The Adventure Begins.....

Ever since I discovered Alabama Chanin, I have been in love with the look -- all the embroidery and embellishment.  I have purchased all the books and read each one.  However, I have never had the courage to attempt something in this style.  Folks, this is changing!  In December, I purchased "The Swing Skirt Techniques & Construction" class at Craftsy.  I am going to do this and with luck, in the end it will fit.  The class includes the pattern and the stencil.

Today, I decided to start my journey by doing a couple of samples.  I copied the following stencil from the Alabama Stitch Book:

It is the Bloomers allover stencil.  This will allow me to create a sample which I can test the felt that I'm using and practice the technique with a spray can of fabric paint (Tulip Color Shot).  I have no idea how this is going to turn out but I'm hoping that it will be fun.  Now, I just need to locate some excess jersey to play with.  I know that there is some in the stash because I saw it not long ago.

The felt is an unknown.  It was something that I found in the stash that seemed like it might be stiff enough to handle the stenciling. The only thing I know about it is that it is wool.  There is a big difference in wool felt and felted wool.  Time will tell if this little stencil will hold up.  If it doesn't, does anyone know when I can purchase stencil plastic at a good price?  I don't believe that I have a lot of resources locally but I am near a very large university and there might be something available there.

Here's the jersey samples from my scraps:

Here's my first attempt:

I didn't exactly follow directions which stated to do this in light coats.  I did one rather heavy coat and decided that I liked the color saturation.   At first glance, the stencil is holding up.  Here's after 30 min:

I'm completely happy with the color of the paint.  However, the design itself is a little smeared.  The felt definitely lifted a bit when spraying it.  This will be good enough to practice.  I can say with confidence that if I had done this on the actual project, there would have been tears.

I was very surprised at how quick I was able to get this outlined.  Granted it isn't large but still it was done in about an hour. Of course, that gives you an idea of how long a whole garment would take to complete.  I used regular sewing thread for the sample.  The recommended thread would be much more noticeable.

I checked the back when finished to see how I had done grabbing both layers of fabric.  I thought it looked pretty good.

Here is the finished product.  I'm happy with my very first sample of this technique. In real life, I would never have combined these two colors but I like the way it looks.  Maybe I will try a t-shirt before starting the skirt to practice a little bit.  What do you think?

A slightly different view of the sample.  I realized that I had not trimmed enough away on the applique.  I think it looks a wee bit better.

Have you tried any of the techniques in Alabama Chanin books?  How did it turn out for you?  What paint did you use?  What technique did you use to apply the stencil?   As you can, see I have a ton of questions.


Happy Stitching!