Michael Portuesi is a former high-tech software developer and proprietor of Line of Selvage. One of his hobbies is amateur astronomy, and the idea of producing a custom-made astronomical sketchpad led him to take up sewing as a hobby in 2011.
In 2017, Michael decided to turn his passion into a new career. He left his high-tech career and enrolled in the Fashion program at City College of San Francisco, and in 2019 earned certificates of accomplishment in both Apparel Construction and Patternmaking for the fashion industry. He has been teaching sewing classes ever since, at local sewing studios, at private venues in the San Francisco Bay Area, and over the Internet via Zoom.
His interests are centered around men’s garment construction, everything from tailored jackets to hooded sweatshirts, from button-down dress shirts to jeans. To Michael sewing and fashion is one part art, one part creativity, one part craftsmanship and one part engineering.
About the Name
The name Line of Selvage is a melding of 1) the “selvage”, or the strip of finish of the ends of the fabric as it comes off the bolt and 2) the “line of scrimmage”, a term for the point at which two teams meet on the field in a game of American football. For Michael sometimes, the art of sewing seems like a faceoff between himself on one side, and the fabric, sewing machine, and pattern on the other.