Category Archives: TRAVEL + OTHER NEWS

INDIGO STAR QUILT

February 20, 2012

A big THANK YOU to Vogue for including our hand-sewn Indigo Star Quilt in this month’s issue.

With a finished size of 57” x 72”, the quilt is available for purchase from our Online Store for $3110.00. The quilt is hand-sewn from a mixture of indigo-dyed, and 100% natural organic cotton.

You can also purchase a DIY Indigo Star Quilt Kit from our Online Store, available in two options:

1) Fabrics + Notion. For $179.95, you can purchase materials that you will cut and prepare yourself. Please visit our online journal for the patterns and detailed instructions.

2) Ready-to-Sew. For $435.00, the material will be cut and sent to you ready-to-sew.


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I WANT TO BE FRIENDS WITH FAYTHE LEVINE.

I’m almost certain she’s the coolest person I’ve never met.

Several pieces of evidence have led me to this conclusion; the first is this article from the NY Times and the second was probably the conference call that spurred our upcoming Visiting Artist event. Natalie and I were hunched over the speaker phone in my office exchanging ideas about “loom rooms,” home-made bitters, and interactive art exhibits with a very agreeable Levine.

She ended the call saying she had to open her art gallery/skate shop a few blocks away.

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WEEKEND AWAY: MABEL DODGE LUHAN HOUSE

February 17, 2012

From what I’ve gathered, Taos is a Magical Place. Natalie made a trip there not so long ago and came home breathless with tales of beauty and enlightenment. She was especially enthralled with the story of Mabel Dodge Luhan and the Mabel Dodge Luhan House.

Her experience inspired a new series of workshops called Weekend Away.

Natalie wrote in the introduction to this series:

“I had the opportunity to visit Taos not so very long ago and, as I much as I was looking forward to the trip, nothing could have prepared me for the experience. In a word: incredible. My stay at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House, my time in Taos, the breath-taking mountain backdrop, all left me feeling rested, energized, inspired.

I have always felt that our workshops have a sort of healing property and, while we love hosting weekend workshops in our home @The Factory, we also feel that it is beneficial to visit the “homes” of others for an extended stay. We are beginning to seek destinations that nourish the soul and calm the mind. Taos seems the perfect place to begin.”

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ANTICIPATION

February 6, 2012

Ever since I received my advance copy of the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, I’ve been excited to share the book and anxious to know if you will love it as much as we do.  I received word from our publisher that they will be sending Alabama Chanin our first shipment of books on February 8. That means that – as long as everything goes as planned – we should receive and begin shipping them by February 15th. I expect that there will be a whirlwind of activity when it arrives here: unpacking, organizing, sorting and shipping.

We are ready to go and can’t wait to get this book into your hands – and to get your hands working on the new projects.

We’d also like to remind you that we have several workshops scheduled. They are a great way for us to get together and talk shop about our new projects. Make sure to check out our website for updates and additions.

Visit our new Workshop Resources page for more information or contact us with questions: june@alabamachanin.com or 256.760.1090.

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EXPLORATIONS IN HAND SEWING

January 30, 2012

Penland School of Crafts is a magical institution nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Its mission and philosophy are as inspiring as the surrounding landscape, and believe me- it’s an incredible setting. I first learned of Penland as a student at the NCSU College of Design. As a young mother with little time and no money, Penland seemed so out of reach. My son, Zach, wasn’t even two when I started university and I was barely twenty; there was never time for more than being mom, working, and school and the ends never seemed to meet.

At the suggestion of one of my professors I applied for a Studio Assistantship. Luckily for me, the stars aligned and I was admitted – the rest is history. My mother helped with Zach, Penland took care of tuition, and I learned to dream of design. I’m still living that dream and will be forever grateful for that single summer that changed everything.

My son is now 30 – and expecting a child of his own. (Yes! I am going to be a grandmother!) I visited Penland for a few days last summer in anticipation of teaching for two weeks this coming summer. Life comes full circle.

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BLANKET STATEMENT: QUILTING FOR A CAUSE

January 12, 2012

Thanks @ Stephanie LaCava for this lovely piece in the New York Times today:

“I may be their most passionate member,” says the snow-white-haired designer Natalie Chanin of the Southern Foodways Alliance (S.F.A.), a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of the American South. For years, it’s been Chanin’s calling to preserve the textile traditions of Florence, Ala., with her clothing line, Alabama Chanin. So when the S.F.A. director John T. Edge approached her about doing a collaborative project, hand-sewn quilts seemed like an obvious departure. Auctioned off this weekend at the Taste of the South event at the bucolic Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, this particular blanket features the words of Roosevelt Scott, the founder of Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Hemingway, S.C.: “…Cut. Chop. Cook. It’s all right here. In the wood.” But it’s just one quilt of many. “Sign me up for a baker’s dozen,” Chanin said when she joined the cause.

Go to southernfoodways.blogspot.com. For information on bespoke quilts, e-mail office@alabamachanin.com.

P.S: I wrote to John T. Edge last night that I am most certainly a very passionate member of the Southern Foodways Alliance; however, I question if I am their MOST passionate member.  That title might go to Rathead Riley (Rathead T. Edge) – just saying… xoNatalie

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WEEKEND WORKSHOP WINNERS

December 20, 2011

The response to our Weekend Workshop Give-Away on our Facebook Page has been tremendous and inspiring, but also difficult in that we don’t know how to choose a winner.

This might have been one of the most difficult decisions we have had to make all year. So many people, so many deserving stories… The result is that instead of giving away one Weekend Workshop, we are giving away five.

Drum roll…

We want to congratulate Janette Danley for her daughter’s beautiful story of her mother selfless love and Sarah Straud for understanding the true essence of giving by recommending Janette Danley – rather than herself.  Their stories are below. We look forward to sharing the weekend with these two women in our studio this coming April.

And since we couldn’t stop there…

We would invite Julie Glasgow Higginbotham’s mother to our Weekend Workshop in August and Anne Heartness’ friend Melissa to our weekend workshop in November.

If the winners could please contact us via email office (at) alabamachanin.com, we will complete the registration. We look forward to sharing these stories in the coming year. Thank you again for all the beautiful stories and happy days to all…

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ECO SALON FRIDAY: A TRIP OF ONE’S OWN

December 2, 2011

Those of you who follow us on Twitter, Facebook and/or Tumblr, know that I was in New Mexico over the holidays. What resulted from this adventure was a love for the west and an understanding of why so many artists and creative types have settled to work there.  I was deeply impacted by the beauty, spirit, and (perhaps mostly by) the clear, crisp air. The day my friend Jennifer and I landed we spotted four rainbows.  Our friend Jeff wrote that such an unlikely experience is “possibly an indicator of good fortune to come.”

My blog post at EcoSalon this Friday is about our trip and the inspiration I found in a woman – long dead – named Mabel Dodge Luhan.

Thanks to EcoSalon for the continuing bi-weekly collaboration – read all of my stories there and make sure you let them know what you like.
xoNatalie

A TRIP OF ONE’S OWN

“I can’t believe that I am doing this.” Wait. Laugh. Repeat.  These were the words I kept echoing over and over again as I sat at Gate B27 in the Atlanta Airport. My girlfriend, Jennifer Venditti, is sitting across from me, looking like a vision of New York City chic. I stare at her in amazement. We are waiting to board a flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with plans to catch up on the last six months of one another’s lives.

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