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all righty!

I'm starting an Alabama Chanin dress.



It's based on a color scheme I saw at the AC workshop in New York this summer -- sand for the top layer, dark gray for the bottom layer, red for the thread color. It's not something I would have ordinarily picked — I gravitate toward blues and blacks most of the time — but the sample blew me away. I think I grabbed Natalie and said, "What...is...that?" and she was kind enough to look up the colors for me. I couldn't get it out of my head, and finally I just broke down and ordered two yards of each.

(Also, someone at the workshop noted that AC pieces are especially eye-catching when there's high contrast, which I totally agree with.)

I'm planning to do outside reverse appliqué, so with any luck the watered-down paint will be all or mostly gone. (It's my first time airbrushing! Learned my lesson: Don't water down the paint too much. Half and half is good.)

Can I be honest? The whole process is a little hairy-scary. Anything could so go wrong every step of the way, and then I'm out x amount of time and $$$$. Plus, you know that feeling of not wanting to ruin your gorgeous fabric? That.

Oh, the other interesting thing that came up: The official Alabama stencil doesn't cover the entire short fitted dress piece. I turned it sideways, but no dice. So I'm going to have to be careful when aligning the stencils on the other panels, I guess.

That's the news for now! Happy holidays, y'all.

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