Walking the talk in sustainable fashion.

Last week, the Alabama Chanin team, along with our friends Lisa and Jimmy, took to the organic cotton field  we share with the team from Billy Reid. With rubber boots, loppers, and gloves in hand, we were there helping our organic cotton bolls survive after a long summer of drought and heat followed by excessive rain and weed growth.

We walked the rows, hoed, chopped, and pulled until the sun and heat forced us out of the field. Hard to imagine the days in Alabama heat where people were not allowed out of the field. Makes me think about how things were, how things are, and how things will be.
Nine of us barely made a dent in the work that needs to be done. As we documented the day with black and white images, it looked so romantic and felt like a moment from a Willa Cather novel. But the reality behind the black and white is a sordid, ugly history. I can’t pretend that I didn’t think about those that did this work because they had no choice. But I live TODAY and I WANT to grow organic cotton in the state of Alabama TODAY.

Chapter 1 in the Alabama Stitch Book is about the history of cotton in our community and it was my goal to embrace that history with open arms, understanding the ugly past while hopeful for a more beautiful future. The beauty of the outdoors, the detailed shots of our cotton bolls make me proud. This is not glamorous work; it is hard work, and for some people, it once was the difference between life or death – without which, their families may have starved. My family worked cotton, grew small plots of cotton, and lived next to people who made their entire livelihood from this white fiber.

In an age where technology and convenience rule, our trip to the field served as a great reminder of the importance of creating things that last, leaving a legacy for families and communities, alongside our environment.
This community has a strong heritage in farming fields – by machine, by hand, by any means necessary. Images of the “Old South” come to mind as I re-read that sentence, but as I have come to learn, those stylized movie images didn’t reflect the reality of the south.

In the real “Old South,” my family and their neighbors were busy “scraping out a living.” My mother’s father worked a “good job” at the Tennessee Valley Authority AND farmed. My father’s father built houses AND farmed AND raised cattle.

As our group made its way through this beautiful new cotton field, many parts of that heritage came up in conversation. Stories, personal accounts of our parents and grandparents growing up in the fields and working with bloodied hands were shared as we, ourselves, walked rows of weed-ridden cotton. This work, these stories are a part of our souls; they are also part of our company.
At Alabama Chanin, we strive to connect the past with the present. Our company is based on age-old techniques; history is woven into every garment we create. It’s important that we understand the significance found in “modern old-fashioned” ways of doing things, from sewing to farming.

By putting ourselves in the cotton field, we found a deeper understanding of the entire manufacturing process, from planting to production. Sustainability begins with the soil in which we plant those tiny cotton seeds and continues through the dying process of our garments.
Lisa tells us that the local farmers thought we were crazy for planting organic cotton. They think we are especially crazy for working the field by hand. What they didn’t see in the beginning is that IF this works (and it appears that it will), when this works, we will be one of the first to grow organic cotton in the state of Alabama. It’s not about succeeding or failing, it’s about learning, trying, connecting, and believing. Lisa says that a few of the farmers are talking about putting in 100 acres next year to try that “organic” for themselves. Now that is success.

xoNatalie

Natalie Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of three books including Alabama Stitch Book  (2008), Alabama Studio Style (2010) and the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design which comes out spring 2012. Look for her bi-weekly column, Material Witness here and follow her on Facebook and her own blog at Alabama Chanin.

The post Alabama Chanin’s Natalie Chanin on Working Her Own Organic Cotton Fields appeared first on EcoSalon.

Random Ruffle T-Shirt with Natalie “Alabama” Chanin from Creativebug on Vimeo.

Natalie “Alabama” Chanin on Creativebug from Creativebug on Vimeo.

So, what are you waiting for? Make a pattern. Make a print. Make a difference.

The post CreativeBug Workshop: Alabama Chanin Ruffles Us Up appeared first on EcoSalon.

A new series of how-to videos aims to inspire crafters.

Sometimes its not about looking for the answer to a problem, it’s making sure you’re asking the right question. When it comes to the issues caused by our addiction to overconsumption – global warming, deforestation, pollution and animal extinction – a growing number of people are asking the surprisingly simple question, “What will you make today?”

Creativebug, a new series of how-to videos for DIY’ers, recently launched to inspire you. For $25 a month, subscribers have unlimited access to a continuously updated library of creative workshops in knitting, crochet, sewing, jewelry, entertaining, home decorating and kids crafts.

So, what are you waiting for? Make a pattern. Make a print. Make a difference.

The site features some of the country’s biggest talents, including Debbie Stoller, Stitch ‘n Bitch, Heather Ross, Weekend Sewing, Christine Schmidt, Print Workshop and EcoSalon favorite, Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin.

Natalie Chanin’s workshops premiered this week.

This is not your average YouTube type tutorial. Creativebug’s state of the art audio and video production quality, short video segments and entertaining presentation make the videos accessible to artists of all skill levels.

“We want everyone to have access to world‐class instructors regardless of where they live and to learn when it’s convenient for them,” says Jeanne Lewis, Founder and CEO of Creativebug. “We believe everyone has a creative side and we offer an affordable and accessible way to learn new skills.”

The empowering mantras of the crafter, “Do it yourself,” “Reduce, Reuse and Recycle,” might just be the best way to achieving sustainability. The joy of creating things that have meaning to us, these are the things we’ll want to keep.

Like what you see? Stay tuned. We’ll be featuring one of Creativebug’s how-to videos weekly on a new series here on EcoSalon.

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VideoThe handmade world of designer Natalie Chanin.

In a feature Handmade Portraits series by Etsy we get an insider look at the handmade world of Natalie Chanin’s label, Alabama Chanin, a clothing line that is 100% completely sewn by hand by local artisans. You can learn more about Chanin by reading her series here on EcoSalon called Material Witness.

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A list of the top sustainable designers currently on the fashion scene.

Sustainable fashion has come a long way since its humble beginnings with more and more designers taking chances with fabrics, silhouettes and collaborations. Here we offer you an extensive list of what we consider to be the top designers in the sustainable fashion field.

A.D.O. Organics, New York, NY: GOTS (global organic trade standard) certified fabrics, chemical-free herbal dyes, Fair Trade.

Afia, New York, NY: Sustainable women’s clothing line sourced and sewn in Ghana, West Africa.

Ajna, New York, NY: Certified organic and sustainable textiles, collaborates with indigenous textile artisans.

Alabama Chanin, Florence, Alabama: Slow design, organic fabrics, recycled materials, minimal waste, made by local artisans in Florence, Alabama.

Alder, New York, NY: Part of the Pratt Design Incubator, all made in the U.S., materials sourced locally.

Allison Parris, New York, NY: Recycled materials, end run fabrics, organic silks, made in Manhattan.

Ambika, Catskills, NY: Made from shorn and brushed Angora rabbits on Ambika Conroy’s own rabbit farm in upstate New York.

Auralis Herrero, New York/Puerto Rico: Organic fabrics, promotes sustainable economies in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Avery by Wang, Vancouver, Canada: Recently launched, organic cotton, hemp.

Awamaki Lab, New York and Ollantaytambo, Peru: A Peruvian non-profit working with impoverished Quechua women weavers.

Carrie Parry, New York, NY Produced ethically and locally in the New York Garment District, sourcing environmentally conscious materials and textiles supporting artisanal communities worldwide.

Christopher Raeburn, London: Christopher Ræburn has become known for his utilization of re-appropriated military fabrics to create garments that are functional, intelligent and meticulously crafted.

Clary Sage Organics, San Francisco, CA: Clary Sage Organics is committed to using 100% organic or ecologically sustainable products.

Costello Tagliapietra, New York, NY: Uses AirDye waterless technology to create all their prints, made in New York City’s Garment District.

Crop by David Peck, Houston, TX: Manufactured with textiles dyed in the United States and select fabrics imported from fair trade co-operatives in India.

Curator, San Francisco, CA: Made in San Francisco, organic cottons, hemp, minimal waste.

EcoSkin, Los Angeles, CA: EcoSkin uses only environmentally sustainable luxury fabrics woven, dyed and sewn in the U.S.

Eko-Lab, New York, NY: 100% organic materials, natural vegetable dyes, all made locally by New York City artisans.

Elroy, Vancouver, BC: Uses organic cotton, bamboo, tencel, linen, hemp, wild silk, pineapple, wool and upcycled fabrics, manufactured by a small, family-run cottage industry in Indonesia, designed in Canada.

Eva Zingoni, Paris, France: Made in France from recycled materials, limited edition, surplus fabrics from Parisian fashion houses.

Feral Childe, New York City/Oakland, California: Organic textiles, recycled textiles and accessories, made in New York City.

Frei, Chicago: Organic cottons, natural dyes, and locally manufactured textiles.

Gretchen Jones, New York: Sustainable fabrics, made in New York City’s Garment District.

Harricana by Mariouche, Montreal, Canada: Recycled fur, recycled materials.

H Fredriksson, New York, NY: Silk, made in New York City.

Honest By, Antwerp, Belgium: 100% transparent company from production to sales, organic fabric, certified organic wools.

Indigenous, Santa Rosa, CA: organic fabrics, Fair Trade, low impact dyes, free range alpaca.

IOU Project, Tamil Nadu, India: The IOU Project makes unique, handmade, traceable apparel, Fair Trade.

Isoude, Newport, Rhode Island: Made in the U.S.A., silks, hand dyeing.

Juleselin, San Francisco, CA: Created from organic cotton and recycled fabrications, sweatshop free.

Kelly Lane, Pittsburgh, PA: Created from sustainable fabrics, made in New York City’s Garment District.

Koch, Dallas, TX: Sustainable fabrics, made in Dallas and LA.

Lara Miller, Chicago, IL: Multi-functional clothing, organic cottons, hand-loomed bamboo, hemp and vegan silk, made in Chicago.

Lavuk, Los Angeles, CA: Sweatshop free and made locally in Los Angeles with sustainable materials such as organic cotton, tencel, hemp and dead stock silks, multi-functional clothing.

Lina Rennell, Northern California: The Rennell line is an art brand with a heavy focus on original print work, U.S. production, sustainable textiles, craft and high-end tailoring.

Loomstate, New York, NY: Organic cotton, tencel, reduced water consumption, reduced waste, pursuing a closed loop product life cycle.

Loup Charmant, New York, NY: Organic cotton, natural dyes, silks, made in New York City’s Garment District.

Made By, Peruvian Highlands: Eco-friendly Alpaca yarns, hand knit by the local highland Artisans of Peru, Fair Trade, organic colorants.

modaspia, Placerville, CA: Organic fabrics, end run fabrics, made in San Francisco.

Nau, Portland, Oregon: Organic cottons, silks, tencel, recycled materials, cruelty-free wool, partners for change with Ashoka, Ecotrust, Kiva and Mercy Corps.

100% NY, New York, NY: Organic, recycled, and ethical materials, produced entirely in New York.

Organic by John Patrick, New York, NY: Handmade metallic lace, sustainable recycled wool, organic cotton, biodegradable cotton cupro, vegetable-tanned leather, hand-loomed Angora, digitally printed silks,

M. Patmos, New York, NY: Eco-friendly merino wool and alpaca, faux fur made from wool and alpaca, and vegetable tanned leather, handwork techniques from women’s artisan collectives in Nepal and Bolivia, as well as zero-waste seamless knitting technology from Japan.

Portland Pendleton Collection: Portland, Oregon: Pendleton fabrics are woven exclusively in Pendleton’s Northwest Mills and all of the apparel is sourced and produced in the U.S.

Partimi, London: Digitally-printed silks, organic wools, modals, milk fibers, and luxurious cashmere.

Piece x Piece, San Francisco, CA: The fabric used in each piece is selected from a changing stock of luxury discards.

The Podolls, San Francisco, CA: 100% organic Supima Cotton, made in the U.S.

Popomomo, Los Angeles, CA: Organic cottons, Cupro, recycled materials, made in Los Angeles.

Prairie Underground, Seattle, Washington: Organic cotton, hemp, designed and manufactured in the U.S.

Raleigh Denim, Raleigh, NC: Handcrafted denim on vintage machines from the 1920s, sustainable cotton, organic cotton for Fall 12.

RESTORE Clothing, New York, NY: Repreve® Recycled Nylon, made in the New York City Garment District.

Rogan, New York, NY: Silks, organic cotton, alpaca, wool, bamboo, made in the U.S.

Samantha Pleet, New York, NY: Organic cottons, silks, Made in the U.S.

Soham Dave, New York, NY: Soham Dave focuses primarily on using biodegradable fabrics, recycled materials, and hand embroideries.
 

Stewart+Brown, Los Angeles, CA: Organic cotton, organic pima cotton, hemp, surplus fabrics, Mongolian Cashmere produced through a sustainable supply chain, Fair Trade.

Study NY, New York, NY: Organic cotton, linen, recycled materials, zero waste, made in New York.

Suzanne Rae, New York, NY: Silks, organic cottons, other sustainable materials when possible, made in New York City’s Garment District.

Thieves, Toronto, Canada: Soy, hemp, organic cotton, bamboo, Tussah Silk, organic wool, Seacell, tencel.

Titania Inglis, New York, NY: Japanese organic cotton, French vegetable-tanned leather, and dead stock wool from New York’s garment industry, made in New York.

Vaute Couture, New York, NY: Vegan, fair trade.

Did we miss someone? Email amy@ecosalon.com with your tip!

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In ever-increasing numbers, women are starting fulfilling businesses that also impact communities.

Female-founded, women-run businesses are on the rise. The numbers of women rising to the corporate c-suite are slowly increasing, but women are redirecting their ambition, and most importantly, their creativity and drive, toward starting and nurturing companies that fulfill them. The reasons for women to strike out on their own range from millennials that burn out from corporate life and look for something more, to women who have hit the glass ceiling, to those, overwhelmingly, who want to be in control of their own future, define their own work/life balance, assert their independence and fulfill the need they see in their own and other communities.

Here are eight inspiring companies and their founders.

Drop the Chalk (Kickboard)

Founder Jennifer Schnidman Medbery studied computer science at Columbia, but joined Teach for America after graduation. While she was teaching, she realized how much time teachers spent recording data, and how little time they had to analyze and act on it. Kickboard allows teachers to enter student data, analyze trends and customize learning for students. Medbery piloted the software in several New Orleans schools and more schools are adopting the system by leaps and bounds.

Style Seat

Style Seat‘s business allure is its two-pronged approach: it boosts local businesses and taps the lucrative hair salon industry. CEO Melody McCloskey got the idea when she was looking for someone who specialized in cutting curly hair. Hair salons are extremely individualized local businesses, so when you move to a new town it’s hard to find a stylist other than through word of mouth. Hair salons are also slow to adopt online tools to grow their businesses, so Style Seat provides a unique set of options, including online profiles, price ranges, and stylist’s schedules so clients can see who is available in a certain timeframe. On the other side, stylists can track trends like which days they traditionally have fewer clients and then have the option to run a promotion. Growing local economies has been touted as one of the ways our society can recover from this slump, so Style Seat is imminently sustainable and infinitely scalable. Since its start in May 2011, hundreds of thousands of stylists and clients have found their matches.

Solar Sister

When Katherine Lucey was an energy executive, she noticed that the large-scale energy projects she was helping implement in Uganda, weren’t reaching the rural population. She conceived and started Solar Sister, an Avon-type business model where women can start their own businesses for a nominal fee, bringing solar lamps to homes and communities. Before solar lighting, many families spent the evening in the dark, or used unsafe and expensive kerosene lamps. Solar Sister is expanding its operations from Uganda into other communities in rural Africa.

Nom Nom Truck

The food truck industry is booming recently. Co-founders Jennifer Green and Misa Chien met as undergraduates at UCLA, and after graduation they took $25,000 of family money and life savings and rented their first Nom Nom truck. The pair launched their Vietnamese cuisine on the LA scene to a waiting Twitter following. An appearance on The Great Food Truck Race introduced their unique menu to the nation. Nom Nom uses healthy, local ingredients, and eco-friendly products while serving banh mi cuisine to more than 800 people a day in both LA and San Francisco.

Gianna 

Gianna Driver spent part of her childhood living in a women’s shelter with her Filipino mother. At 16, she was the first in her family to go to college (later attending Wharton) which led to a career in commercial insurance. She left the business world behind when she realized that she wanted to empower women like the ones she saw in the shelter growing up. Gianna employs women in India, Laos, Thailand and the Philippines to handcraft accessories and items for home decor. Gianna focuses on fair trade for the severely disadvantaged in rural villages or urban slums. First, she identifies a group that already produces a craft and constructs a business support system aimed at empowering the women and allowing them to achieve independence. Gianna works to preserve both the cultural heritage and the environment, using organic and recycled materials.

Code for America

“Fundamentally, it’s all about helping American cities use web technology to do a better job of providing services to citizens.” Founder Jen Pahlka patterned Code for America after Teach for America, aiming to tackle municipal issues by recruiting the best and brightest coders to focus on specific city issues. Each year the organization accepts applications from both cities and web developers to participate. Teams are matched with cities and specific problems are identified and scoped. The projects run for 11 months, and the goal is to develop web applications that enable cities to engage their residents in ways that reduce administrative costs, move toward transparency and collaboration, and are shareable – which means that an application built for one city can be used by any other city. In a time when city government budgets are being slashed, yet communities need local government to implement important measures to help cities grow, Code for America can be instrumental in helping municipalities move forward.

Alabama Chanin

Yes, we love Natalie Chanin, but she belongs here due to her sustainable focus and benefit to her surrounding communities. Alabama Chanin crafts limited-edition, handmade products for individuals and the home, focusing on slow design and sustainability. Talented artisans from and around Florence, Alabama use new, organic and recycled materials to create unique items.

Women 2.0

Finally, we give a nod to Women 2.0, a new media company that supports and champions women-founded businesses. Founders Shaherose Charania and Angie Chang work to “Inform, inspire and educate a new generation of females that are entrepreneurial and successful.” The business incorporates a blog to give women a voice, events to bring female entrepreneurs together and “enables entrepreneurs with a network, resources and knowledge to take your startup from idea to launch.”

Images: Victor1558, Solar Sister, Alabama Chanin, ThinkPublic, Flavia Brandi, Jek in the box, Gianna, Trey Ratcliff, Tara Hunt

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Natalie Chanin releases the third book in her sewing trilogy.

It’s no secret we have a thing for Natalie Chanin of Alabama Chanin here on EcoSalon.

An entrepreneur, designer, author, lecturer and strong businesswoman who went back to her roots in Florence, Alabama to stimulate local economy (as well as her own quest for a little life/work fulfillment), Natalie is a one-woman rocket ship of sustainable goodness.

In her third book Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, we get to pick up on the “conversations and techniques begun with the Alabama Stitch Book and Alabama Studio Style.” With each book lending itself to the other as to the workings and lifestyle of the Alabama Chanin woman, readers of all three books will now have the tools to make anything they’ve ever seen on the Alabama Chanin site – minus the in-house Depression Era stitchers.

We caught up with Natalie this past week to tell us more about her new DIY masterpiece. Speaking of that book, did we mention that we’re also giving a copy away? It’s no lie. Just leave a comment at the bottom of this story and you are entered to win!

How is Alabama Studio Sewing + Design different from the Alabama Stitch Book and Alabama Studio Style?

Alabama Studio Sewing + Design is really the culmination of what was originally seen as a trilogy.  Each book builds on the other, but also stands on its own.  However, this book is more about the actual “fashion” of what we do… more intricate, more sophisticated, more patterns, more techniques…

With the compilation of the three books, you should be able to recreate any fabric and technique that we have ever designed at Alabama Chanin.

Talk about the importance of sharing “techniques that were once understood as essential survival skills?” Have we as a society lost touch with the importance of using our hands to create?

There is much talk at the moment about how being able to “do” or “make” for ourselves also makes us HAPPY.  I believe that this is a huge leap in understanding human behavior and a missing piece in our role as human beings today.  How simple: develop the capacity to do for yourself (in whatever small way) AND build neural pathways to happiness. I think back to my grandmother’s ever-moving hands and her pride in doing for her family and it makes me sigh… “Yes, I understand.”

I see the open-sourcing you offer in Alabama Studio Sewing + Design working for Alabama Chanin in two ways: 1., It gives people the opportunity to own Alabama Chanin by making and 2., it gives people an appreciation for what you do as a designer. Am I right?

The original thought in writing the books was to empower people to be able to make our garments.

I wrote in the introduction: “I have been asked many times why I choose to write books and, in the process, open-source (that is, freely share) instructions for making Alabama Chanin’s couture collections. The answer is not as straightforward as you might think. It is based on my belief that good design should be available to all and my desire to build a company that is sustainable in all of its practices. By sharing our skills in these books, I hope to shed light on not only how we can preserve precious natural resources but also how we can preserve and protect techniques that were once understood as essential survival skills.

 While Alabama Chanin dresses, skirts, tops, and coats have been beautifully featured in countless magazines and newspapers, and on television shows and websites, they have also been criticized for being “elitist,” and “inaccessible” because of their price. Truth be told, our clothing is extremely expensive. This is because it is made from domestic, organic, custom-dyed cotton jersey that is cut, painted, sewn, and embellished by hand in America by skilled artisans. And while we sell our collection to some of the most upscale stores and clients, we run our business in the most down-to-earth, simple way imaginable. In the beginning, we worked from a three-bedroom, brick, ranch-style house in rural Alabama, a home that my grandfather built. Today we work from a reclaimed textile factory built in the 1980s—when manufacturing was booming in the South. Our studio—which we call The Factory—has become a busy hub, where we concentrate on building a zero-waste company. Our employees earn a living wage, and while none of us is getting rich, at least in terms of our bank accounts, we are, indeed, rich in spirit, belief, passion, and friendship. “Elitist” is the antithesis of how the company works and who I am as a designer, entrepreneur, and citizen.”

 The piece I think you initially understood – better than I – is that the books have ALSO given a broader range of people an appreciation of the work we are doing. Thank you.

Do you see the DIY movement getting stronger? Is this maybe an entire generation of women ready to use their hands again to create their own clothing and be a little more self-sufficient?

I do see DIY as a very quickly growing movement – or should I say, a “remembering” of where we come from. And I find it very inspiring to see people – young and old, man and woman – searching for their voices in this conversation and using these tools as a form of sustainability – both cultural and physical. My interest in this conversation is to help find the intersection of DIY, Craft, Fashion and Design (all with capital letters).

Image: Abrams Books

The post Natalie Chanin Releases Alabama Studio Sewing + Design (And We’re Giving It Away!) appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnNatalie Chanin’s bi-weekly column, Material Witness, offers a seasoned designer’s perspective on the fashion industry, textile history and what happens when love for community trumps all.

This is a conversation that played out in my head countless times this last week:
“I need to sit down and write the EcoSalon column.”
“The laundry really needs to get done.”
“I NEED to sit down and write the EcoSalon column.”
“Maybe, I should go weed the garden.”
“I NEED to SIT DOWN NOW and write the EcoSalon column.”
“There is that bird pecking around in the yard, I could go stare at it for a while.”

It is Thursday afternoon and the post is not done. We have ALL been in this situation before. It’s the story where the work ahead seems daunting, or maybe we have done so much work recently that we don’t have the mental capacity to think, or maybe it’s just that our children are away and the house is silent – something that happens very rarely. For whatever reason, we pause, sit, stare at the wall, and then go make a tea.

As I sit and drink my tea, my mind wanders back to a day eleven years ago when I arrived in the city of my childhood, Florence, Alabama, to start the “project” that has become Alabama Chanin. As many of you my already know, years ago, I had a dream to create 2000 one-of-a-kind t-shirts. I wrote a proposal, raised the money (thank you Lisa), and prepared to come home, and arrived on December 23rd, 2000.

My mother’s sister had just purchased a home that was built by my father’s father, next to one she was living in that was built by  their father. She phoned me in New York a week before I was to arrive and asked: “Would you like to rent the old McCorkle place?” “YES,” I replied.  So, I rented the house – sight unseen – and headed home to the Shoals Community for what I thought was to be four weeks. Eleven years later, I am still here.

The house my aunt had just purchased had been empty for quite some time as the former owner had moved to a nursing home. In the south, an entire town can disappear in two years or less when left unattended. Vegetation thrives, animals root, and anything left for abandoned soon begins to melt back into the earth. This is the power of nature.

Days before I arrived, my aunt and her husband had cut their way into the backdoor with a chain saw. They opened up the house, took a quick order of affairs, and provided a mattress for my first night.  On that cold December day, sometime around dark, I arrived in a New York City rental car to a house that smelled like a combination of old fried chicken bones, a family of cats, and something vaguely reptilian. (In Alabama, when you catch that whiff, you automatically assume snakes.)

While I was grateful for this opportunity to be able to realize my dream project, I laid down that night in the middle of an empty room, and cried.  It seemed I had made a very bad mistake. My dream wasn’t quite so dreamy after all.

My mind raced around the fact that I had ABSOLUTELY no idea how I was ever going to make this project come together. I had been winging it all along and was not competent enough to pull this off. I had a film crew arriving from Austria in ten days to shoot a documentary film about old-time quilting circles, and I didn’t have a place to make them a cup of coffee. If I were to realize my plan of presenting 200 one-of-a-kind t-shirts during New York Fashion Week in six weeks, I was going to have to start working the very next morning to get them done. Lying on a borrowed mattress, I sobbed, whined, and beat myself up, while I constantly kept watch for the movement of anything wild – be it bug, reptile, or otherwise.

I am not sure when I fell asleep but I did finally sleep a few winks and woke up without snakes (who are known to seek out human warmth). I sat up, red-eyed, and assessed the situation. The sun was shining. I was sleeping in a heart-pine paneled room circa 1950s style that was a kitchen/open living room. Bright yellow and green vinyl tile a la 1970s crossed the space to the back door that looked out to a scrub forest which was really just an over-grown back yard. I don’t remember a sound.

I sat there in the silence as my mind continued to race:
“I really should get up and make some coffee.”
“I should just lie back down and stare at the ceiling.”
“I really should get up and get started.”
“Well, there is that bird pecking around in the yard, I could go stare at it for a while.”
Sound familiar?

To make a long story short, I got up that morning – Christmas Eve – and made some tea in a borrowed pot. And after the tea was done, I filled the kitchen sink with water and took one of the rags my aunt had so generously left and started to clean.  My thought was to clean a section of the kitchen counter that I would have a place to sit back down.
I proceeded to clean the whole kitchen.

When the kitchen was finished, I looked around. The room – and my life – felt completely overwhelming; however, I decided that I could clean just one of those heart-pine boards. As I began to wash that first board, underneath its black patina, a beautiful pattern emerged. I looked at that 300 year old piece of wood, and I cleaned, and I stopped thinking. When the first board was finished, I realized that every board in that room must be just as beautiful, and I cleaned a second one. By the time the sun started to go down behind that overgrown backyard, I had washed every board in that room – one board at a time. Finally sitting down, I realized that I had the stamina to do anything that needed to be done to realize my dream. In that moment, I knew in my heart that board-by-board is the way we get things done in life.  All we need is the focus to see one board at a time.

In this New Year, when I think of running my business, raising my daughter, writing a post for EcoSalon, or that really overwhelming thought of making a difference in a fast-fashion world, I will remind myself that we are assured a better place – and real change – if we keep at it board-by-board.

P.S. With the Vienna film crew who did have coffee in my kitchen after all.

Natalie Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of three books including Alabama Stitch Book  (2008), Alabama Studio Style (2010) and the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design which comes out spring 2012. Look for her bi-weekly column, Material Witness here and follow her on Facebook and her own blog at Alabama Chanin.

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ColumnNatalie Chanin’s bi-weekly column, Material Witness, offers a seasoned designer’s perspective on the fashion industry, textile history and what happens when love for community trumps all.

Last year, Alabama Chanin was included in the Starbucks campaign: Stories are Gifts – Share. See the video below. We met some lovely new friends – Jamie, David, and Luke – who traveled to Alabama to tell our story and celebrate with us.

A year later, it is nice to be reminded that home is a special place; your home and the people around you help create who you are. A home can be anywhere and your family can be made up of so many people, regardless of their biological relationship to you. Alabama Chanin was born out of my own “coming home,” of the distinct sense of place that is my community.

We often say that we at Alabama Chanin are a family. In fact, we say it so often that I fear it is beginning to sound a bit trite. But, please know that there is no underlying falseness in this sentiment. This family that we have created is the heart and soul of our company. We hope that you can feel it in everything that we do.

Embrace your family, whether they are yours by blood or by choice. Reach out to those who mean the most to you. To paraphrase my grandfather, a truly wise man: alone we can be weak and subject to the harshness of the world, to those who wish to hurt us or circumstances that may fracture our spirits; as a family, we can stand strong against those things that might wish to injure us. We are protected and supported, celebrated and loved.

Happy Holidays.

The Heart and Soul:

Natalie Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of three books including Alabama Stitch Book  (2008), Alabama Studio Style (2010) and the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design which comes out spring 2012. Look for her bi-weekly column, Material Witness here and follow her on Facebook and her own blog at Alabama Chanin.

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ColumnNatalie Chanin’s bi-weekly column, Material Witness, offers a seasoned designer’s perspective on the fashion industry, textile history and what happens when love for community trumps all.

“I can’t believe that I am doing this.” Wait. Laugh. Repeat. These were the words I kept echoing over and over again as I sat at Gate B27 in the Atlanta Airport. My girlfriend, Jennifer Venditti, is sitting across from me, looking like a vision of New York City chic. I stare at her in amazement. We are waiting to board a flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with plans to catch up on the last six months of one another’s lives.

The thing is, while I am an adventurer at heart, I am also a mother and can’t impulsively jump on planes to go in search of truth in the New Mexico desert – or perhaps I should I say that I haven’t done something like this since the summer of 2005 when I learned of my daughter Maggie’s imminent approach. However, the subject of just such a trip came up during a recent phone conversation with Jennifer. Before we hung up the phone, I’d already made my decision, logged onto my computer, and searched for a flight. I interrupted Jennifer to say, “I just bought my ticket. I can’t believe I am doing this.”

In the few weeks before the trip, we lightly perused the internet, were sent many tips by friends, and talked about some of our options. But, truth be told, we didn’t really make a detailed plan. Our agenda was to meet at the Atlanta airport, board the plane to New Mexico, and travel the back roads through Santa Fe to the Mabel Dodge Luhan House in Taos.

Neither of us had ever heard of Mabel Dodge and neither of us will ever be the same.

There are plenty of books about Mabel Dodge, but the Mabel Dodge Luhan House website describes her as this: “She was a woman of profound contradictions. She was generous. She was petty. Domineering and endearing. She was Mabel Gansen Evans Dodge Sterne Luhan – salon hostess, art patroness, writer and self-appointed savior of humanity.”

Mabel Dodge Luhan portrait

The pictures and the papers held by Yale University are fascinating.

A supporter of the arts, Mable changed lives, including – but not limited to – Georgia O’Keefe’s, whose room we stayed in and whose portrait you see above.

In researching, I found several accounts that Dennis Hopper wrote the script for Easy Rider at Mabel Dodge Luhan House and that he also edited parts of the film in those rooms. In fact, he owned the house for a time in the 1960s.

From the website: “Today as you approach the house of Mabel Dodge Luhan, it’s easy to see why some of the greatest minds of the 20th century were inspired here. Situated at the end of a quiet road not far from the center of town, the house appears much as it did in the days when Mabel admired her views of the sacred Taos Mountains from the third-story solarium. One can only imagine the tantalizing conversations that must have taken place within these walls. After all, Georgia O’Keeffe stayed here. So did D.H. Lawrence, Ansel Adams, Martha Graham and Carl Jung, among many other notables.”

In fact, D.H. Lawrence painted her bathroom windows so that she could exercise a bit of privacy in her own home.

I find it astounding that almost 40 years after her death, her presence and the space she built to foster creativity continues. Her passion is alive in those walls. I can hardly walk through the sitting room without the desire to sit down in front of the ever-blazing fire and start to write (paint, sketch, sew, fill in the blank ____). But, I don’t sit down and write; I sit down and dream.

When I tire of dreaming, I take walks in the clear mountain air. I feel like I can think for the first time in years.

I visit Mabel Dodge Luhan’s grave to say thank you. Others have been there before me. It is Thanksgiving Day.

I have had the luxury – through my work – to travel to many places and meet many people over the years. But I have seldom come upon a place where the desire to stay was quite so strong.

The trip did more than reinforce my perspective as a designer. Much more than that, it fostered my desire to share the process – even more than we do now in our Workshop Series. I sat on that couch and dreamed of a place – a space – where people could come to be inspired, to sit, to dream, and to heal from modern stresses. I dreamed of a place to nurture the creative spirit as Mabel Dodge Luhan nurtured mine – even from the grave. I returned home recharged, thankful, and ready to start looking for a space where this vision for learning and nurturing creativity can grow. And we will definitely be booking the Mabel Dodge Luhan House for a workshop sometime in the next year. I can’t wait to sit in front of that roaring fire again.

Coming home is truly the best part of adventure; however, a little piece of my soul is still at the Mabel Dodge Luhan House. And I keep a little part of that house with me each day – I remember to sit down in my own home and dream, if just for a minute. Sometimes the best gift we can give is one we give to ourselves. I know this may sound trite, but sometimes a woman (a mother, a designer, an entrepreneur, a girl) just needs a trip of one’s own.

Natalie Chanin is owner and designer of the American couture line Alabama Chanin and author of three books including Alabama Stitch Book  (2008), Alabama Studio Style (2010) and the upcoming Alabama Studio Sewing + Design which comes out spring 2012. Look for her bi-weekly column, Material Witness here and follow her on Facebook and her own blog at Alabama Chanin.

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