Hope you are enjoying the holiday season. Before the year was out I wanted to show you one of the projects I’ve been working on recently. This was a clergy stole for my friend Ange, the minister of a local church. She asked me if I could make her one for the Christmas Eve service. I immediately said yes as I saw this as a challenge and a great gift for this wonderful woman.
Here is Ange with Pastor Roberta. Their churches (Fresh Air and Grace and Peace)Â Â had a combined candlelight Christmas Eve service. Doesn’t she look lovely in her new stole?
We chose Celerian Blue, one of my favorite colors right now. I purchased some Kona cotton for the back and a heavier weight broadcloth for the front and dyed them.
Since I had never made a stole, I ended up buying a couple patterns online from Churchlinens and Serendipity Clergy Stoles. I made mockups since I didn’t really trust my sewing skills.
We ended up using the pattern from Church Linens and Serendipity’s directions. I say “we” because even after sewing those mockups I wasn’t sure I’d get it right, so I enlisted Tami, a local friend/seamstress, who whipped it up in no time!
Once the stole was sewn, I needed to stencil on the letters. My Silhouette Portrait came in handy cutting all of these freezer paper stencils. Choosing the paint color was challenging. Here are just some of the colors I tested.
From left to right: DeColourant, ProChem Dark Silver Probrite Textile Paint, Jacquard Lumiere Pearl White, Lumiere Bright Gold, Lumiere Metallic Copper, and Lumiere Halo Violet Gold.
I thought I’d like DeColourant, but it was way too light. The church members wouldn’t be able to see it from their seats. The second and third were never considered. I liked the gold for awhile. However, the more I looked at it, it looked way too yellow. The Metallic Copper was my choice until I stopped by Dick Blicks to use my coupon and there I found Halo Violet Gold. Looking at the jar I really didn’t think it would work, but it was so pretty that I just had to try it. I’m so glad. Although the Metallic Copper would have been fine, the Halo Violet just seemed to work best with the fabric.
Once my testing was done, it was time to stencil. Freezer paper stencils work so well on fabric. I continue to be amazed at the clean results I get from them. Here I am ironing the stencil to the stole.
And the finished stole.
And a closeup
What a fun project! I also used some of the leftover fabric for a small project I’ll share with you in the next couple of days. Thanks for stopping by.
It came out perfectly! I love the words, and the paint color is fabulous! So nice to see how it came together after we chatted so much about it. I really like how the pattern lays around the Pastor’s neck. Great job!
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Lisa, Thanks. And thanks for all of the encouragement. I’m really happy how it all turned out.
It’s lovely, Lynda! You are really getting a lot of use out of your stencil cutter, with great results! And I love the color you chose for the letters… very fitting!
thank you for the info, I am going to make a piece that hangs on the podium for next year, at our Church, The Positive Living Center in Oakhurst Ca.. and love the stole that you made, gives me some ideas.
Judy, Thank you. Yes, my Portrait really got a workout on this project. I couldn’t have done all of the testing without it.
Vivian, You are so welcome. Glad I gave you some ideas. I’d love to see what you come up with for your church. Thanks for dropping by.
The stole looks even more beautiful on Ange then it did when you sent the photo of the stole by itself. I like the way you went through all those choices of colors for the lettering to select just the right one. Great job!
Hi Sis! Thank you. I agree it looks great on Ange. Love you.
Really beautifully done Lynda… I think you have another step into heaven…and a very grateful friend! A special gift for sure.
Bethany
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Bethany, Thank you!
I was at the Christmas eve service. The stole is really very nice.
Jeff, Thank you.
Beautiful job, Lynda!
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Kathy, Thanks!