St. Margaret Ivory Lurex Altar Frontal

St. Margaret Liturgical Brocade Fabric for Church Vestments

Weddings are a time of celebration, especially when the wedding is held during the Celebration of Christmas and the days awaiting the Epiphany.  This past winter our family had the joy of celebrating our daughter’s wedding on January 2nd.

Making an Altar Frontal and Pulpit Fall

Being a seamstress, and having sewn wedding gowns professionally for years, the plan was to make the Bride’s gown. But with a bride living out of state and having less than five months lead time for the wedding, the thought of making the bridal gown was unrealistic. Being a seamstress, a great deal of time was spent pondering what might be made by the works of my hands that would mark this special day for my daughter, and also fit within the season of the church year. The answer when one does Liturgical Sewing is to make a new altar frontal and pulpit fall.  Now our church does have a Christmas altar antependium and pulpit fall with specific Christmas motifs on it, but the set was made years ago when I was just beginning this Ecclesiastical Sewing journey. It was time for an update, and to change the existing Christmas set to a full frontal.

The set in the above photo is not “finished.”  It was made without a lining and is only attached to the canvas for now. Since timing was tight, there was not enough lead time to have designs digitized and embroidered for the Altar Frontal, Superfrontal, or Pulpit Fall. The plan was to start with the above pieces and then add the embroidered motifs when they were ready.  To make the task of going back and making future alterations and modifications to this set, the lower edge of the frontal was left to hang free from the supporting canvas interlining.

While the plan is to go back and add Christmas motifs to this altar frontal, one could also use it exactly as is. It is a festival altar frontal that would be suitable for either Christmas or Easter or any time the liturgical color of white is required. To make it easier to see all of the lovely white fabrics, we have created a picture gallery of white Liturgical Fabrics. To see our complete line of white liturgical fabrics please visit our online store at Ecclesiastical Sewing.

I have been waiting for months to see photos from the wedding. As a mother of the bride, I admit I left my camera at home and decided to wait for the official photographs of the day or photos from family and friends. This is the first photo I have seen of the church and the altar frontal, taken the evening before the wedding. Regretfully, it is a scan of a snapshot, so the image quality is poor. However, it is still useful in showing the beauty of the selected fabrics used in this altar frontal and pulpit fall.

Liturgical Fabrics

Fabric Selection

The fabrics selected for use in this project are St. Margaret in the Ivory Lurex color and St. Hubert in the Gold/Gold color. Oak Leaf gallon was used to edge the orphrey, and a metallic gold thread fringe graces the lower edge of the superfrontal and frontal.  The superfrontal is made entirely from the Gold/Gold St. Hubert with the metallic gold fringe as the only adornment. The frontal is made using St. Margaret as the base fabric, with orphreys of St. Hubert in Gold/Gold with the 1-inch wide Oak Leaf galloon used to finish the edges.  The above photo shows the lovely St. Margaret Ivory Lurex fabric. It is a lovely fabric that features a Tudor Rose and Crown Pattern amidst scrolling vines and floral motifs.

When making decisions as to the placement of a central motif on the altar frontal and pulpit fall, I had a difficult time deciding between the crown and the rose. The above photo shows the crown motif. Note the leaves coming over the top of the vine border and gracing the top of the crown, almost as if bowing to it in honor.

The Tudor Rose motif is regal with its accents of leaves and the vine border. Note the small cross detail that works into the vine pattern directly below the Tudor Rose

Which motif might you select as a focal point?  Either would work and be lovely. One factor that might force a decision would be the placement of seam lines and how they would fall for a particular project. That is what determined things in the end on this altar frontal.

As noted above, the orphrey bands on the frontal are made from the  St. Hubert Gold-Gold Liturgical fabric. The orphrey bands have the Oak Leaf Liturgical Galloon Edging.

The above photo captures the subtle shimmer that makes this liturgical fabric so lovely. I admit it was a challenge to capture this shot. It took hours and several days in the studio to be able to show the gleam of gold as the light reflected on this fabric. The eyes see the shimmer, but the camera lens struggles to capture it. It is elusive.

The thought of a winter wedding in Northern Minnesota over the New Year’s Holiday Weekend might be a cause for concern about the weather. But the weather cooperated, giving us a day that was sunny and bright, and as the sun streamed in the stained glass windows on the south side of the church, it shone directly on the beautiful altar frontal created to mark the day. And what do you think happened when the sunlight hit this fabric?  That’s right – it shimmered and glowed in the rays of the sunshine as the couple stood before the altar saying their vows. It was a site beautiful to behold!

The Ivory-Gold Lurex St. Margaret fabric, Gold-gold St. Hubert fabric, and Oak Leaf Galloon are all available at the Ecclesiastical Sewing online storefront. St. Margaret is also available in a range of solid colors and two-toned fabrics. St. Hubert is available in colors of white/gold, red/gold, blue/gold, and black gold.

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.

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