Alabama Chanin Project #2

I have another Alabama Chanin project to share with you – a poncho. This was so much fun to play with- simple rectangle transformed.

The simple shape makes a perfect blank canvas to experiment with. The Ponchos in the "Alabama Studio Sewing and Design"  book are really elegant, but for my first go I wanted something a little more playful. I decided to use thrifted ts and picked up an extra large navy and cream pinstripe and natural colored t as well as a women’s size large orange t all for under five dollars.

I pieced together my ts to get the dimensions I needed for my two layers.This time I cut my own stencil using the paisley pattern from the book. I won’t lie – this was a little tricky and I lost feeling in my index finger for a couple of weeks – but I got it cut.

Painting was a breeze, but decidng on the placement of my stenciled design was a little challenging because of the orange border. I hadn’t thought ahead about the fact that the orange fabric on my bottom layer would show through when the design was cut out.

In the end I just went with it ,and even decided to  decorate my “mistake” with beads and sequins.

I would definitely make another poncho. In her book the fabric Natalie recommends is probably lighter in weight and would drape a little better than the hefty ts I used, but you can’t beat the price  of my thrift store ts and the fun factor of putting the whole thing together... priceless.