Sweet Sewn Alabama

HANDSTITCHED CONFECTIONS FROM THE SOUTH

In 2001, 42-year-old Natalie Chanin, on holiday in New York, found herself with a swanky dinnerparty invitation but without anything fabulous to wear. She decided to deconstruct an old T-shirt and re-stitch it so that the raised thread formed embroidered patterns. She paired the top with jeans and, well, her outfit was the hit of the evening. Chanin set a goal for herself: to make one uniquely designed shirt each day—200 in total. The project's time frame paralleled the shooting schedule of Stitch, a documentary she was making about the ladies of Alabama who famously construct colorful quilts. In a case of life imitating art, Chanin realized that her method of stitching was the same one used by her Florence, Alabama, ancestors. And while she had grand plans to showcase the T-shirts as part of an exhibition to coincide with the film's debut, fate would have it that, after seeing her collection, buyers from Barneys New York and Brown's in London would place orders. Chanin aptly named her label Project Alabama and secured a financier, Enrico Marone-Cinzano, the son of two great Italian dynasties, the Agnellis and the Cinzanos. "Whafs not to love? It's beautiful and it's 100 percent Americana," says Marone-Cinzano.

The two set up a farmhouse factory near Chanin's house, just a stone's throw from her grandparents' home in the community of Lovelace Crossroads, and recruited dozens of locals to sew the clothes by hand. Today, Chanin's line of heavy-cotton skirts, dresses, coats, shirts, and leather handbags is sold in Bergdorf's, Jeffrey, and L.A.'s Maxfield's, among other stores, and retails from $300 to $ 10,000. This fall, a second, lower-priced, machine-made line will launch. "The pride and passion poured into the making of each item is what makes Project Alabama special," explains Chanin. Every clothing label is numbered and bears the initials of its seamstress. "We believe in quality and it's a community project." Fortunately, we reap what these ladies sew. PUNCH HUTTON