2018 was my year for writing. Portable and kept me focused through hubby’s cancer treatments and healing. Then I lost the whole ball of wax (all 50K almost finished novel and all my other writing – but at least I had copies of the 100 poems in 100 days) to a water spill. That’s life. And life has sure had its way the past too years.
At the end of last year I was lucky to enroll in a private on-line class with Carol Wiebe of Cawstruck Studios.
Carol is teaching simple, hand-made clothing, stenciled (she makes her own and sell them), painted, surface-stitched. Her focus is on tunics, which I don’t wear so I’ve been incorporating her teachings on my jeans, a large tshirt made into a vest, an old quilt that needs restitching (because I never quilted it properly and of course the seams are pulling now), and soon on a simple jacket which will be my go-to pattern for simply made clothing. I hope to cut it out today. I want to dye the liner which is white on white cotton material and should be fun (natural dye – and no I’ve never done that).
Several months of hanging around with a bunch of very talented women has introduced me to lots of inspiration, and the greatest is an introduction to Alabama Chanin (Natalie Chanin’s company). All of her clothes (and they are *pricey*) are organic cotton, handstitiched. But she comes across as down home (Alabama is home), where she has taken up the slack of the loss of manufacturing with a cottage industry that honors simplicity and creativity.
So if you don’t know her, check out:
The Modern Natural Dyer Work-Along: Depth, Texture, and Layers of Natrurally-Dyed Color with Alabama Chanin
Alabama Chanin’s website
Alabama Chanin – slow design and sustainability
(that last one has a great Vimeo where Natalie shares her business philosophy. She’s amazing!)
And here’s a collection of her work on my Alabama Chanin Pinterest Board.
I have plans for the year, including the quilt I mentioned above – made from jeans that were embroidered in the 60s and 70s, and not quilted, just somewhat basted, it’s now falling apart. And the perfect place to practice Alabama Chanin type stitches.
I’ll keep you posted on how this all works. Enjoy exploring!
3 Comments
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Thank you, Carol. I stand in awe of your creativity!
Tammy, thanks so much for this. I am grateful for your vibrant presence in this class . Your creativity, expressed through your mind and your hands, are a;ways appreciated!
oh – you hadn’t heard about the novel yet. Yes. Stunned. Can’t seem to get myself to a store anywhere that might be able to get it out (I think just the start up was messed up. somewhere inside I”m hoping that the story is sitting waiting to be put into a different computer and downloaded). I was going to print it out the very next day. And it worked just after the spill – had I know I could have saved it to the *outboard drive in the computer* for backup. All on me.
and yes – I’m totally enjoying the textile thing. It’s a return with new eyes and ideas. 😊
What a brilliant idea to start up that cottage industry! You love textiles and texture and this seems like such a good fit.
But–lost your entire novel–awk! What a shock! Stunned would probably be a better word. 🙁