Skirt, DIY Alabama Chanin, made by Tracey

DIY Kit, Swing Skirt, Bloomers Stencil

Fabric, Alabama Chanin Organic Medium Weight Cotton Jersey in Earth

Top, Sleeveless Shell by A. Chanin

Skirt, DIY Alabama Chanin, made by Tracey

DIY Kit, Swing Skirt, Rose Stencil

Fabric, Alabama Chanin Organic Medium Weight Cotton Jersey in Camel and Taupe

Top, Long Sleeve Raglan by A. Chanin

Photography by Santiago Vanegas

Hi Everyone!  Welcome back.  As promised, two skirts to finish off our Alabama Chanin month at Featherstitch Avenue.  I think it’s probably fitting that we end with the first two Alabama Chanin garments I ever made.  The rose skirt (the second one pictured) was started at my first workshop with Natalie Chanin.  Natalie and I discussed modifying their original design to incorporate more than one technique and that the skirt would act as a kind of sampler.  (The original design was done in appliqué with beads.)  In my case, I used appliqué on the roses and reverse appliqué on the stems and leaves.  I sewed clear beads on select areas as a kind of highlight to the rose petals.

For the bloomers skirt, I used only reverse appliqué. I chose to make my knots on the outside of the garment to give the skirt a more fringy feel. Both skirts have an elastic waistband in a coordinating color (included with the kits).  I simply folded the elastic strip over the top of the skirt and hand stitched it down using a herringbone stitch.  I provided a link to the Alabama Chanin page of available kits above (or you can click here).  These two skirts are older designs, but if you want these exact styles, go to the Custom DIY (here) section to build your own kit.

Both of the tops are from Natalie’s machine made line A. Chanin.  These tops were purchased and not made by me, but they go perfectly with these skirts and I wear them constantly.

We can’t finish out this month without mentioning Natalie’s new book Alabama Chanin Sewing Patterns.  I have been obsessively reading and re-reading it.  And my mind is all abuzz with ideas on how to customize the new A-Line dress and the wrap skirt patterns.  Now if I can just find the time to manifest some of these ideas!!

I also want to say a very big thank you to Sarah at Goodbye Valentino for her very gracious introduction of our blog to her readers.  If you are new to Featherstitch Avenue, I am so glad you’re here!

Don’t forget to check out our Featherstitch Avenue Instagram.  I post more detailed photos there.  And our Facebook page has some extra content too.  We occassionally post time lapse videos of our photo shoots in progress.  So if you are curious about how we work, be sure to check those out.

Have a wonderful Fourth of July!  I’ll have a new dress to show you soon.  My injuries have healed and I’m back in the sewing business!  Wahoo!