White Liturgical Religious Fabrics for Making Church Vestments
White Liturgical Religious Fabrics for Making Church Vestments:
Advent is a season of preparation that leads up to one of the most Festive seasons in the Church year. Christmas will soon be here. And with it comes the splendor and joy of the birth of our Redeemer, the Christ Child.
A change in vestment color and symbols marks each season in the church year. The color for Christmas is white or gold. Epiphany, Transfiguration Sunday, and Easter, along with several other festivals throughout the church year, use white as their color. The range of white church vestment fabrics available at Ecclesiastical Sewing for making church vestments is quite nice. Because white is used for more festive seasons, there is an assortment of high-quality brocades and silk damask liturgical fabrics, along with moderate-priced brocade fabrics.
If you might be wondering whether I have favorites in this line, the answer is YES! Of course, I do. So here is a quick rundown of a few of my favorites, but bear in mind that a favorite fabric can vary frequently, depending on the vestment being made, the need, the setting where the finished vestment will be used, and of course budget. Now you might be thinking, what does she mean by that? Let me try to give you an example.
Fabrics for Grand Church, Traditional Settings
If the setting is a grand church with beautiful stone, woodwork, decorative features, ornate, classic, in a traditional setting, and they use a traditional worship service, I might select one of the silk damask fabrics such as Chelmsford, St. Nicolas, or Bramfield. Before a final decision was made on any of these fabrics, I would also take into account whether the fabric was being used on a large high altar, a small side altar, a stole, or a cope. St. Nicolas is a lovely damask, but because it is large.
It is best suited for a larger altar, cope, and the like. That is not to say it could not be made into a handsome stole, but rather as a consideration for a finished vestment that best shows off the large-scale of the pattern. Many other fabrics would be the perfect choice or selection for that setting such as Fairford, St. Margaret, and Lichfield.
Fabric for Small Chapel or Mission Chapel
If the place of worship were a small chapel or a mission church with a limited budget, I might favor Cloister, St. Aidan, and Ely Crown. Again, the small church could select a silk damask such as the Ivory Tudor Rose but the fabric might use up an entire budget in this case and not allow for any trim or decoration.
Another consideration that determines my favorites is design and embellishments. I try to keep the embroidery or orphrey trim in mind and how it might complement the fabric without overpowering it. Granted, this is the “cliff Notes” version of my thought process when considering vestment sets. As you might now guess, all the fabrics become my favorite when used in the proper setting for the proper vestment.
Key points
To summarize, consider the following points when selecting a liturgical fabric:
- Setting, location, or item the fabric will be used on.
- Scale and size of the space or article being made.
- Budget
- Additional design details such as embellishments, hand or machine embroidery, orphrey, galloon, and the like so all pieces complement each other.
One other thing to note about the white fabrics. When we were in the photography studio almost a year ago taking photos of the fabrics, the white fabrics proved to be the most challenging to capture. The photographer turned several fabrics upside down, tipped them way over, used ladders, got down on the ground, and our team utilized reflectors and all sorts of things to try to capture an image.
All of the liturgical fabrics are available through the Ecclesiastical Sewing online front found HERE.
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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