Doggy wear ~ Alabama Chanin style
My daughter surprised us recently with the news of our first "Grand Dogger" (thank you, Cheryl, for this cute and fitting title). This beautiful, fluffy, white Samoyed immediately found a place in our hearts with her sweet nature and smiley face. My daughter had a bandanna for her to wear, and when she put it on, she pranced about and posed for just a moment with her new adornment. We thought it might be fun to make a few more neck scarves for Luna to wear, and so I set about gathering fabrics and ideas for her new "wardrobe".
Beings that it was Christmastime, she definitely needed something for the season. The idea of the ugly Christmas sweater struck, something red and green, sparkly, and just a tad over the top. I had some scrap red jersey. Jersey meant no need to worry about edges and fraying ~ easy! I cut a triangular shape, then stenciled in white fabric paint the reindeer and snowflakes. I cut two-inch slits, keeping them at least 1/2" in from the edge, all the way around the two shortest sides. I wove a thick, green satin ribbon through the slits. With sparkly gold thread I stitched a sequin and bead onto each segment of the woven portion to secure the ribbon and dress things up a bit. A girl can always use a little sparkle and this was supposed to resemble the ugly Christmas sweater where more was merrier. I left the tails from the knots out as it reminded me tinsel, and added a tiny plaid bow. I wish I had a picture of Luna in it. The red really set off her white coat, and the green ribbon hung down just a bit like the ties on a little sailor suit. She looked like a true Christmas dog.
The Ugly Christmas sweater doggy scarf.
Next, I started on the Alabama Chanin scarf. I cut out my triangle shapes from green and blue fabrics. My green scrap was a bit smallish, thus the difference in size. I do like the edging effect, though. Next I used the Bloomers stencil and with a silver Sharpie traced the stenciled shapes onto the green fabric. The Alabama Stitch book comes with a placement Bloomers stencil included.
Alabama Chanin styled scarf before stitching.
I pinned the green fabric onto the blue fabric. Then with a double strand of gray button craft thread, I hand-stitched just outside of the Sharpie line. I used a running stitch and knotted off after each element. Using the reverse applique method from the Alabama Chanin books, I snipped off the top layer, just 1/8" inside each element. The lime green fabric was jersey, so no need to worry about fraying; but my blue fabric was woven, and thus subject to coming apart. My house was full of kids and Christmas, and rather than trying to pull out my sewing machine and iron with ironing board and find room for them, I opted to use Fray Check on the woven raw edges.
This was a super quick and easy project. I finished it in an evening, while watching a movie with my kids.
I'm sure I'll be looking at my scrap fabric a little differently now, dreaming up more pretty scarves for our Luna girl to don.
Here's a picture of my daughter and Luna skijoring.
No comments