Future Projects Design Time

After a weekend of cleaning and organizing all of the pattern ideas and printouts for Ecclesiastical Sewing and Ecclesiastical Embroidery Designs, it was time to start working on some new Ecclesiastical embroidery patterns.  The first design getting underway is an IHS Ecclesiastical Embroidery Design.    IHS is a symbol of the name of Jesus.  It has an ancient history and is used in the Church. A variation of the symbol that is often seen is IHC.

The IHS Ecclesiastical Embroidery Design will be used on the Rose Set of Vestments.  The Rose Vestments and altar hangings are used two times during the church year.  The first use is on Gaudete Sunday which is the third Sunday in Advent. The second use of Rose Vestments is on Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent.

IHS Ecclesiastical Embroidery Design

 The IHS Ecclesiastical Embroidery Design must be rather on the simple and elegant side.  And, as luck would have it, there is a design that I like that is very simple and elegant.  It will be worked on a background of silk stitched in place over linen.  When completed, the design will be pounced onto a colored silk, and stitched with goldwork threads.

The design for this is a photocopy that does not need much in the way of work. A few design lines were missing on the pattern, but that was soon fixed.  The lettering style on this design is rather flowing with some curls and little flourishes.  The IHS Embroidery design is in the foreground with a cross in the background.  Surrounding the IHS and cross is a variation of quatrefoil design framing the letters.

Ecclesiastical Embroidery Pattern

After enlarging the Ecclesiastical Embroidery pattern to about 14″ in size for use on an altar frontal, it was time to start transferring the design to paper. The paper must be a proper weight when using the prick and pounce method to transfer the Ecclesiastical pattern onto the fabric.  I use a homemade pricker made out of a piece of cork and a size 10 needle.  There are fancy hand embroidery prickers available for purchase, but the homemade versions work well for now.

Pattern-making: A Labor of Love

Now one has to admit that pattern-making can go one of two ways. It can be a great deal of fun, or it can become tedious.  It is a process that I enjoy most of the time, and there are certain times, when I’m in the right mood, and I love this part of the process in Ecclesiastical Sewing and Ecclesiastical Embroidery.

So this is the project for now as far as the IHS Ecclesiastical Embroidery Design goes.  There is another part in planning the design, how and on what it will be sewn on, and the colors. That part also happens, and decisions are made.  I look forward to sharing those thoughts with you soon. I can tell you this. The background on this design will include some silk fabrics  The next part is getting silks ordered for the background and stitching.  I’ll share more about the silks and the reason for their selection soon.  I will also share photos of the beautiful Ecclesiastical Fabric which is a tapestry that will be used for the orphrey bands.  Now it is back to pattern work and the making up of a few more designs.  Happy stitching!

Solo Dei Gloria

Be sure to visit our online store front Ecclesiastical Sewing where you may shop for Liturgical Fabrics, altar linen fabrics, church vestment-making patterns, liturgical machine embroidery designs,  church vestment trims and notions and so much more. You may also find us on  Ecclesiastical Sewing on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of the page on our online store front and receive a free copy of our Small Linens Booklet as our way of saying thank you for following along.

IHS Ecclesiastical Design First Stitches

IHS Ecclesiastical Embroidery A Little Progress

IHS Embroidery Update

IHS Lenten Hand Embroidery Design