TESTIMONIALS
Testimonials are important in helping me provide you with the best experience with ordering from Stitching Sabbatical. It’s my mission to create the most accurate embroidered representation of your pet possible. Please let me know what you think of your portrait or the ordering process. I appreciate your feedback!
“I am a big believer in “good things come to those who wait”. I don’t even remember how I stumbled upon Michelle’s work years ago – but I do remember that it stopped me in my tracks. I followed her immediately and decided that one day, I would commission her to embroider my beloved senior pup – but I quickly realized how long her waitlist was, so I promptly signed up.
When the time finally did come, she could not have been easier or sweeter to work with. She made a mock up and tweaked things until it was just right – so thoughtful and intentional. I told her not to rush, as I wanted her to stitch him in her own time – when she felt called to and felt inspired. Over the next few months I would catch live videos on Instagram of her working on him, I would see periodic posts of progress, and one day before I knew it she was finished. To say that I was blown away is an absolute understatement.
My old boy is not an easy subject – I speak from experience photographing him for 13+ years. But for someone painstakingly recreating him with thread – I will never understand how she did it! He is scruffy and has become even more colorful as he ages. When he was younger he was black and tan, but now he has all the colors including grey and every shade in-between. And if you didn’t know you were looking at an embroidery, you would truly think you were looking at a photograph of him. It is by far, above and beyond, anything I ever could have imagined. Her talent is well worth the investment. She truly captured his essence – stitch, by tiny perfect, stitch.
I know I am partial to the subject, but this is one of my favorite pieces of artwork of all time – and it will have a special place in my heart and home as long as I shall live.
Thank you for sharing your talent with this world Michelle. No matter how much more time he and I are blessed with – you managed to find a way to help my sweet boy live on eternally, in that perfect little circle you created. And for that, I will forever and always be grateful to you.”
– Christie
“We cannot express what our Jack means to us, all framed up and hanging on the wall. He still is the first to greet us when we get home. Jack was Seth’s boy and losing him unexpectedly just crushed him. We were not even with him and did not get to say good bye.
You have given our boy back to us in a way that no one else could. He is priceless. Thank you so much for giving his eyes life again as he will forever live on in our hearts.”
-Julie & Seth
“My family loves our cat and we were looking for the perfect gift to capture our affection for him. We found it with Stitching Sabbatical! Michelle was very professional and I really appreciate the time, detail, and accuracy she puts into her work. My portrait came out looking exactly like our cat! The process was easy and I felt comfortable ordering from her. Definitely recommend!!”
– Steve Y.
“Our family commissioned Michelle to create a portrait of our good dogg boi Fogg. We could NOT be happier with the result!
I had followed Stitching Sabbatical on Instagram for many months before deciding to have a portrait done of our pug dog. I initially put my name on a waitlist, and Michelle contacted me soon after when she was able to begin working on our request. Emailing back and forth with her was convenient and her responses were quick. She communicated clearly and often with me through out the whole process.
I was given final approval on the draft sketch before she began stitch work on our pet portrait. This made me feel very involved in the process, which i loved because it felt very intimate and truly like a labour of love (which i believe to be true of Michelle and her work).
When Michelle began thread painting our piece i was lucky enough to watch the project through her many social media posts and live feeds of her working. It was amazing to watch her make the piece come to life more and more as time went on. It was very exciting! I shared these social media posts with friends and family who loved her work as well.
When she shipped our package she stayed in regular contact to ensure i got it when it was expected to arrive, and to make sure i was happy with the end result.
The packaging that Michelle uses is BEAUTIFUL, and is the figurative icing on the cake of this project.
Her artwork itself is breathtaking. Upon receiving it i found myself simply staring at the characteristics in astonishment, wondering how she could possibly capture so much detail and make it so life-like with only THREAD.
We could never express our full gratitude to Michelle for her sheer talent. Her art perfectly captures our pet and he will forever live on through the portrait we now have of him in a way that no photograph could ever capture. It was worth every cent to have this one-of-a-kind piece of art created just for our family. Thank you Michelle!“
-Kim
“After losing my dog Hope unexpectedly, I wanted to do something special to commemorate her. Michelle exceeded all of my expectations. Hope has a really distinct coat color (she’s an orange roan) and I didn’t know if it could be captured by embroidery. Watching Michelle’s Instagram feed and seeing the in progress photos had me REALLY excited so we planned a special unveiling for when HD’s portrait finally arrived. I opened it with my dad and a friend who both loved her tremendously and spent a lot of time with her. We ALL cried. The pictures Michelle sent were amazing, but somehow did not do the actual embroidery work justice. It is even more dimensional and detailed in real life. We honestly could not believe the finished product. I have her framed in a shadow box hanging by my bed now, and every day I take a moment to appreciate her. She’s been hanging on my wall for 9 months now and I still get that “WOW” feeling looking at it.”
-Evelyn K
“Stitching Sabbatical was one of the first accounts I followed on Instagram. I enjoy watching her pieces come to life. A few months later our beloved dog Jake passed away. I really wanted something special to remember him by. So I checked out Michelle’s wait list and added my information to it. A couple of weeks later she contacted me. We worked together to get a sketch of Jake using several photos.
It was wonderful to see Michelle work on Jake’s portrait and to see her posts on Instagram. But the final portrait is so much more beautiful than the photos online. I have Jake’s portrait hanging in my office and look at him every day.”
-Cindy