Labor of Love?

There are little glass beads down in the cracks of every piece of furniture have, and there are bits of thread and knitted fabric embedded in the floorboards of two houses, because it has taken me almost a year to finish this skirt, taken from a design by Natalie Chanin. It is all sewn by hand, something I realized I enjoy much more than sitting at a sewing machine. (Therefore, thousands of hours have been spent watching TV or listening to music or the radio while I sew.)

Rather than go through the whole story of how I came to do this kind of sewing, I refer you to Natalie's website*, and quote from her book**:

"It is hard to believe that a decade has passed since I returned to my home in Florence, Alabama to begin the work that led me to create the fashion and lifestyle company Alabama Chanin--and even more surprising that sewing has come to define my life. I didn't do well in home economics class in high school. My first apron fell apart***...Somehow, perhaps as a result of the many hours of my childhood spent sitting beside my grandmothers while they sewed, quilted crocheted and embroidered, I emerged as an adult with a passion for sewing and creating. I left home at eighteen wanting to explore the world and to design. Little did I know that the cotton grown in my childhood community would eventually lure me back to my family home...."

It is a fascinating story which she tells during her wonderful sewing workshops .

*Alabama Stitch Book by Natalie Chanin, Stewart, Tabori and Chang, 2008.

**www//alabamachanin.com

***I was the only girl in wood shop because my home economics teacher made me sew with my right hand and I am left handed (when it comes to sewing...)