Stencil it! Wear it! Beyond the T-shirt with Silvia Souza

Hello! It's Silvia Souza.

Natalie Chanin aka Alabama Chanin is one of my heroes. I discovered her work a few years ago, and loved how she made t-shirt fabric embroidered garments that look like updated Renaissance clothing. My admiration for her grew as I read her books; she was reviving not only the arts but also the economy of a former cotton mill town in the South.

My eldest son will be married next year and I am inspired to make my dress using techniques gleaned from her.  I also gained confidence for this process in a class I took with Karen McElfish at Artistic Artifacts in Alexandria, VA, taking apart old t-shirts and recycling them into new shirts.  

Before starting the dress, I needed to try out stitches and stencil techniques in a sample.  I found two t-shirts on sale for $2 apiece and decided to use them as canvas and practice project. 

I stenciled them using Terri Stegmiller's Curvy Stems (L122).   

Then I started playing with threads and stitches. I modified a McCall’s pattern and cut up the components and reassembled the two t-shirts into one.

Silvia