Beyond Knitting
Summer of Stitching
Quilters of old (and maybe quilters of new) were said to piece their patchwork quilt tops in the winter, and then hand-quilt them, often gathered together around a quilting frame, in summer. Or do I have the seasons switched around? I think I would like to piece in the solitude of winter, and then gather on somebody’s porch for group quilting sessions in summer.
Anyway. Somebody who knows, please tell us in the comments!
Do you have seasonal crafting habits? In years past, I would knit dozens of dishcloths at the beach in the summer. The last one would get dropped mid row, but next year I’d find it at the bottom of a sandy boat tote and pick up right where I left off.
One textile art that is distinctly seasonal to me is stitching by hand in the way I learned from Natalie Chanin. I don’t plan it in advance, but somehow the onset of warm weather sends me scrounging in my stash of kits from The School of Making. Slow stitching is slow, so kits can accumulate, especially if a person goes on regular pilgrimages to Alabama Chanin‘s former t-shirt factory building in Florence, Alabama. While there, one is in danger of crushing on a garment and ordering up a kit, and this is a danger I embrace. A few weeks later, when it arrives, one may be banging out a sweater or something, and stash the kit away to marinate.
But in late spring/early summer, the stitching itch strikes, and needs furious scratching. Will I get through one kit or more before the fever cools? I never can tell. Will it stop at Labor Day, or continue on until sweater season hits full force in October? I simply don’t know until the urge has run its course.
Summer 2025 Stitchin’ Scorecard
Starting in mid June when I was congregating and fellowshipping with my beloved sewing circle in France, and continuing until today and perhaps a bit longer, here’s what I’ve been up to.
One journal cover as a token of thanks for Grace, who helped us mightily in France. This little cover was the work of one evening. Highly recommend a journal cover as baby step into Natalie Chanin’s reverse appliqué technique. You learn all the basics in a few hours—and then you’ve got a journal cover.
One Tessellation Cropped Pant for the niece who worked her butt off at Nash Yarn Fest in March, tried on said pant at The School of Making booth, and fell in love with the athleisure-but-dressy vibes. I blasted through the kit, falling in love myself with the genius 6-panel construction and the speed of stitching the Tessellation stencil in reverse appliqué.
An Abstract Car Coat for me me me. Coasting on the triumph of 2022’s Godmother-of-the-groom Cropped Car Jacket, and energized by a quick try-on of the full-length version when we were in Florence, Alabama this past April, I could not hold back. As with the cropped jacket, I struggled the tiniest bit with proper installation of the collar—it’s a bit couture-y for my skill level—but I wung it and prevailed.
New York and Nashville: prepare to be SICK OF ME wearing this coat all fall and hopefully into the winter and spring of 2026 and beyond. The fit is divine, the weight is perfect, just like a car coat or chore coat should feel, with ample room to wear a bulky sweater underneath. I feel so stinking cute in this thing. The Abstract stencil, with its oversized shapes, stitches up even faster than Tessellation. I worked it in negative reverse appliqué as directed, because I loved the sample so much. Negative reverse challenges my spacial reasoning skills to the limit! But I prevailed, and did not cut anything wrong.
And now, just finished, another Tessellation Cropped Pant for another niece, who saw them on the previously mentioned niece and tried them on and swooned. What am I here for if not to stitch for my girlies? There are regular aunties, cool aunties, and whatever kind of auntie I am.
Up next is a pair for Carrie. Not sure she understands that the Sweater Weather clock is ticking if she wants these before next summer. Pick your color, daughter!
Not pictured: a swatch that I stitched at Ann’s house in July because Ann was stitching on a Swing Skirt and I was jealous so I made her dig around for one from her long-ago Factory garage sale haul.
I love stitching these kits, I love constructing and wearing these garments, and I love what Natalie Chanin has created in her U.S.-sourced, impeccably designed, beautifully made materials and kits. They are a treat and a treasure that I feel blessed to have in my life. I make them with joy and I wear them with wild pride.
One of these summers I’m going to really go to town and stencil my own fabric! Doesn’t that seem like a perfect Special Summer Side Craft, daubing fabric paint on cotton? Stitch in winter, paint in summer—sounds like a plan.
What is your special summer side craft, and what did you make this summer?
Natalie Chanin is a certified genius and her sharing of the techniques she uses is one of the great acts of generosity ever. What y’all do at MDK is right up there. Thank you all for everything you do. If you could only create time to do everything that interests one!
Same! I want to make something random now just so I can say, “I wung it”. The combination baby-talk and brilliance is a goal at times best appreciated in late summer by a few close beach buddies during one of our lazy beach hang days. With a mimosa, it should be a hoot, “I wung this”.
Same! I want to make something random now just so I can say, “I wung it”. The combination baby-talk and brilliance is a goal at times best appreciated in late summer by a few close beach buddies during one of our lazy beach hang days. With a mimosa, it should be a hoot, “I wung this”.
This summer my side activity is organizing my excessive yarn stash. I purchased several Billy cabinets from IKEA so my yarn will be visible and accessible. After I finish this I may just pull out one of my languishing Natalie Chanin kits and sew! Great idea, Kay!
Anne, did you use baskets? I bought those cabinets for the same reason but still haven’t finished organizing. All help welcomed!
There is an article in this month’s Conde Nast Traveler about Natalie and her school of making.
That coat is gorgeous! I do the same stuff year round: sewing in the morning, embroidery in the afternoon, knitting in the evening.
Your excitement is certainly contagious. But I will spend a week, at minimum, trying to use ‘wung it’ properly in my everydays.
This is why MDK emails get opened first every day in my house.
Thanks.
Same! I want to make something random now just so I can say, “I wung it”. The combination baby-talk and brilliance is a goal at times best appreciated in late summer by a few close beach buddies during one of our lazy beach hang days. With a mimosa, it should be a hoot, “I wung this”.
That car coat is gorgeous! I wonder how many summers it would take for me to finish one – for me, me, me! I also loved “wung it” and will be using it asap. Thank you, Kay, for all your wonderful good work.
Yikes Wendy. You must have the eyes of a hawk. (Mine tend to get tired). Love the “whatever kind of auntie I am.” Same here, but I feel appreciated whatever kind I am which is nice. My mom hand-stitched (she was afraid of the machine) and did a beautiful job hand-stitching an entire dress for me. I gritted my teeth through a Singer sewing class for my Girl Scout badge when I was a tween, but was rewarded by a lack of machine-fear. Two decades later I finally sewed up a storm for ten years but mainly In The Summer also. What gives with that??
I’m with your mom! Handstitching just seems more approachable and simpler.
I too love to hand stitch. So far this summer I’ve finished 2 shirts – Karen Stevens’s One Yard Shirt pattern, with the long sleeves. Both are made from old flannel sheeting so I can’t wait for the weather to cool off so I can wear them. She has some lovely easy bag patterns too. Next up pants, or a skirt, haven’t really decided yet. Machine sewing makes me tense, but hand stitching I can do all day…..
I love Karen Stevens’s work!
Karen’s patterns are terrific. I’ve made several 1-yard tops, machine and hand sewn.
I fell back into needlepoint recently. It’s mindless color by number, and I love it. I’m making a few small pieces for our new house. But always knitting!!!
But where are the stylish needlepoint canvases these days?
Oooh, you’ve piqued my curiosity. Let’s form a hunt soon. These needlepoint canvas bags are just what I need to tote around the knitting.
One guess, Kay! I’ll be on bouquet number 900 today. Pretty soon it will be back to knitting.
Those pants and jacket are amazing. So beautiful . This has been the summer of the Emotional Support Chicken for me- I can’t seem to stop making them. Wrap and turn short rows are finally firmly lodged in my brain.
My favorite thing about Natalie Chanin is her openness and willingness to share her intellectual property. Can’t afford a totally hand made item from her shop, here’s a kit. Can’t afford the kit, here’s a class. Can’t afford the class, here’s a book with everything you need but the fabric. Can’t afford the fabric, grab some t-shirts at the good will. And the thread is $1.49 at Michaels. I found an old denim shirt of my dad’s in the basement. It’s getting some lovely embellishment because Natalie Chanin said I could.
As to your Auntie status I would classify you as the Ride or Die Auntie or The Get In Loser, We’re Going to (choose your adventure) Auntie. My side hobby this summer has been finishing my spring cleaning from 1996.
1996! Love it!
Kay—that jacket is a wonder: the bright blue, the abstraction, the stitching. Congrats on a work of art!!!
Sashiko embroidery was my summer obsession although I have now returned to knitting up yarn I got at the Nash Yarn Fest. My first embroidery project was using a preprinted fabric which I made into a small shoulder bag, cell phone size. By the end I had a car coat, several bags and bins and a kitchen cloth ( not that I would ever use it for dirt work). I now draft the patterns on the fabric. Beware it’s addictive.
Oooh, I hope to see that jacket in person! 😉
One of the first things I did when I started down the Alabama Chanin rabbit hole was order a stencil & paint some fabric — an old t-shirt, I believe — to make my first garment (based on an existing shirt). It’s really fun (and I also like airbrushing).
But, oh, the kits… I have a few from Florence, and also some that I made myself (see airbrushing, above). I don’t know if I’ll ever get to them all!
Vicki, your stitching is always so richly detailed; I race through kits because I’m so faithful to running stitch!
Side endeavor this summer has been making linen tea towels and then stenciling them. Unique gifts for the future. Also a pre-game before I try stenciling an AC pattern so I can make a Frances dress.
Such a cool way to use a stencil!
Do you wear it or frame it?
I hope to see a post of you wearing that coat. I wish I could accomplish, as much as you seem too. Thinking about the quilters, I bet they were so busy during summer putting up canning jars, that quilting was a winter activity, in front of the fire. I think fall would be the quilting bee time before it was winter and you needed that quilt.
Love love love her work. I was thrilled to take one of her workshops in upstate NY and I have loved her books since I found them. I have some of her stencils. Come to the backyard and play!
That jacket might lure me into this web! My side craft this summer has been weeding…
I have no particular craft in the summer. Whatever I find in the bins. I love Natalie Chanin’s designs and I hope to complete one someday!
I’m committed to using up my stash and I’ve been weaving with it! So satisfying and I’m very happy with the results. I to0 have a NC kit languishing but kept close enough so I can eyeball it on my way in and out of my studio encouraging me to get back to it.
The coat is gorgeous and I’d love to see a photo of you wearing it!
Such beautiful projects, Kay! I’m in a “try and work through a stash of old kits and projects” mode these days, while trying unsuccessfully to not look at too many shiny new projects. I’m bouncing around from weaving to beading to knitting and crochet, while embroidery, sewing, and watercolor wait in the wings.
Love, love, love that car coat fabric! If I sewed, I’d want to make one.
I made a dress for my college-aged daughter. With darts! And a zipper! And it fits!
“Side crafts” around here lean to “keeping up with the tomatoes” and “novel uses for boatloads of cucumbers”.
Yes! The cucumbers! Luckily we have a neighbor that LOVES them. Cucumber water is very refreshing, have you tried it?
Kay!!!! You know how piddly ass slow I am……. Even though I buy more from AC. You have properly shamed me. I’m trying to be magnanimous when I say I’m thrilled for your slow sewing productivity…… But I’ll leave it up to you if I’m really sincere or just trying to amass kindness.
You too can get busy and lay down a few miles of running stitch, Tina! I hate to think of any kits languishing at your house….
Love that coat! And you are obviously a GREAT Aunt, no matter the generation (but I’ll vote for the “Get In Loser…” title).
I usually don’t work with “warm” yarn during the summer, but I was so determined to finish a Welcome Blanket project that I tried putting it in a zipped cotton pillow protector so I could avoid having the blanket directly on my lap. It worked! I think I’ve accidentally undercut my general MO of putting winter projects away for the summer.
OMGoodness I adore those pants! I too, tried them on at NashFest and still dream about making/having/wearing them.
I love summer sewing.
Wow Kay — you have been busy!! And it all looks great. I’ve been knitting this summer — I’ve finished my Moss Field Throw (and Love it), a Hoola hood and mittens for a niece in Iowa, a Churchmouse Poncho, and I’m well on my way on Cecila Camochiaro’s Conversation Shawl. My Mom requested the shawl when I showed her a photo of the poncho and asked if she wanted one. She’ll be 90 in November.
I have an AC skirt in the works, but haven’t been too motivated to work on it, as I don’t wear my finished one because I don’t go anywhere. Gotta fix that. . .
Your comment there are regular aunties, cool aunties, and whatever kind I am struck a chord with me. My grandkids have the fun grandma who lives at the lake and then me who lives on a boring farm with nothing to do. But then I’m also the grandmother who always gives handmade gifts, usually knit but also sewn. We are the makers who take the time to show our love with our needles.
I crochet or sew more in summer instead of knitting. I still knit some, but crochet and sewing rarely happen in any season besides summer. This was the third summer of filet crochet curtain valences for the kitchen. It’s slow because it’s thread crochet, but I finished the first one and got far on the second!
My grandma machine-pieced her quilt tops, but did the actual quilting by hand. She would set the quilt frame up in the living room in the winter. She was a farm wife and wintertime was when she had the most time to do that big of a project. She crocheted and knitted all year long.
I did not inherit Grandma or Mom’s sewing skills. I did buy a machine and take lessons several years ago. (Home Ec Workshop, the yarn shop in Iowa City where I used to live, is also a fabric shop and has a sewing lab, where you can take lessons.) I did so because I love the idea of quilting. But the scariest part of sewing for me is the cutting out, which has stopped the idea of quilting in its tracks. Maybe I should just finish up some of the knitting WIPs!
Knitting will always be number one for me. I’m trying to get back into quilting. My sewing machine and serger were 30 years old, and dead. So off I went to the sewing machine store. This resulted, for various reasons, in four new machines. One quilting sewing machine with a deep throat. One serger. Or, so I thought. I spent almost a year trying to figure it out.I watched every tutorial, etc on line, searched every instruction manual, even having them printed and bound. No luck. Finally, I found a review that explained it did not serge. It was only a machine that did overlock. I did some lovely hems, lol. I finally took it back to the store, and it turned out that the salesperson gave me the wrong one. The boxes are very similar. Since it had been so long, they wouldn’t give me very much for the trade, so I wound up taking it back home, and getting the right serger. I also picked up an embroidery machine, because it’s cheaper to buy two separate machines than get one that does everything. Learning all of these machines is as far as I’ve gotten. I live near Florence, and love Alabama Chanin! On the seasonal quilting, I think both things were done year round. If someone was getting married, or coming of age, the women got together for a quilting bee. My aunt had a frame that was hung high up on the living room ceiling. When it was time to quilt, it was lowered down, and the quilting began. Genius!
It was the coldest summer in decades in the Bay Area, and I knit a bunch of wool sweaters. I was drinking hot tea and wearing my wool socks! Now it’s finally warming up and everyone is enjoying the sunshine.
My summer side hustle was teaching my granddaughter to crochet. She wants to join the crochet club at school. We found a pattern for a little monster amigurumi that she says look like tater tots and got busy hooking. She’s made so many I bought a box of 100 pairs of safety eyes. Don’t want to run out! I confess I’ve made three of them too. They’re kind of addictive.
I made a pair of leather sandals at North House Folk School in northern Minnesota! It’s in a beautiful small town, and has lots of different craft classes.
I dont *need* another hobby but I have learnt beading. Earrings specifically, they can be done so quickly and its very rewarding!