Saturday, August 27, 2011

Sewing for a Higher Power, Part Five

August has been the month of liturgical sewing. I've been working on the stoles for the red gold set this month, consisting of 3 priest stoles and a Byzantine stole for the deacon. I'm happy to report that they're all done and I'll be delivering them tomorrow!!

I've been asked to do some documentation on this project in case someone wants to attempt this project in the future. There are also bills to submit. But then I'm done, and hopefully out of the vestment business.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not sorry I took on this project and I've learned a lot about sewing silk dupioni. But making 2 sets of vestments is a major project. Each set consists of 3 priest stoles, a Byzantine (deacon) stole, and a chasuble--that's sewing 10 items and all that entails. Plus, I drafted patterns, made a prototype of the chasuble, calculated layouts, and sourced fabrics. It's a lot of work. Now that I've typed it all out, I don't feel bad that this project has taken more than a year(!) to complete.

After all that, here are some results. This round, I was working on the red-gold set. I made the matching chasuble last fall, so these are the remaining pieces. The priest stoles are all the same and look like this:


They are exactly the same style as the green silk ones I made before.

The deacon's stole is the same style but a different pattern than the green one. As I mentioned recently, she didn't like the fit of the green one so I made a new pattern from this stole:


It's a gorgeous piece from our Lenten set, made from hand woven wool ikat with a lightweight wool lining. It was made in France by this company:


I'm not sure if they have a web site, the rector actually found this place by accident on a trip. My version looks like this:


I'll have a few more posts in this series with more details on this stole vs. the green one, some sewing techniques, and a summary of all the pieces.

For my East Coast readers, stay safe and may any property damage be limited.

5 comments:

sdBev said...

I think it's wonderful that you have created religious vestments which will be used for years. Although I'm not the same sect as your own, I do appreciate the work of love you've presented to your church

Jane M said...

This is a delight to see. I was wearing a pieced scarf last fall and my minister asked about making her something in those lines. Not sure I'm up to the challenge for something so public so I respect your hard work.

Duchesse said...

What a wonderful gift, to give your skills. That ikat is exquisite.

The Slapdash Sewist said...

Congratulations on finishing the project! The work looks beautiful.

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