Chi Rho Liturgical Machine Embroidery Design

Chi Rho Liturgical Machine Embroidery Design:

This morning I heard rumors of a heavy frost in Northern Minnesota, and that means only one thing. The summer months have faded into fall and colder weather is on the way. I have had a brief respite from the seasonal changes happening in the Lakes Area of Northern Minnesota, as I have been doing a bit of traveling this fall, enjoying some delightful fall weather in Williamsburg, VA.

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¹Roberts, Carrie. Governor’s Palace Gardens. October 20^th, 2016. Personal Collection, Ecclesiastical Sewing, Colonial Williamsburg.

Season of Celebration

As the seasons change on the calendar, so too change the seasons of the church year. We are nearing the end of the church year, and during this time, there are some special days of celebration. The first is the Protestant Reformation celebrated on October 31, followed by All Saints Day which is celebrated on November 1.  The Reformation Celebration is marked by the wearing of red vestments, and a few weeks ago on Ecclesiastical Sewing, we were talking about combining red and black liturgical fabrics for use in making church vestments and altar hangings.  As part of that review of church vestment fabrics, which are available for purchase at our online store,  Ecclesiasticsalsewing.com we featured the Luther Rose machine embroidery design.

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²Roberts, Carrie. Reformation Vestments. October 20^th, 2016. Personal Collection, Ecclesiastical Sewing, Minnesota.

This design is a nice option for those of the Lutheran faith, and we placed this design on the front of a chasuble.

Chi Rho for Red and Black Liturgical Vestments

For those who love the red and black color combination for use during other seasons of the church year, but may not prefer the Luther Rose Machine embroidery design we would also like to present an alternate embroidery design for use with the Lichfield and Evesham red and black liturgical church vestment fabrics. This design features two elements that should be familiar to many within the church. The first element recognized in the design is the Chi Rho.

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³Roberts, Carrie. Reformation Vestments. October 20^th, 2016. Personal Collection, Ecclesiastical Sewing, Minnesota.

It’s Symbol

The Chi Rho symbol is the large “P” combined with the “X” to create a monogram that depicts the first two letters of the Greek word KHRistos. The Chi Rho is a chrismon, or christogram.  This lovely monogram can take many shapes and forms, and we will present more design options for this design in the coming weeks and months. The “P” in this version is embroidered using a very deep red color, outlined with a dark gray to set it off against the black background. The “X” is embroidered using a slightly lighter red color, outlined with the same deep gray thread.

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⁴Roberts, Carrie. Reformation Vestments. October 20^th, 2016. Personal Collection, Ecclesiastical Sewing, Minnesota.

Featured Liturgical Designs

The other elements in this design feature the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end symbols. The Alpha and Omega are worked in gold threads, outlined by dark gray to stand out against the black.  The entire design has a wide blue border, with a narrow border of metallic gold threads.

The design is currently available in 3.5-inch, 5-inch, 7-inch, and 10-inch sizes.  The design comes standard stitched on white silk dupioni silk at this time, and in the future, we hope to have more flexibility and the ability to provide designs on alternate fabrics.  If you have specific requests for fabrics or colors, please be sure to email us at Ecclesiastical Sewing. While our storefront offers many items for sale, we still have much work to do in developing our complete line of liturgical machine embroidery designs.

Chi Rho Embroidery Design

This Chi Rho liturgical machine embroidery design, combined with the Alpha and Omega would work well as a design element for many seasons of the church year, including the Advent season which is fast approaching.  The 7″ size is designed for use on the back of a chasuble, either on a column orphrey, or the intersection of “Y” orphrey bands.  I really love this design for use on church vestments; and it would work equally well for use on a pulpit fall or altar frontal, and, in the small size, on pastoral stoles. The design lines are simple and clean, and while the elements are traditional, dating back to the earliest times of Christianity, the design has a fresh and modern look.

Keep an eye open for the reintroduction of this design with variations in the coming months. It may appear as both machine-embroidered designs and, if luck permits, as a hand-embroidered project.

Soli Deo 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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