Hello! I am getting started on my next Alabama Chanin project.
Yes, an authentically executed Alabama Chanin creation is a big time commitment but I really enjoyed making my 3-piece set and it is nice to have a hand-held project to work on slowly, something easily transportable that doesn’t require much space or special equipment or a lot of thought but that you can just pick it up and get on with, a little bit at a time.
I’m using some hot pink jersey knit from my stash, bought in the Fabric Store in Melbourne during one of my trips over there with Mum and Cassie, I’ve forgotten which one now. Probably the previous one, hmmm… Actually, I had pulled this fabric out in the early planning stages of my recent SWAP and marked it as a definite; that was before eyeballing the rest of the long term stash residents that I was keen to sew up and realised that colour-wise, it didn’t fit in at all.
And it still didn’t. Really, hot pink? I don’t know what I was thinking. My current way of thinking wrt my wardrobe is to have it mostly subtly and/or autumnally shaded, and while in theory I like hot pink, in reality I was just like; ah, No.
So, step one; wash, soak and dye the fabric. I used a small shake each of iDye in Brown, Yellow and Chestnut in the dye-pot. Sounds hideous? well I did do a small sample first and thought it a huge improvement. So that was a go. My fabric was a slightly variegated hot pink and became a slightly variegated rusty-purply raspberry.
Cutting and Printing: This is where things got tricky… I received an email recently from Carolyn in Florida, asking about the curl factor of jersey and how did it affect the Alabama Chanin technique. Well, in the case of this particular fabric as can be seen in the photo above, the curl factor was extreme and the edges of my fabric curled up so badly. And they just would not lie flat by themselves. From a screen printing point of view this is disastrous. I wanted to have my screen print go right up to the very edges of the fabric, and so the edges just had to lie as flat as possible. So for a quick and easy fix-it I just used regular household sticky tape to tape just the very edge of the fabric down to my backing newspaper, just inside the seam allowance and immediately prior to printing. Not a pretty or elegant solution, but it worked pretty well!
Printing the fabric seems to have tamed the curl quite a lot too! The seam allowance for Alabama Chanin designs is small, like 5mm or so, so you do need to print right up close to the edge. I’ve found from my first project that I prefer to have my embroidery right up to but preferably not within the seam allowances, though.
The Stencil: This time I chose the Abbie’s Flower stencil from the book Alabama Chanin Studio + Design, by Natalie Chanin. I enlarged it by approximately three times using the good ol’-fashioned method of drawing a grid on the design, then drawing a bigger grid on your paper in which you painstakingly copy each little square on the bigger scale. Like we used to use in primary school; from back in the dark ages, before photocopiers. Ha!
I thought the overall motif was still a bit small and my least favourite part of printing is placement of the screen for repeat printings. I mean; if your motif is larger in area then you decrease the number of times you have to re-place the screen on your piece of fabric; and the less placement the better, imo. So I ad-libbed putting more motifs from the Abby’s Flower stencil around about and added in a few random leaves and curlicues of my own too, until my stencil covered the maximum area I could get on my screen.
The embroidery technique I have chosen for this project requires keeping the printed motifs intact in the final garment, so I needed to print the motifs in proper fabric paint instead of the discardable house-paint that I used for my first project. I used Permaset water based Textile Printing Ink from Jacksons, and mixed a deep oxblood red/brown colour using orange, crimson and a bit of green.
My green had a few chunky bits in it that didn’t mix in properly, and I really like the few areas of streaky green that showed up in the screen print. It’s almost a pity that they will be mostly covered up by my embroidery!
My print placement was not perfect: note; it never is! and after I’d finished I noticed a few largish gaps that stood out visually in a not-good way. So the next day I mixed up a teeny bit more paint, cut a new, very small paper stencil of two leaves and carefully printed in a few of these in the gap areas. The design looks quite irregular so I think it worked out very well. They stand out like a sore thumb right now because they are a deeper colour but I’m thinking they’ll probably blend in OK once I get embroidering 🙂
Beautiful work, and I cannot wait to see your finished project. I just finished my first Alabama Chanin, a corset tee. In the course of my work, I decided that I will not work within 1/4" of the edge in the future. I don't like knots in my seams, and I don't like the tails to hang below the hem. Neither do I like cut out pieces on the hemmed edge, because the edges of the random bits that are left like to curl, to the extent they cannot be sewn down.
That is going to be gorgeous. I particularly love the effect of your mix of dyes on the jersey. Thanks for sharing your process.
Beautiful color. I think whatever you make with this is going to be lovely 🙂
I'm with you on the more subtle colour – much preferable! There is a lot of work that goes in to these Alabama Chanin pieces, but I love to see the process. Thanks for posting!
I can't wait to see this – the book is on my birthday wish list – as you say, having something that is process, something you can really get into and hand sew, that you can pick up and put down in quite moments, is a form of sewing bliss:). Once you get over the curl factor..
Much prefer the more subtle colour and wow I will be very interested to see this finished.
This is going to be beautiful!
A great explanation of the process. I agree that the subtler colour works well, although I am a major fan of hot pink! Can't wait to see the finished product.
Gorgeous! I love the colors!
Wow, the amount of work that you've put into this piece already is amazing! Can't wait to see/read more.
I like the areas of streaky green!!! Plus, I think that makes the 2 leaves look like they were designed to be a deeper color than the rest. Beautiful!!!
Wow, I love the colors and can't wait to see how this turns out. Your other pieces are gorgeous!
Beautiful! I bought the large pre-cut version of this stencil when it was on sale last year, but I have yet to use it. Thanks for the kick to get moving on it. Your work is always so amazing, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for posting this. I so want to try this after seeing your gorgeous previous attempt. And I have some hot pink jersey that has languished for years because the same "what was I thinking?" realization.
Girl, you are SO inspirational!
Can't wait to see more! I am wanting to do my own dress, but am stuck on not being able to find the perfect fabric.When there's so much time invested in a project, I would hate for the quality of the fabric to be under par. How do you keep finding beautiful quality fabrics?
You are so clever, Carolyn! I know I´m going to love this proyects just as much as the other ones!
It looks lovely already, it will be amazing with more embellishment.
Congratulations on your SWAP challenge results at Stitchers Guild – well deserved!
Hi, this is the first time I've posted anything but have been quietly admiring your sewing skills from afar for the last year or so (from the USA. admittedly, am somewhat envious of your amazing drafting/sewing skills as I have so few! when do you plan to open an etsy store?!?). And now I have a question: having finished an Alabama Chanin kit (the poncho), and having purchased a stencil (am even more impressed that you've cut your own stencil. in the past, I had the fortitude but no longer as am disabled and have to meter out my handiwork) and instead of using a spray bottle, I tried using a silk screen over the stencil to "print" the image, with disastrous results. It may have been the unfamiliar textile paint I used (have done a lot of silk screening) but you refer to "screening" your image on to the fabric. May I ask if you are using a blank silk screen to print the image? (instead of "stenciling") Or is this a simple lingo difference between our two English speaking countries and I've misunderstood? If not, I would greatly appreciate any advice/tips for silk screening with a stencil as am stalled on the many A.C. projects I have lined up. Thank you!
Hello EEK, and thank you! I'm not sure what you meant by a "blank silk screen instead of stencilling"? For this project I cut my stencil in a piece of acetate the right size for my silk screen; then taped the stencil securely to the back of my screen. Then I put the fabric paint on the screen and screed it across with a squeegee. I hope I've explained it OK? and have helped 🙂 I always do a first print on a piece of newspaper, because the first one with the silk dry never works out all that good.
I'm sorry to hear the first attempt was disastrous 🙁 maybe it was just due to the paint. I hope the next one works out OK, and I wish you good luck with your many projects!
Carolyn, Thank you for your prompt reply! Obviously I can not keep up with you as you are off and running with new posts so this may get lost in the shuffle. (And I totally understand if it does. I had tried to send a note earlier but writing in the middle of the night is always a muddle so it got lost)
I had a feeling that was what you meant but just needed the confirmation. I was trying to use a "blank" silkscreen ie: a screen with nothing on it, but the A.C. stencil is huge so I can not tape it to the screen. I've silk screened with stencils as you explain above but not much so thought would try my crazy notion of moving the screen around atop the stencil – having taped the stencil to the fabric. Of course wet screens want to stick to newly printed, wet fabric!
Furthermore, the reason why I made such an attempt, was that I found that stenciling the "traditional" way (with a stencil brush or sponge) was pushing and thus warping the cotton knit, and then warping the pre-cut garment piece. I realize that I could probably print the entire piece of fabric, fix the paint, then wash and dry the fabric in order for the knit to get back in shape before cutting the garment but that is just too much extra work!
In any case, thanks for your feedback. I am reassessing the fabric paint as suspect it was too thick for the screen mesh – in addition to the problems described above. By the way, since you have taken a silk screen course (and have shared a clever way of registering on fabric – thank you!), were you taught to "flood the screen" prior to your first pull AND to flood between each pull (printing)? Makes for less rushing and fearing that the screen will get clogged from ink drying out but the downside is not being able to "eyeball" loose repeats. Just putting it out there.
Thank you, again for sharing all your wonderful knowledge. Maybe some of your readers who are new to A.C. stencils and the vagaries of silk screening can learn from my loopy mistakes?!? However, I suspect all of you are way ahead of the game. ;D
I'm really curious to see the technique you use for embroidering this beautiful stencil! I'll have to investigate about screen printing because I don't really understand what it involves:) I have just finished embroidering the four panels of my skirt, I now have to assembled everything. I deliberately used a wider seam allowance, 6 mm is already too narrow for a basic seam and I plan to do a felled seam!