Anna's Garden throw pillow

I sewed three seams with a running stitch and a french seam.  After filling the pillow, I folded both edges under and sewed a running stitch to close it. I like how it worked. 

On the left above  is the french seam and the edge on the right is my last seam folded under. Below is another close up of the fourth seam.

I don't notice my paint issue now at all. 

But I'm not that happy with how the thin fabric curls on the applique pieces.  I won't be using this technique again with this fabric.  The stitching takes too much time not to use good, thick fabric.  If I use jersey that's this thin again I doubt I will do any type of cutwork.  Good to know. 

Hiding stencil bleed with negative reverse applique

The cutwork for the second pillow panel is done now and the paint that was outside the lines is definitely less obvious. 

Here's the painted fabric half sewed:

Even just the sewing hid the paint outside the lines some:

Here's my post on the first panel after it was complete.

Cutwork: Anna's Garden stencil pillow

I've cut the negative reverse applique for my first pillow panel - most of the brown top layer.  Here's my post on how it looked right before the cutwork. 

pillow panel one, Alabama Chanin style

Cut two panels and stitched one for an Alabama Chanin style pillow today.  The next step is to cut away all the brown fabric except for an outline of the shape.  That's negative reverse appliqué.  And then I'll repeat for the second panel.

I painted this test fabric swatch around a year ago when I was making the swing skirt for my mother.  Because I watered down the paint, some of it bled outside the lines of the stencil and I'm hoping that the negative reverse appliqué technique will minimize that effect.   The paint bled more on my other panel, I'll post it once I make some more progress. 

Doily Alabama Chanin style

Embroidery takes just a little more energy and focus than knitting hexipuffs.  Just finished up this Alabama Chanin style doily I started a couple months ago.  The last step is embroidering the center.

The instructions for this doily are in Alabama Studio Style and I usually follow them, but this time I did the steps in a different order and it was easier for me.  Before embroidering the petals, I constructed the doily. Much, much easier and enjoyable that way because you can see how the doily looks as a whole while you are making it. 

Also, I saw the movie based on the Marjane Satrapi book, Chicken with Plums.  It is really charming and a great story.  I think it's one of my favorite movies. 

Beaded Alabama Chanin style cardigan: Christmas pics

The cardigan fit.   I'm so glad.  Mrs. Love loved it.  She said she didn't want to take it off.  But it was 80 degrees! (On Christmas Day in Hamburg, Al [between Marion and Selma]). 

Beaded cardigan Alabama Chanin style

Really pleased with how this turned out.  

There are about 10,000 beads here.  It's so sparkly. The dark gray Alabama Chanin glass beads from Czechoslovakia are so nice.  

I enjoyed every step of this project from painting to stitching to cutting the reverse appliqué to beading to construction and adding the binding.  

Glad I bought the pieces of organic cotton jersey fabric already cut from Alabama Chanin.  

My side seams are floating on the inside while the shoulder seams are top stitched.  Maybe the non-uniformity of the seams is a flaw but I hope it just adds character. 

This is a gift for my boyfriend Sloan's mother.  I know she'll enjoy wearing it around Marion, Al where she lives.  She has already told the woman at the bank that soon she is going to come in wearing a jacket that will knock your eyes out! So funny.  

Beaded Alabama Chanin short coat: front panel

One more front panel piece to go! 

Beaded Alabama Chanin style short coat in progress

I've almost used all of a package of 5,175 glass chop beads on the back and one sleeve of this Alabama Chanin style short coat/cardigan I'm making.  The beading goes faster than you would think.

Corset tank, Alabama Chanin style

Finished sewing an Alabama Chanin style corset tank this morning.  I used up some leftover t-shirts.

Alabama Chanin short coat in progress

 

Back piece is painted, straight stitched and reverse appliqué cut work is done.  Sleeve is painted & stitched. 

Alabama Chanin style DIY swing skirt & how to unclog spray glue

This skirt I just completed and gave to my mother was in the works for about the last six months. 

I started from the very beginning on a family trip to Appalachicola, Fl last Thanksgiving. First step was cutting an Anna's Garden stencil from pennant felt.  

When I went to adhere the paper printout of the stencil to the felt as a cutting guide, to my dismay, my spray glue nozzle was clogged.  

I googled places nearby to buy turpentine so I could unclog and use my glue and get going with my project. 

To my surprise, I found out that the neighborhood we were actually staying in right next door to Appalachicola, Indian Pass, happened to be the main place in the country where turpentine used to be produced when it was made in the US.  It's made from pine trees.  What a coincidence! 

I was then at the same time amused and kind of more frustrated that I couldn't find anywhere in the area that sells turpentine now. 

Happy ending was, after more researching, it turned out I didn't need turpentine after all.  My family of diet coke drinkers were skeptical, but I soaked the nozzle of the spray glue in Diet Coke for about an hour and worked out the clog with the point of a straight pin.

If you need to dissolve or clean something, think about using Diet Coke. Its acid breaks down kind of a lot of things. 

This skirt is based on the Alabama Chanin pattern size xl.  I used lightweight cotton jersey. 

Alabama Chanin Style DIY t-shirt

And an embroidery sampler for practicing my stitches for the neckline binding on the shirt. 

I used some lightweight cotton jersey and gave the shirt to my mom for Mother's Day.