Finished

I used the orange silk from the lining to create a binding around the collar so that all the edges are finished and the part that kept wanting to ravel is now captured inside. I'm happy with the final product. I can't wait for Michael to come back on Wednesday so he can see it in person.

One more

another view

A little closer

Here you go Michael - it's together and pressed. The only thing remaining to do is fix the collar area - I think with some of the gold, then do any beading I may have time to do. It's pretty darned exciting.

The Long View

Coming Together

All that's left to do is sew the lining to the main body of the chausible and it's done!!!!! Of course, there's always beading - but it will be wonderful to have all the pieces together.

Almost there..........

Picture of the dove

Here's a picture of the Dove. I could not add it to the last post for some reason.

Just one week to ordination -- I can't believe how quickly the time has flown since we started talking about this.

Moving on to the end

Over the last couple of days I have been sewing on the appliques. I am happy to say that they are all on, sewn and done. What I can't decide is if that is enough definition around the pieces or if I should do more to make them stand out.



I will be taking everything to church tomorrow to finish cutting out the lining. It's just easier to have a couple of large tables together so the fabric isn't on the floor. I'm hoping to get some other opinions from Joyce and Pam and some of the altar guild folks. Yeah for other opinions!!!!

testing......

Tonight I reset all the applique pieces so that they are evenly placed on both sides. I am satisfied now that it is all set properly. Tonight or tomorrow I will be able to iron on the appliques then I'm on to sewing them down.

and that brings me to testing. I fused the different colors of silk onto the deep red silk that the chausible, then I tested a couple of different stitches and thread colors. Unfortunately the colors don't show up as well as I'd like in terms of a photo, but I have settled on the stitch and which colors of thread go with the different colors of silk on the applique. Hooray

Sunday - PROGRESS!!

I made quite a bit of progress this evening











There are a couple of pieces missing that need to be remade. Other than that the big question is - are the pieces lined up and correctly spaced. I'm leaving it up on my design wall and will take a look with a fresh eye tomorrow after work.

Cutting out the fabric

I have put this off for as long as I can. Today I finally - FINALLY - cut out the fabric for the chausible itself. I don't know why it seemed like it was going to be so difficult - but in the end it was a piece of cake. I cut out the outer part and the lining in less than 30 minutes.

It's funny how we psych ourselves out about things.

I'll have lots of scraps to play with for later creations - pretty exciting!

The design

I did a charcoal rubbing of the window, then translated it to tracing paper. From there I laid the design on a chausible and made the changes necessary to effect the curve of the chausible. I used the "cartoon" of the window to trace the pieces onto fusible web. From there I put the fusible web on the dupioni silk and cut out the pieces that will make up the stained glass effect.

This doesn't look like much on the white background - but will look great on the wine red dupioni silk that we are using for the chausible.

the beginning

About a year and a half ago I offered to make a chausible for a friend of mine who was studying for ordination to the priesthood at CDSP. At the time we started this project we didn't know for sure what the due date would be. Happily for Michael, the date has now been assigned and he will be ordained December 6, 2008 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco.

Over the intervening time, we have talked symbolism, drawn pictures of designs, chose fabrics and finalized a design for the chausible.

The design started with a stained glass window at St Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Concord, CA.