dress is a very warm dress, last winter I wore it when we went sledding with the neighbor kids in the snow.  This dress has perfect panels for interesting and fun details. I reverse screen printed a chandelier then beaded the image on one of the dresses. Reverse screen printing uses a bleach to bleach out the color of the fabric. Sometimes you find wonderful colors under a dark color. You can use soft scrub...it contains bleach and works on most 100% cotton knit fabric. On the Merino Wool Dress I did some simple Eyelet stitches along the bottom of the dress. It adds a little interest and is something that I work on when I have time, it's a work in progress. 

I'm really looking froward to Natalie's next book due out in spring of 2015. She is taking pre-orders starting thursday October 30th.  She is also having a 24 hour sale at the factory and on line...25% off...for 24 hours on thursday October 30th. Get yourself a DIY kit so you have a new skirt or dress for Christmas, or give one of her DIY kits to the sewer in your life. 

I wear these dresses on a regular basis, they are comfortable and some of the easiest pieces of clothing I have ever made. When I think back to how afraid I was of knit fabric I laugh because in a lot of ways it's much easier then woven material. You can make clothes a little snug and the knit fabric will hug you and fit to your body. Very flattering! Of course there are some items that I have made that were WAY too big but that was mostly because I had chosen a 4 way stretch knit. I still have a lot to learn about knit fabric but I'm getting better with each garment I make.