A Knitter's Weekend
Postcards from Alabama
Dear Ann,
I’ll see your picture postcards from Boston and the Common Cod Fiber Guild, and raise you a few Kodak Carousel slides from a former T-shirt factory in Florence, Alabama.
Last weekend I went with a subset of my sewing circle on a jaunt to Florence, Alabama. Florence is the home of Alabama Chanin, the clothing and DIY company founded by Natalie Chanin, whom I’m proud to call friend. The occasion: the first symposium of a new venture called Project Threadways.
Project Threadways isn’t easy to describe, and it’s in the early stages of what will likely be a long arc. The spark at its center is Natalie Chanin’s love of making textiles, and her desire to remember and honor the people who did that work in Florence’s factories before a trade agreement in the 1990s made the jobs leave town for lower wages. (Ironically, it was lower wages that first drew the work to Florence from the textile mills of the Northeast in the early part of the 20th century.)
This was no dry, studious weekend, though. There was food, conversation, and, of course, trying on clothes and gasping at beautiful handwork. Up top are my postcards. (There’d be more if I hadn’t been so caught up in it all, so be grateful for that!)
So far, Project Threadways has compiled an archive of oral histories from workers at Tee Jays T-Shirt Textile Mill and other factories that made underwear and T-shirts by the thousands. Hearing the voices of longtime employees describing the work they did and the camaraderie they missed, and touring the Alabama Chanin shop floor with Terry Wylie, one of the owners of Tee Jays, were highlights of the weekend.
Another highlight was Alysia Burton Steele’s presentation of images and videos from Delta Jewels, her book celebrating 50 “church mothers” of the Mississippi Delta. That project, described here in The New York Times, has led her to a new project, in which the subject is cotton. The clips she shared from this new project were beautiful and deeply moving. I can’t wait for this one.
Love,
Kay
Notes on the photos in the gallery:
Outdoor photos were taken at Tee-Lah-Nay’s Wall. 3614 Jackson Highway is a former casket showroom that went on to greatness as Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. Indoor photos are from Alabama Chanin’s Factory building. The sweater is my Bottom Line Pullover, which got worked on constantly while I was listening to presentations. These things are all connected, somehow.
I wish I could have been there too. Thanks for explaining the Project Threadways concept too. It looks like everyone was well fed in mind, body and creative inspiration.
I’d call it a draw ladies. You’re both winners and we the readers are winners in being able to see your postcards and live vicariously through you both! Thank you both
What timing for your Postcards! I spent the entire day yesterday piecing an Alabama Chanin pattern from a pdf, cutting out a dress, and then hand-sewing seams. It’s a magical, meditative process to sew a dress by hand, and Natalie Chanin is a brilliant designer and inspirational business owner. I hope to visit Florence, Alabama sometime, and thank you for the links to Project Threadways.
I hope to visit there someday. And your sweater will be one of your best. Fate stepped in with the color of those skeins to make it the best. I would love to know more about what you are wearing in the group postcard. I can tell the skirt is Alabama Chanin but what is the linen top? As Fernando Lamas would say “You look marvelous.”
That’s my first Alabama Chanin kit, I think it’s called the swing skirt. She still makes it but maybe not in that partial stencil? I kind of randomly beaded it, badly seamed it, and it’s still going strong. The top is from Toast, super comfy linen. Thank you for the sweet words. With these folks I always try to keep my lipstick ON.
Fascinating!
Great post. Yes, NAFTA was/is a Disaster! Everything that the “left” and a small bald man from Texas predicted came true. Lori Wallach is the best source of factual info. She even says some of Trump’s changes are good! She wrote a book. And runs Trade Watch if anyone wants more info.
How fun and how clever of you all to plan a trip to Alabama in springtime, when temperatures have not yet reached the boiling point! (I am assuming about the temperatures, as I see that you and others are wearing long sleeves. Outside.) Your sweater looks great. Finally, I am fascinated by old factories, particularly the old textile factories of New England. If I fully believed in past lives, I would say that I had worked in one!
Okay thanks to this, I now own ALL the Alabama Chanin books. Because the kits were too $$$. And that’s okay because recycling, etc. So very interesting. This is a bad road you might have led me down…