black madonna - Monk at Keyboard

Stoles

These stoles were one of the first things I started with as a practical way of testing patterns and making something that could be used. So here we have the Black Madonna and the Coat of Arms on one side and St. Paul the First Hermit and the Motto on the other.

I have tweaked all the embroidery patterns since I first did them. Looking at St. Paul on the stoles and the palls, you will notice some changes. One day, once I think I have got to a point where I will not keep changing them, I will share the machine files.

In the first image, you can see all the parts stitched onto a single piece of cloth before I cut it up to make the stoles.

Palls

Another practical test run of some of the designs. Here I have the Black Madonna, St. Paul the First Hermit again (with minor changes) Bl. Eusebius (best first switching of a pattern so far), a few Coat of Arms, and a Coptic Cross.

In a previous post, I explained how I made the palls in more detail, so I will not repeat all those details here.

If you look up close, for example, at the Coat of Arms that has the red and gold border, you can see little gaps between where colours join, hence why I am still working on it. This one here was just how it came from Hatch Digitizer after automatically importing the artwork. On the other hand, the Black Madonna with the fleur-de-lis in the corner is a design I am almost sure I have got as good as I will make it after a few trials (also one I painfully traced out from a relatively poor quality photo).

The last image has the full linen set for a chalice, the pall, purification, corporal and finger towel. Here is a video of what that looks like on a chalice.

These Black Madonna Palls are part of a project I have been working on bit by bit for a while. It started when my mother asked me to do something with her new Embroidery machine. It was all computer automated, which was not so great for her, but perfect for me. So I set out on my mission to make some customised vestments. I just had to save every penny I could to get my machine. This post is about just a little bit of that project.

The creative part of the project is designing the patterns. I create the patterns on the computer with a program (with no sowing machine needed). You draw your shapes, pick your colours, stitch types and effects, and even the direction the stitches go in. It is kind of like drawing something in Photoshop, except because it is a mechanical process to “print” it out, you have to be aware of some pitfalls. Like picking a high stitch density will make a nice rich colour. However, it will pull the fabric more, causing things to misalign. I have been slowly learning those pitfalls through trial and error.

Anyway, here are some photos of it in progress on the machine. I like how it looks once the gold thread starts being done. Unfortunately, the gold thread is a pain to work with, as it is more fragile and breaks easier. So I end up having to rethread a few times. It is worth it, though.

Pressing Start to See the Result

I also recorded some of it in the video. The video has been sped up 8x.

The machine only can take one colour at a time, but it guides you through what colour when with its little display. It also tells you a lot of other information like time remaining and has a progress bar for the stitches.

Making the Paul

Turning the design into a pall for a chalice, I need a pocket to put a plastic or cardboard square into. So everything out of the hoop, tape another piece in place so it will not move, and a third to cover the gap. Put the original back in the frame, make sure it all lines up, and it is back on the machine to do a border.