The Start of an Alabama Studio Style Camisole Dress

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I have been romanced by the Alabama Chanin books. I can’t remember why I checked the first one out from my library: if I went looking for it because of a photo I saw online, or if I just happened upon it. But for years now I have checked these books out regularly, completely consumed by them every time I flip through. I have been wanting to try the method: working with stretchy cotton jersey, hand stitching seams and binding, embellishing the fabric with reverse appliqué or couching. Finally this last time I took the books out I decided to just start the project. It did all seem daunting, especially because I think I was about 37 weeks pregnant when I ordered all the supplies, thinking that I would have the fabric all painted and set up for mindless hand-stitching by the time the baby arrived. Of course not!

First thing was to come up with my project plan. I decided on a dress from the studio’s 29th collection as my inspiration and starting point. The most similar dress pattern in the books is called The Camisole Dress, which is a little simpler than the inspiration dress, perfect. I will be using the Magdalena Stencil. Both the dress pattern and the stencil can be found in the book Alabama Studio Sewing Patterns. The book comes with everything on a CD, so I downloaded what I needed and sent the sewing pattern off to Sew YYZ to be printed to scale (she does this for $5!), and I printed the stencil on card-stock using my home printer. My printer at home can print larger 13”x19” paper, and the card stock was perfect because I could just cut the stencil out directly using a utility knife and I was ready to paint. Although I did simplify the stencil a little before printing, so that I would have less to cut and an easier time embellishing.

I live in Canada, so ordering materials from the studio was just not really an option for my budget after I worked out the cost with shipping and duties. I luckily have access to the books from my library, so that helps with the cost of the pattern & stencil. I wanted to find a source for similar fabric on this side of the border, and places around my own city for getting most of the other supplies I needed. My main priority for matching the fabric was to find one with a similar weight. I couldn’t find anything in a similar range of colours, but I did find a perfect jersey that came un-dyed. This 200 GSM organic cotton jersey from Montloup is what I went with. It is such a beautiful heavy jersey, it just added the extra step to my project of dyeing the fabric.

For fabric dye I decided to go with Jacquard Procion MX Fabric Dye. From everything I read online, this is a great colourfast and lightfast option. This was actually quite a stressful part of the prep work for this project. I was trying to mimic the inspiration dress I had saved, so I was mixing dye colours and then trying to over-dye when it didn’t turn out quite right. I was also trying to dye 6 yards of the jersey (3 for the lining and 3 for the main layer), which got heavy! I ended up with a green and a sort of dull mustard yellow, and decided to use the green as my main fabric and stray from my inspiration photo a little bit. The dull mustard yellow will be the lining of the dress.

For fabric paint I chose the Pebeo Setacolor Opaque fabric paints. I created a custom blend out of white, brown, olive green, and buttercup. I was really happy with this and the subtle look of it on the green fabric. I did a couple swatches with the paint and after a lot of frustration with spray bottles I had success with a simple craft sponge! This part of the project felt like the biggest hurdle to me. Once I got a swatch I liked with a method I could handle I felt so much better about everything. I could finally start what I knew would be my favourite part, the actual sewing!

I tried a couple different techniques on my dress swatch. I am pretty set on using couching as my embellishment method, so I tried out different threads, and using chain stitch on the smaller elements of the stencil. The Alabama Studio books recommend using 1/2” strips of jersey for the couching but I preferred the look of thinner 1/4” strips. I also decided to use DMC #829 cotton floss to stitch the couching strips down, using 3 out of the 6 strands of thread. I tested one seam on my swatch and then bound the entire thing the way that the neck hole and arm holes of the dress will be bound. For the binding I preferred the look of 1” binding strips, but otherwise I did the seams and the binding as the book instructs. I’m not sure if I will end up cutting out the middle of the leaves to expose the lining fabric, but I do like the look of it on the swatch so that’s an option!

I absolutely love this swatch. It has such a nice weight and handle to it and I am so excited to finally be getting started on this dress. As I write this I have already cut out all my dress pieces, painted the design on them, and basted the main fabric to the lining. I have just started on all the couching and it is exactly the time-consuming sewing project I was excited about. I will share more soon!

DIY Quilted Baby Playmat

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I sewed up this easy baby playmat over the last couple days and I want to tell you about how I made it. Such a practical project, I throw this mat down in whatever room I’m in and let baby kick around on in. You can make it as thick or thin as you like, and I even made one side of mine using a water resistant material so I can use it outside in the grass as well.

I wanted to make this project using things I already had around the house, and besides the thread it is completely made out of recycled materials! The raspberry printed flannel is actually cut from an old sheet, and the ‘batting’ is two layers of a throw blanket that I’ve owned for over a decade and I was about to get rid of. The green checkerboard side is pieced together using a rain coat I cut up. I bought the rain coat last year from the thrift store and when I wore it in the rain last week I quickly learned it was not very waterproof! I felt bad even donating it back to the thrift store because I didn’t want anyone else spending their money on it and getting tricked. So I cut it up into as many 3.5” squares as I could and pieced those squares into a big rectangle. This way I could use as much of the coat as possible, cutting squares from the sleeves, pockets, and hood. I even harvested the zipper to use in another project in the future. The way I was able to make the checkerboard design was by flipping half of the squares upside down. The backside of the fabric was slightly darker then the front side and I wanted to make use of that in the design.

The binding of this play mat is made from cotton jersey. I am working on an Alabama Chanin style dress and had some leftover jersey fabric after cutting out the pattern pieces. I cut 3.5” strips on the cross grain and pieced them together to make one long strip, which I attached the same way you would attach regular binding to a quilt. I love that it is a little softer than using quilting cotton. I cut such a wide strip because I wanted a nice thick border around the play mat, I think the green compliments both sides nicely.

As for quilting: I did attempt to quilt this in my sewing machine and it was such a failure! I wanted this mat to be nice and thick so there is no way I could get it through my machine, even using a walking foot. So instead I used the knotted method of quilting, which is to use thread to tie a knot through all of the layers of the quilt at regular intervals. You can see the tails of the knots on one side of the quilt so I chose to have them on the water resistant piecework side, in between each square of the checkerboard. I used a cotton Sashiko thread (affiliate link) to tie my knots. I think this method works so well for a play mat! The knots are a cute design feature, it works well on extra thick quilts, and it is so quick to do.

You can of course make this playmat any size you like! The size of mine was completely based on the blanket and fabric I had available to use. For reference mine measures 27” x 32”. I recommend cutting your top piece to the size you want your mat, and then if you can, cut your batting/blanket and your backing fabric a little bigger. Things will shift around a little bit as you tie the layers together, so it’s nice to have some extra room for that. Then, before binding, you can trim the batting and backing fabric down so that the edges all line up perfectly. Then add your desired binding! The knotting method of quilting makes this project so easy, and it’s such a great way to use up fabric you already have!

A Handmade "Baby’s First Christmas" Ornament

An Attelier Pippalotta Kit Review

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When I was pregnant with my son Josey I was so excited to work on a couple baby related crafts. I decided to add his first Christmas ornament onto the project list because I wanted to make sure I made something for him a little more permanent than the baby clothes I knew he would very quickly grow out of. This craft got me so excited for his arrival and I had so much fun making it! It was a great way to learn some basic Waldorf Doll making techniques as well. I can’t wait to use the skills I learned from this kit to make more ornaments from my own ideas. Maybe a little character made custom to his interests each year.

This is the “Forest Gnome Baby” Attelier Pippalotta kit and even though I’ve never made a doll like this before I found it pretty straightforward! I do have basic hand sewing skills, so I think if this was your first time ever sewing you might have a more difficult time following along. I stitched the baby exactly as instructed and only made a couple modifications to the leaf bed. I cut a second leaf out of felt from my stash and blanket stitched the two layers together so the bed would be sturdier. I stitched the design on the leaf using chain stitch which I prefer the look of to the more basic back stitch. I also added two cords for hanging so that the bed would hang in the tree like a cute little hammock.

We didn’t decide on a baby name until we met our son at the end of May, so I waited to stitch the tag on the back of the ornament until just now, about three months after his birth. For the embroidered tag I used a washable sewn-on interfacing. So easy to draw my design on with pencil, I stitched it onto the felt with big basting stitches, and then a quick rinse after stitching and it’s gone. Starting this project so early in the year made it easy to get it all done in time for Christmas! Now let’s see if I can get some sort of Halloween costume made in time for his first Halloween. Maybe I should have started with that!

Some Helpful Links:

English language Attelier Pippalotta kits: Bear Dance Crafts

Interfacing: Water Soluble Stabilizer (affiliate link)

A Quilted Fanny Pack from Scraps

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My first big project post-baby is finished! I have seen so many bags and coats around Instagram made from recycled old quilts and I love the look. I always check the thift store bedding section for pretty quilts that have seen better days but I never really find anything in colours that I like, so I decided to do my own piecework and quilting to make this project. And I think it’s giving vintage vibes! It was also a great project to use up leftover scraps I had in my stash.

I was so motivated to get this project finished quickly because I felt like it would fit so perfectly into my life as a new Mom. I just had my first baby and getting out of the house each day has been so important for my sanity. The only thing that holds me back when my husband isn’t home is that we live in a walk-up apartment, a.k.a. no elevator to get the stroller downstairs! So I have been getting comfortable with baby-wearing, and I thought how great would it be to make going on a walk completely hands free with a wearable diaper bag. So this fanny pack is designed to be my essential diaper bag for short walks around the neighbourhood. It doesn’t have room for everything our main diaper bag has packed, but it fits a couple diapers, wipes, a nursing cover, and a spit cloth. I feel pretty good leaving for a couple hours with the baby and the pup knowing I have the basics packed.

I designed the pattern for the fanny pack (also sometimes called a bum bag, cute!) myself. I planned for a bag that was a little bigger than most fanny packs to comfortably fit the diapers and wipes. I tried to be so meticulous when making the pattern but in the end my numbers were off and I had to sort of fudge it anyways. The bag ended up being an inch shorter then planned, but it still fits what I need it to. Kudo’s to all those bag pattern designers out there! Getting it perfect is tough.

I won’t be sharing the pattern because like I mentioned the numbers weren’t quite right, but I’ll share the basic process I used and you could probably use this process with another fanny pack pattern. For each pattern piece I cut three pieces: an outer piece, a batting piece, and a lining piece. For the front and side pieces I used a quilt block pattern, and then cut the finished piecework down to size. The quilt block pattern I used is called the honeymoon square, and you can find free instructions for it here. After cutting the three pieces out I would make a quilt sandwich and use a simple running stitch with thicker thread to hand quilt them together. Going back I would make each piece slightly bigger then needed and then trim them down to size after quilting, because the quilting scews the pieces a little. I also wish I would have added a layer of interfacing to each quilt sandwich, to give the bag a bit more structure. A note on the zippers: I inserted these in the usual way before making the quilt sandwich for that correponding piece. Once I had all my quilt sandwiches ready I assembled the bag, and finished the seams on the inside with some colourful binding. I love the inside of this bag just as much as the outside because of this beautiful finish!

The bag was made completely with things I had in my stash so I don’t have too many links for you. The fabric is mostly linen scraps I had from Maiwa, some of it naturally dyed by me for earlier projects. The floral fabric is a Liberty Tana Lawn I have lined up for another project, so I snuck a little bit from that. The cotton quilt batting (affiliate link) was extra from my Tamarack jacket project (a 2017 project!). As for the hardware I had the zippers, webbing, and buckle in my stash. I usually pick these types of things up from Dressew, which is a sewing store in my city.

This was the absolute perfect first project for me, as it has fit right into my life and made this one aspect of motherhood a breeze! For the moment I am not even using a purse, it’s just a fanny pack everyday for me for the foreseeable future. And I’m not mad about it!

An Up-cycled Dinosaur Embroidered Baby Shirt

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My first make for our coming baby boy! Right away when friends and family started finding out that we were expecting I started getting asked if I I’m planning on making all of my baby’s clothes, and I always have to answer that I’m definitely not! I spend so much time on each piece that I make, so I end up only completing a handful of projects a year, and that just won’t work for a growing baby. But I have been excited to make a couple special things to welcome him into the world. It’s one of the things that has been helping me to relax and prepare mentally.

So my first make has been a little butter yellow henley style t-shirt, embroidered with the sweetest little dinosaurs. The fabric I used is from a shirt I thrifted a few months ago that I didn’t love the fit of. Unfortunately the thrift store near me decided to permanently keep their change rooms closed after they closed them in 2020, and sometimes it’s hard to get the sense of how something will fit by just holding it up. I missed the exchange period and so I wanted to upcycle the shirt into something I would get to use. The fabric is a linen rayon blend, it’s very soft, and it was just enough to cut a baby shirt from.

I used a PDF pattern I found on Etsy: the Miguel Shirt from a shop called costurinha sewing patterns. The pattern includes a long and short sleeve option, and sizes for baby’s and kids. I made this one in the smallest size, the 3 month size, but I’m hoping to get some more use from this pattern in the future. I think a colour-blocked version of it would be really fun as well. The only change I ended up making to the pattern was to add a seam down the back piece. I was using that shirt I thrifted, so I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the entire back piece as one, but I actually love the seam. I don’t think it looks out of place at all and it was what got me thinking about that colour-blocked version.

The dinosaur embroidery pattern is from the Love Embroidery magazine, originally printed in issue 15, but after that issue they added it to their free pattern archive online. I’ll link to the pattern below, which is a design for the magazine by Jessie Newton. It was such a quick and easy one for such a cute touch to this shirt. I used one of my favourite methods for transferring the pattern: I traced it with pencil onto some water soluble sew-on interfacing (affiliate link), and then basted that interfacing onto the shirt before stitching. The interfacing just rinses away when you are done stitching.

I ironed this little shirt before taking these pictures but honestly that will be the last time this ever gets ironed. It was so finicky of course! And really I think with linen wrinkles are just a part of the look. I’ve linked everything relevant below, and I can’t wait to share a photo of my little one wearing this when he arrives!

Links:

Miguel Shirt Pattern: costurinha sewing patterns

Little Dinosaurs Embroidery Pattern by Jessie Newton: Love Embroidery Magazine

Wash-away sew-on interfacing (affiliate link)