My First Alabama Chanin Corset

Well, I nearly forgot how to blog but a new comment popped up a couple of week ago hoping for a pic of the finished corset I handpainted with brown paint and a sponge several years ago, so I decided to add a pic and couldn't put it in the comments, thus a new post! Not sure where you found me, Vivine, but thanks for reading!

And this reminds me that I went with 2 of my sewing buddies, the electrophysiologist and the retinal specialist, to Alabama Chanin in September for the sewing weekend of a lifetime! Alas, I don't have the cable to upload the pics and have no idea where they're stored on the computer, if they even went to the Cloud....oh wait I found one that AC emailed me. This is the famous music studio we toured in Muscle Shoals:

We did our social distancing part and wore masks while sewing in the Factory, and an aMAZing time was had by all - I'll have to do a better post on the restaurants, the Gun-Runner Hotel which is a post unto itself, and seeing Natalie at dinner that last night at Odette's. Such good times. Anyhoo, I'll be back soon hopefully with catch-up pics of life, Hurricane Sally and its damage to the beach house where we have our own once-in-a-lifetime sewing weekends, etc. Have a good holiday!

GCGSW #7 - the Weekend in Pictures

This was the first time EVERYONE came on Friday, and it was glorious! First because I normally go there and do a marathon cleaning session by myself, eating a solitary dinner on the porch and anxiously awaiting everyone Saturday morning. This time I cleaned the weekend before. Second is that everybody packs tons of stuff and we haul it inside with a couple of trips (or more in some cases), then load it right back up 24 hours later, which I've always thought was somewhat unsatisfactory. Thirdly, it's been frozen pizza in the past on Friday night, but with the whole entourage came a real dinner - Heidi's lasagna rollups!

And Nancy brought the most interesting cookies from Whole Foods, I believe - yum!

This was Edith's breakfast burrito, equally yummy! Did I mention that I've gained 5 pounds recently somehow?

The group has grown to 10 now, though Katrina couldn't make it, so we had to share cutting space...

and add another sewing station, which worked out well.

And between Yaffa and Trinh I think there were 4 machines, might've been 5.

Now this is Yaffa's multi-year project that she finally finished and brought to show off. There were multiple attempts to steal it, but I think she still went home with it.

Our newbie this year is Stephanie, who has never sewn in her life but is set on making an Alabama Chanin floor length skirt with corset top. I'm trying to finish that second hand-painted sock, and unknit as much as I knit, but progress was eventually made.

Lunch break was Becky's delicious shrimp and grits - mmmm, gouda grits.

Another shot of the sweatshop.

Nancy poses with her tablecloth made from fabric from 2 different countries, if I remember correctly - very exotic, like Nancy!

Robbie shows off her bathing suit coverup she whipped together from vintage lace napkins and tablecloths - clever!

Saturday afternoon snack break with deviled eggs topped with caviar - what?!

And the charcuterie and cheese trays were amazing. I must admit that I fell down as a hostess and didn't realize we were out of rum. Katrina is our usual bartender and would've never let that happen!

Edith made something like 8 or 9 prayer veils...

plus used a knitting machine type thing...

to whip out this beautiful wrap.

Trinh made several baby bibs and tried out her embroidery skills.

Ummmm, some type of yoga maneuver after Heidi's white chicken chili...don't quite remember what that was about.

I successfully put together Trinh's bagel and lox bar for Sunday breakfast, even safely slicing tomatoes and onions with nary an injury!

I call this Fashionable Jesus - another bathing suit coverup. (She's going to Jamaica soon.)

Heidi actually knitted this slipper several times then took it back to the starting point each time to try and get it to meet up with the sole.

It'll be actual wearable footwear when she finishes!

Yaffa created this bedskirt, which involved a lot of math based on her mumblings at the ironing board and sewing machine, but what a payoff!

Becky, always one of our most prolific sewers, did this entire shirt from cutting to sleeve gathers with the only thing lacking being the hem.

And this is part of Stehanie's corset. She finished a whole piece with stitching and clipping out the centers - fabulous!

This was a serious Saturday snack break observing the rain and wind.

Heidi always lightens things up!

This is just to remind me of our setup, and next time we'll set up 2 machines to the left so Robbie may have to share with Katrina. Should work out fine.

I'll leave you with a post-GCGSW shot. Becky played with single-crocheting this design on a T-shirt using dissolvable stabilizer before she packed up Sunday, and it turned out great!

Thanks to all these awesome women for the food and the friendship, and it still blows my mind that this was our 7th time doing this. Ooh, plus special shoutout to Becky for reading my last post and gifting me ANOTHER pair of fabulous embroidery scissors PLUS a yarn cutter pendant that I can wear like a necklace next time I'm knitting or sewing on a plane in Belize. I shall never be project-less again!

GCGSW 2019 (#6!)

My goodness, people, I totally forgot how to blog! I need to go back and update 2019 because a lot happened, but first to update the GCGSW, because #7 is coming up in 2020! I vaguely recall that we had a great time, but I needed the pics to remind me of what all we did. Let's get to it. Lots of knitters and hand-sewers on the couch, and Nancy attacked a king-sized duvet cover because that's how she rolls!

I'm pretty sure this was Trinh's first year - she's on the machine pretending to sew, haha.

Don't let her fool you - that pillow was made by 2 or 3 other people working on her machine, which gave us fits, but she kept us fed and with drinks in hands, so we let her claim she made it.

Nancy went from tiny animals the year before to acres of silk and satin - and she finished it!

I'm totally blanking on what Becky made.....argh!

Looks like Katrina has some sort of quilt going....

And I'd bet that Yaffa's beading some jewelry!

Okay I missed a lot of the projects, but we had some delicious sangria!

And some precious mini-quiches for breakfast...

With Trinh's "berries French toast casserole" - yum.

What an awesome breakfast!

Calm breakfast, I just can't remember what we did for dinner...

I do remember that I didn't have a project in mind so I just mindlessly started knitting a random sweater using inappropriate yarn. Frogged that a couple of weeks ago when I organized my yarn stash finally.

SOOOOO....this year I have a (second) hand-painted sock to finish knitting plus a sweater with cables on the trim in progress, and I toyed with the idea of making another Mardi Gras dress, but I bought the wrong fabric for the pattern I had - boo. Anyway, I'll be better at taking pictures in 2020, and hopefully I'll have time to backtrack for 2019. See ya!

5th Annual GCGSW!

Oops, I thought it was #6, but it's just #5. So this year we added Edith, who's a prolific knitter, but we missed Katrina, who couldn't make it. And Nancy and Edith couldn't stay Saturday night, so they came Friday night to start the festivities early! And, no, once that bottle was open, there was no sewing, just talking on the porch until 1:30 AM! (There may have been a second bottle involved.)


We all woke up without headaches, and everyone else arrived, and the big new dish this year was Heidi's Thai chicken salad, which was a-MAZ-ing! Here's just the vegetable noodles made with a Spiralizer, which I shall be buying forthwith.


And here's with the yummy sauce and chicken added. We ate every bit of it.


On to crafting, Nancy made tassels, and Heidi's perusing her tassel-making tool in the background.


Heidi brought her loom and showed us how it worked. She's weaving pieces to sew together for a top!


Nancy contemplates the vintage bell-pull she was working on with crewel work.


Yaffa and Robbie discuss deep issues, while Edith knits and Becky sews.


This is some jewelry Yaffa made using polymer clay...


and beads, sadly out of focus but stunning in person.


Yaffa nearly finished this doll outfit,


and Robbie cut out a top then worked on her Alabama Chanin dress.


And this is Becky's paper-pieced project, with a tutorial she shared.


I finished a dishcloth and started a sweater that may or may not work out, but I'm not worried about it, because I had a relaxing weekend with cool friends who do fascinating crafts, and cook really good food. Thanks to everybody for bringing all the food and doing all the cooking! Katrina, we definitely missed your signature cocktails! Hopefully you can make it next time, and Pam, I fully expect you next year! Let me know if you're planning a Gulf Coast trip!