Sewing for the Lord
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Flying to Rome
I love making gifts and I give them happily with and without reason or occasion. This stole was for Fr Rafał, a missionary of St. Vincent de Paul who prepared me for Confirmation and was instrumental in my early faith formation. Our paths crossed again after thirty plus years and in Rome of all places.…
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Playing with Fire
It’s Pentecost two years later and the Spirit moved me again. I hadn’t do any sewing for a while and just needed to make something. After making Hope banners with our youth, I thought I might just play with Fire again – this time on the ambo drop. I must admit that when I cut…
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The wood of the Cross
When I started working on this design, I had something completely different on my mind. I drafted a picture of stained-glass cross, but when I went through the fabrics that I had at home, nothing matched my vision, so I decided to venture to the fabric shop. I found a Dupion Silk in antique gold…
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Linoso Cranberry
I couldn’t find the fabric for the red vestment for a long time. It was either wrong shade or wrong texture, but I eventually found Clarke & Clarke Linoso Cranberry fabric. It’s such a stunning colour and combined with a linen texture and the silver thread of the crosses, the vestment is simply breath-taking. All…
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For the Feast
The time has come for the white vestment. The fabric that I found has a linen texture that matches perfectly the minimalistic design of the cross. It was also beautiful and easy to work with. The challenge this time was a supply of the embroidery thread. When I made white drop for the ambo I…
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Deep Purple
I’ve been challenged by keeping the lines straight and the distances equal, by fabric deciding to make its own shape for my vestments, but nothing prepared me for what I experienced making the purple and pink vestments. Both are made from the same triple crepe fabric which has a lovely stone texture, rich colours and…
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The first vestment
For various reasons it took some time to make the first vestment. It’s a monastic vestment. I didn’t have a pattern or vestment to copy as until now we didn’t have any monastic vestments in the parish. All I had was a picture and one that wasn’t showing the shape very well, so getting the…
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The beauty and the challenge of simplicity
When I saw the design for the ambo and the tabernacle drops in our church, I instantly loved its simplicity. The simplicity and the minimalism of this cross are so powerful, so beautiful, so drawing in… Simple doesn’t always mean easy… I was certain that it would be, but I was very mistaken. It took…