Alabama Stitchin'

I've always been afraid of hand sewing. My mom taught me the basics when I was a young kid, but it never felt sturdy enough. I was always afraid that whatever I was making was going to fall apart if it wasn't machine stitched. Then last week I stumbled on a blog post that talked about the amazing new book by Natalie Chanin called "The Alabama Stitch Book - Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand Sewing, Quilting, and Emboidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style."



This is an amazing piece of writing and teaching. Natalie uses only thrift store t-shirts in all of the creations in her book. There is a quilt, several skirts (that I MUST MAKE!), flowers, a tablecloth and various other interesting garments. All made out of soft and worn vintage t-shirts!

She celebrates the history of using what one has, or reusing something to create something beautiful. I am crazy about this book!

My first project celebrates the same idea - some old t-shirts turned into something new for a recycled dog. (Recycled dog = a dog someone else didn't want. It becomes recycled when someone else does!)

The first step was to create a stencil. I used the computer to lay out a page full of puppy paws. Using an x-acto knife I cut the stencil out.



Cutting two triangles from old t-shirts, I placed the stencil over the smaller triangle and spray painted the pattern onto the fabric.



Next, I pinned the two triangles together, and with a running stitch, outlined every element of the stencil. I used a contrasting thread to make the stitches pop out. After all the stitching was finished, I used embroidery scissors to cut away the inside of each paw print.



The final step was to embroider the edges of the inner triangle and present it to it's new owner! I think she looks pretty good!



Now, to make one for the newest recycled dog in our lives. . .