Launched in 2006, the Alabama Chanin Journal celebrates the art of storytelling. This weekend we look back at our top Journal stories of 2020, starting today with The School of Making. This year, above all, we’ve learned from our readers about the importance of connection, inspiration, and making.
Check back tomorrow for Alabama Chanin’s 2020 favorites.
P.S.: Visit the bottom of this post to find other ways to connect with us.
#1
Hope (+ The Shirt Project)
Published: May 28, 2020
The Shirt Bundle and project were inspired by a shirt of Natalie’s that, with a disappearing ink pen, she wrote a simple one-word decree on the cuff and embroidered over it: Hope—a thought made tangible with needle and thread. This project resonated with so many in our community of makers this year.
#2
Virtual Workshops + 2021 Workshop Schedule
Published: September 24, 2020
This year made us utilize, understand, and appreciate technology in new ways. For us, it gave us a nudge to create a new learning experience in the form of virtual workshops from The School of Making. We’ve recently released new virtual workshops for 2021 alongside our in-person workshops.
View our current Workshop schedule here—including newly released Virtual Workshops for 2021.
#3
Swatch of the Month Subscription: Explorations in Embroidery
Published: December 17, 2020
Through our newly relaunched Swatch of the Month program, we’ve developed monthly fabric and textile designs for at-home sewing. This process has helped us find more ways to share the beauty and inspiration in design and making. This program was offered in 2014 and 2015 and has been reintroduced for 2021. It marries our values of design and craft with 100% organic cotton fabrics.
Learn more about Swatch of the Month and how you can participate in the monthly subscription program.
#4
Inspiration: Peacock
Published: June 11, 2020
Louise Bourgeois famously said, “Clothing is…an exercise of memory… It makes me explore the past…how did I feel when I wore that…” The name Peacock comes from that memory. It is a memory of a dress, long outgrown and discarded, that an unknown friend of the family once called “that dress of Peacock Blue.”
Peacock is one of our staple organic medium-weight cotton jersey colors and featured in our DIY Kit colorways and Color Palette Bundle #3, as part of the Year of Color. Throughout the year, we also found Peacock inspiration in the “A-Line,” “The Uniform,” and “Red, White, Blue, and Gold color inspiration.”
#5
Inspiration: Color Palette Bundle #3
Published: September 3, 2020
For the year of color and our Color Palette Bundles, we sought out inspiration from artists, designers, makers, and each other. Natalie’s library, amassed with a collection of readings and visual eye-candy, is a wealth of creative inspiration and tells a story of her decades-long design career.
CONNECT WITH US AT THE SCHOOL OF MAKING:
Instagram: @theschoolofmaking
Facebook: @theschoolofmaking and The School of Making Stitchalong Group
theschoolofmaking.alabamachanin.com
0 comments on “2020 FAVORITES: STORIES FROM THE SCHOOL OF MAKING”