playing with dye

Have you ever used dye before? It was quite fun to drop it into the bucket of water and watch it disperse and dissolve. If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you might remember that I am equally fascinated with cream being dropped into a cup of tea. I wonder if I could ever replicate that effect on or with fabric? Like a billowy silk gown that flutters and swirls when the model walks?

Anyway, here’s my tunic tank top dipped in a stainless steel pot typically used by my hubby for making pasta or soup. Said pot was very excited to be included in a sewing project, as said pot sometimes dreams of exploring other careers.

I wanted an ombre effect on my tank. It didn’t quite turn out the way I had planned it, but when you’re making an Alabama Chanin project, you go with the flow and you let the garment do what it’s going to do. I think the same can be said for dye-jobs. You’re not completely in charge. The materials are going to have an opinion of their own, and you have to learn to respect that and work alongside the materials instead of trying to be the task-master.

That being said, when I first followed the instructions for dyeing (dip it for 30 seconds), the dye job was waaaaay too pale, especially after I cold-rinsed it. Barely visible, I mean. I dipped it again. Still too pale. After dipping it several times, I decided to jerry-rig a spot to hang the garment in the bucket overnight. After about 12 hours, the dye had reached a desirable shade (though still not as dark as I had originally envisioned).

It still doesn’t fade up quite like ombre. However, I’m completely happy with it, and will simply have to do more dye jobs in the future if I want to accomplish a true ombre effect. While I was at it, I also dyed a pillowcase and a scrap of fabric I had turned into an infinity scarf. The scarf had lain in the bottom of a drawer for a long time, because the fabric doesn’t have the right drape (just doesn’t look right when it’s on me), and because it was just boring white cheap cotton. I got a really nice ombre effect on the scarf, and decided to use it as a decoration when styling purse shots:

Nowadays, it’s a home-dec item tied onto the standard, boring chandelier in our dining room. Someday we’ll have a stunning fixture there, but for now I like how the scarf gave it just the right touch of personality.

me want honeycomb

I don’t think I’ve ever done this before: posted older shots of a garment after I’ve already posted the finished product. Ever since school (where I’m a teacher) and fashion school (where I’m a student) started up, my blogging habits have been completely thrown for a loop. Cats sleeping with dogs, lions sleeping with lambs, it’s crazy.

If you look carefully you’ll see in these shots that I had not yet added the bias strip along the hem.

This was the step where I bound the arm and neckholes with self-made bias strips. (They lay much flatter after I pressed them.)

Because I decided to forego hand-stitching (life’s too short), I wanted to use some other cool stitching technique on my machine, so I played around with combining multiple stitches. I used a zigzag stitch first (#2 on Sweet B), then did straight stitches on either side of the zigzags. The effect turned out sort of like a honeycomb stitch, which I’m quite pleased with.

now i become myself

Music by Tycho

Poem, “Now I Become Myself,” by May Sarton
Sculpture Echo by Jaume Plense
Tunic tank top, self-made and hand-dyed, from Alabama Chanin

Now I become myself. It’s taken
Time, many years and places;
I have been dissolved and shaken,
Worn other people’s faces,
Run madly, as if Time were there,
Terribly old, crying a warning,
“Hurry, you will be dead before–”
(What? Before you reach the morning?
Or the end of the poem is clear?
Or love safe in the walled city?)

Now to stand still, to be here,
Feel my own weight and density!

The black shadow on the paper
Is my hand; the shadow of a word
As thought shapes the shaper
Falls heavy on the page, is heard.

All fuses now, falls into place
From wish to action, word to silence,
My work, my love, my time, my face
Gathered into one intense
Gesture of growing like a plant.

As slowly as the ripening fruit
Fertile, detached, and always spent,
Falls but does not exhaust the root,
So all the poem is, can give,
Grows in me to become the song,
Made so and rooted so by love.

Now there is time and Time is young.

O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move.

I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!

“mistakes,” versus “design choices”

 My next Alabama Chanin project has begun.

I’ve traced the patterns and cut out my fabric pieces, for a tank-top tunic.

I made a mistake by not combining the skirt/peplum portion of the pattern to the top portion. It’s all supposed to be continuous, like this:

But instead there will be a seam between the top and bottom portions.

NOT a big problem.

One of those mistakes I’m going to refer to as an “intentional design choice.”

Uh, yeah, that’s it, it was intentional.

i’m feeling pretty good about nettie

 

I am moving right along on the Nettie bodysuit!

The instructions are thorough, and the project is surprisingly easy.

 

I made quarter marks along the leg openings…

…then stitched the leg binding on.

I swear I am not making a onesie for myself.

Once the binding was one, I folded it over to the wrong side and top-stitched using my new twin needle.

Yep, still excited about my new twin needle.

 

That looks pretty darn snazzy if I do say so myself!

I am getting very close to a finished product here. Next stop: snap crotch!

guys! i used a twin needle!

 Working on the neck for my Nettie!

I made quarter marks for the neck opening…

…then used the same quarter marks I made on the bindings to line the binding up with the neckhole. Then I pinned the heck out of it, ‘cuz it’s curves!

Here it is stitched and pressed…

…and here it is 3-dimensional.

 Doesn’t it look like a real t-shirt neckline? I’m so excited! I used a twin needle for the top-stitching. I’ve never used a twin needle before. (I feel so knowledgeable when I try something new!)

I’ll be washing the pink marks off later, don’t worry! I have two sewing markers, both of which look the same. One fades after a few minutes, one stays until you wash it. I prefer to use the fade-away marker, but I can never remember which one it is because the markers look so similar!

Hm…writing that out, I realized there’s a very simple solution to that problem: write “Fade-Away” on one of the markers with Sharpie. DUH!

This is why I love blogging, because as I write things out I realize I could, possibly, get out of my paradigm.

shouldering ahead

Working on the shoulders for the Nettie!

Step 1: Stitch stay-tape onto the shoulder seams so they won’t stretch too much.

 Step 2: Stitch the shoulders together, right sides together. Ooh, it’s so exciting when it starts to look like a wearable thing!

The neckhole seems frighteningly small; I put the shirt on over my head and it was a bit of a tight squeeze. Also, annoyingly, I got makeup on the neckline. Classic me!

We’ll see how it all turns out.

the nettie has begun!

Step 1: Stitching the ends, right sides together.

 

Step 2: Pressing the seam.

Step 3: Folding the binding and pressing.

Step 4. Went with the optional basting stitch since the neckline fabric was rolling big-time.

Step 5: Marked the quarters of the neckline binding.

 

Step 6: Marked the quarters on the leg bindings.

First little phase complete!

making the cut

I’ve cut my pieces for my Nettie bodysuit!

As you can see, I’ve gone with a plain, white jersey, so that I can make the t-shirt pictured below (the one with the Peter Pan collar and plackets).