Feature Friday: Sewstine
(Photograph by @lindseyhindererportraits)
If you are part of the costume community and haven’t seen any of Sewstine’s incredible creations yet, prepare for your jaw to drop! Christine (aka Sewstine) is a talented costumer, who specializes in recreating gorgeous elaborately embroidered historic clothing using digital embroidery machines. With projects from the 18th century to the Edwardian era, her work is the perfect mix of historical inspiration blended with modern technology!
(Photograph by @lindseyhindererportraits)
Even better, once she is finished with a project, she makes the digital files available in her Etsy shop so you too can make your own embroidered confection! With so many beautiful patterns in her shop, it is hard to pick a favorite, but we love her recently finished 1790s grape dress, which you can purchase as a standard pattern or have made as a custom digital pattern to perfectly fit your specific measurements.
Sewstine also sells ready-made embroidered pieces and kits if you don’t have access to an embroidery machine yourself. We are particularly charmed with the 2020 Dumpster Fire Pocket design, which you can purchase as a pre-embroidered panel or as hand embroidered pattern or machine embroidery files. It’s the perfect memento for this crazy year!
Don’t let the fact that these projects are machine embroidered fool you into thinking they are somehow less involved than traditional embroidery. Christine generously shares her process via her Instagram account, blog, and YouTube channel, and the amount of work she puts into each design is truly impressive! For example, you can watch her process of digitizing a piece of historical embroidery in the video below.
Sewstine also recently started a line of beautiful badge clips, perfect to use at conventions (whenever we get to have those again), or a more timely example, if you work in healthcare or education. This Keep Calm and Carry On badge feels particularly appropriate for the nurse or teacher in your life.
You can find Sewstine’s collection of digital embroidery patterns, kits, and badges on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/SewVeryStine
You can find Sewstine elsewhere online at:
Blog — sewstine.com
Instagram — @sewstine
Facebook — www.facebook.com/sewstineshop