How to Make Baptismal Towel Altar Linens
How to Make Baptismal Towel Altar Linens:
Christ loves little children and he implored his disciples to let the little children come unto him. Children are an important part of the life of a church. Many pastors pray for both mother and child before the child is even born as part of the prayer of the church. Churches rejoice and celebrate the joy of the birth of a new child and await that special day when the child is brought into the church’s life through the washing of Holy Baptism.
As a special reminder of their baptism day when they receive the washing of rebirth in Holy Baptism, we have created these special little keepsake baptismal towels. The towel is created using our Renaissance Linen fabric which is available for purchase by the yard. Renaissance is a wonderful white linen fabric. It has just the right blend of weight and density. This is a wonderful linen to use for hand and machine embroidery.
Creating Baptismal Towel
The church can create baptismal towels as a simple project, producing quite a few towels from one yard of fabric.
Before creating a baptismal towel, cut the linen to size. Decide whether you prefer a rectangle or a square. The rectangle could be 9″ x 16″ or you could use a 12″ square. Be sure to add allowances for hems.
Hems can be quickly and easily marked and made by using a quilting ruler and a scoring instrument like a hera. Quilters are familiar with heras but this is a tool that we as linen makers should become familiar with as well. It will save hours of work and labor when making altar linens. Once your fabric is cut, simply place your quilting ruler along the edge of the fabric and mark or score the fabric with the hera.
If you want a 1/4″ hem, you would score two lines that are 1/4″ and 1/2″ from the edge. Fold along the first line, and then fold on the second line and there you have neat and even hems! Be sure to take some time to practice marking and folding the hems. And if your lines get messed up, spritz the linen with Best Press, press the linen with your iron, and start again.
You may wish to hand embroider or use a machine embroidery design and there you have it – beautiful towels for a baptismal keepsake!
Soli Deo Gloria
You might find this short video about pressing linen interesting.
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