Why There Was Less Knitting Last Year

 I finished fewer knitting projects last year -- in fact, I didn't make ANY sweaters, which is the first for a very long time. But I had a lot of fun sewing. 2024 was the year I finished my Alabama Chanin A-Line Dress, and had so much fun doing it.

I don't remember the first time I became aware of Alabama Chanin hand-sewing, but it was probably through Modern Daily Knitting, back when they were still Mason-Dixon Knitting. Anyway, long long ago I bought a copy of Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns at Powell's on a trip to Portland. (I can't find a new copy to link to -- if you buy a used copy, you might check to see if the CD with pdfs of the printed pattern is included.) You can buy a separate pattern for the A-Line Dress, but it's included in this book, along with enough information to embellish and make it. I used PDF Plotting to print the pattern.

Alabama Chanin garments are hand sewn. They are often embellished with beads, sequins, embroidery, and applique. They're almost always out of cotton jersey knit.

My dress is of a (I think) cotton/soy blend with a little lycra, so not "purist' Alabama Chanin. I bought it at the sadly closed Sewn fabric store in Yakima back in 2022, I think. Two yards of black, and two yards of the olive green. It took me until the next summer to collect the rest of my supplies and get the nerve up to start. 

I made a "muslin" using some cheap cotton jersey from JoAnn Fabric. I sewed THAT with a sewing machine. Alabama Chanin sizing is not generous.

I bought a New Leaves stencil from Alabama Chanin, and some slate fabric paint. The AC Sewing Patterns book has a pattern for the stencil as well, but I don't regret buying the pre-cut mylar stencil. I didn't buy an airbrush to spray on the paint. I thought I could do it with a spray bottle, but ended up using a sponge to hand-paint the black fabric pieces. I learned some things doing this that will improve the next time I try this, mostly about placing the stencil.

 

I also made a sampler piece to practice the reverse applique and embroidery.

Here I experimented with slate embroidery floss from Alabama Chanin, black (heavy) thread (the same thread I used to sew up the dress), and dark pewter (DMC color 413) embroidery floss that I had leftover from an earlier project. I'd already bought spools of the slate color, but ended up liking the dark pewter better -- so I had to buy about 21 skeins of it from Joann. (This was too much by about 4 or 5 skeins. No regrets.)

 

Then I spent about a year embellishing this fabric. I would embroider around each leaf sprig and then carefully cut away the enclosed painted fabric on the leaves. I used many safety pins and Wonder Clips (highly recommend) to keep the two layers evenly together. Still, there's a little puckering. I could and did do this while "watching" TV, but found I couldn't do it while riding in the car. (These are my two of my favorite times to knit.) I only cut through both layers of fabric once -- and then figured out how to remedy that.  Also, sometimes I set it aside to knit. 

This spring, I realized I'd have two weddings to go to later in the summer and early fall. That gave me an incentive to get busy and finish the dress.  The actually sewing, with button craft thread, went fairly quickly. I added pockets, because I could. 

And then I had a new dress to wear to Jenna and Paden's wedding, and Hannah and Zack's wedding. It is a good dress to dance it.

I'm looking forward to making an Alabama Chanin Cropped Car Coat next, this time with some beadwork. I'll show you in couple of years.