My latest Alabama Chanin style masterpiece!
This is a beaded bolero from the Alabama Studio Sewing & Design book.
It's made from a single XL 100% cotton t shirt that I bought for $.99 at a Salvation Army. I placed the sleeve hem on the original sleeve hems. It's made from a single layer of fabric and stencilled in white fabric paint with the Paisely stencil that I downloaded here and stitched with silver lined bugle beads in two lengths and seed beads. I used the cretan stitch with smaller bugle beads to apply the binding. I also added a few swarovski lochrosen on the smaller dots in the paisely pattern.
I was inspired to make this project late last June as a run up to the fourth of July. I was seeing a lot of stars on blue clothing and liked that idea so I was originally thinking of using the star stencil, but in the end I thought that was a little too on-the-nose. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. It's very sparkly but the cotton makes it easy and comfortable. It's going to be a dress-up-or-down kind of garment. I can't wait till tank top weather to wear it!
Some more info on the process:
The oak tag and mylar stencils used on my last projects where a PIA to cut! It took too long and hurt my hands. I can confirm that the purchase price of a stencil from Alabama Chanin is totally fair and if I didn't want them all I would consider buying one. Alas, I can't afford them all so for this stencil I decided to try another material. I spent some time researching "pennant felt" as it is described in the books. I searched all over the interweb and was only able to locate it on the AC website. I figured "pennant felt" must be a term that they use to describe a product that is available under another name but I haven't found it yet. I did purchase some craft felt from Dick Blick but it turned out to be very soft and thick; too fluffy to be a good stencil. I don't like not having options, but I do like supporting Alabama Chanin so I caved and bought 1 yard from them.
It's thin and firm and easy enough to cut, although still fairly time consuming. It's also fairly wide so I'll be able to get 2 stencils out of the one yard. The first one is the paisely stencil and I'm still deciding on the next one. I was going to cut either Anna's Garden or the Facets but now that the lovely Heart stencil has been added to the resource page I am even more conflicted! Let me know if you have a favorite.
It's thin and firm and easy enough to cut, although still fairly time consuming. It's also fairly wide so I'll be able to get 2 stencils out of the one yard. The first one is the paisely stencil and I'm still deciding on the next one. I was going to cut either Anna's Garden or the Facets but now that the lovely Heart stencil has been added to the resource page I am even more conflicted! Let me know if you have a favorite.
The cheap spray bottle that I used to stencil my first projects was starting to sputter and splotch and I knew that I wanted to make more stencilled garments so I went ahead and purchased a Badger Airbrush.
It's a little strange to use at first but I'm getting used to it. I will need to get a larger bottle though because the bottles it comes with are quite small and I had to refill them twice for a corset sized project. Yes, I have an embroidered corset project in the works!
Unfortunately (or fortunately??) I need to focus on my wedding dress at the moment so it won't get any work until this summer so look for it later this year!
It's a little strange to use at first but I'm getting used to it. I will need to get a larger bottle though because the bottles it comes with are quite small and I had to refill them twice for a corset sized project. Yes, I have an embroidered corset project in the works!
Unfortunately (or fortunately??) I need to focus on my wedding dress at the moment so it won't get any work until this summer so look for it later this year!
