Alabama Studio Style: More Projects, Recipes, & Stories Celebrating Sustainable Fashion & Living [Hardcover]

Natalie Chanin (Author), Robert Rausch (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2010

In Alabama Studio Style, Natalie Chanin, founder and creative director of the acclaimed fashion and lifestyle company Alabama Chanin, takes readers on a compelling journey of creativity, technique, and inspiration. Picking up where the celebrated Alabama Stitch Book left off, Alabama Studio Style is a craft and lifestyle book all in one.
 
Here Chanin shares many more of her stitching, stenciling, and beading methods and applies them to twenty extraordinary clothing and home décor projects, each made with organic or recycled materials and designed with “haute homespun” flair. Along with the company’s celebrated camisole and tank dresses, the featured projects include skirts, scarves, pillows, woven chair seats, and a stenciled scrap-wood table. Rounding out the book are recipes for three delicious party menus. Alabama Studio Style shows us that true style encompasses not only what we wear, how we decorate, and what we eat, but also how we care for our environment.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Natalie Chanin is the author of Alabama Stitch Book (STC) and founder and head designer of Alabama Chanin, a fashion/lifestyle company that promotes sustainable style and design. She has been recognized for her work by the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, Alabama Council of the Arts, and Aid to Artisans.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book (March 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584798238
• ISBN-13: 978-1584798231
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #101,645 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Natalie "Alabama" Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of Alabama Stitch Book (STC - February 2008, Alabama Studio Style (STC - February 2010, and Alabama Studio Sewing + Design (STC - February 2012). Her designs for hand-sewn garments constructed using quilting and stitching techniques from rural America have been lauded for both their beauty and sustainability. Made from 100% Certified Organic Cotton combined with up-cycled and re-purposed materials by artisans located near Natalie's home in Florence, Alabama, her designs have earned accolades from peers and journalists alike.

Natalie's work in the fashion industry began in the year 1988 in the New York City fashion district working in the Junior Sportswear industry. From New York, Natalie moved to Europe in 1990 where she worked for ten years as a stylist and costume designer for film and photography.

However, Natalie's life work began in the year 2000 with the invention of Project Alabama. Natalie returned to her home in Florence, Alabama to produce a collection of 200 one-of-a-kind, up-cycled t-shirts, along with the 22-minute documentary film "Stitch" - about old-time quilting circles in her community. Project Alabama grew quickly and became a full collection fashion company, added business partners, lost business partners, all the while earning respect from editors and stores around the world.

In the year 2006, Project Alabama ceased operations in the state of Alabama. Rather than choosing to outsource, Natalie made the decision to adhere to the original mission of Project Alabama and launched Alabama Chanin where she continues to create limited-edition, rendered-by-hand, jewelry, clothing, home furnishing and textiles using a mixture of organic and recycled materials with local talent. Based on the thought that good design should be a part of everyday living, Alabama Chanin gives modern context to techniques that have been passed down through generations of women and men.

The artisans who work with Alabama Chanin represent this generational span. Stitchers aged in their early 20s work alongside those in their late 70s, producing garments in the spirit of the traditional quilting bee. Each collection emphasizes quality, detail, craftsmanship, and style while each piece is a labor of love signed by the artisan who hand-stitched every seam.

Natalie has a Degree in Environmental Design from North Carolina State University and works simultaneously as designer, manufacturer, stylist, filmmaker, mother, artisan, cook and collector of stories from her home in Florence, Alabama.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sweet Home Alabama, February 9, 2010

By 

nanapama (Dorchester, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alabama Studio Style: More Projects, Recipes, & Stories Celebrating Sustainable Fashion & Living (Hardcover)

If you liked the Alabama Stitch Book, you are in for a treat because I think this book,Alabama Studio Style is even better. I had it on my list for months but it was definitely worth the wait. Once and a while you find a book that you know will not be a quick read or a book placed on the shelf to be occasionally used as reference material. Once in a great while you find a book that will become a friend that will be carried from room to room, covered with post-its and scribbles, referenced and used constantly. Alabama Studio Style is that kind of book. Part craft book, part cookbook - filled with antidotes about the food and the people of Florence Alabama - people I'd love to meet - the book quickly becomes an old friend.

I have not put this book down since it arrived in the mail. The projects are so beautiful. Natalie can do more with cotton jersey than I ever imagined. I've already bought materials to start my first project from the book and am currently cutting my stencil. The instructions are clear and easy to understand.

So this weekend I'm looking foward to making the "Put Up Tomato Tart" and "Angie's Classic Cupcakes". Then I'll be sitting back with my cupcake, a cuppa tea and my project. There are enough projects, recipes and inspiration to keep me going for the next few months. I know it's early in the year but this is my pick for the best craft book of the year.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Clothes You Can Make!!!, February 24, 2010

By 

Kate L. Martin (Carlsbad, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alabama Studio Style: More Projects, Recipes, & Stories Celebrating Sustainable Fashion & Living (Hardcover)

I purchased Natalie's first book sight unseen by reading a write up of it. Little was I to know how obsessed I would become using her method. I have sewn and embroidered for over 25 years and I thought I had seen some pretty amazing things in that time. Natalie's method raises the bar for all the craft/sewing books from this point on. Once you understand Natalie's way of constructing garments it is relatively easy to make clothing like hers that sell for thousands of dollars. I am constantly amazed at the work that comes out of her studio with one garment being more beautiful than the next. I feel so blessed that she has decided to share her method with us. Give yourself a treat and purchase BOTH of these books, The Alabama Stitch book, and Alabama Studio Style. There are even stencils in the books so you can get going right away. When you become more committed to creating additional pieces you might want to buy your own airbrush and compressor as I have. There is no end to what you can do using this method.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful book, March 15, 2010

By 

Jennifer M. Coyle - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Alabama Studio Style: More Projects, Recipes, & Stories Celebrating Sustainable Fashion & Living (Hardcover)

I have the Alabama Stitch book, and was waiting with great anticipation for the follow-up, Alabama Studio Style. I was worried it would not be as wonderful as the first book, which was simply magical, but I was truly amazed by the new book. It offers an even greater array of project and techniques that are inspiring and visually stunning. I made several projects from the first book, and am sure I will make several from this one as well. I was most impressed by the dress patterns, as those are the pieces in the Alabama Chanin line that I find most appealing, and there are several option to make stunning variation of your own. I didn't get the feeling it was a watered-down version, which some "DIY' projects can appear to be, but an authentic version, to which you can add own individual touch. Plus, there are a bunch of recipes I can't wait to try, especially the Bloody Marys. It is definitely worth getting and exploring on your own.