Vestment Care Instructions
Stoles and vestments should never be washed or dry cleaned. If cleaning is needed, spot clean. Be extremely careful! The goal, however, should always be to never soil the vestments in the first place. We want to only ever have to iron and lint roll them on occasion if possible. Additionally, if they become creased from hanging, you can lay them on a flat, clean table and place something heavy on top of them overnight, if needed. Check with your altar guild; they should know how to do this. When you receive vestments from us, they can often be creased from being folded and shipped. This is what I would recommend, along with pressing. But, again, check with your altar guild; those lovely ladies know what they’re doing.
Storage and Travel Tips
Storage: Keep the vestments hung and out of direct sunlight in a cool, dry, dark place, free of bugs and mice. Additionally, they can be stored in drawers if your church has them. Check for wood splitting and line the drawers, if possible, to prevent the vestments from snagging. If you don’t have a good storage system at your church, enlist your congregation’s carpenter to make one. I’m sure they will be more than happy to help make something. If traveling, avoid putting vestments in suitcases with other items or folding them up and cramming them into a suitcase. We highly recommend getting dedicated garment bags and taking great care if traveling is unavoidable. (You wouldn’t crumple your suit jacket up in a suitcase. Do not do it to your vestments.)Stoles are worn the most to help with wear and tear. All of our stoles come with a stole chain to help give the stole a correct fit but also keep the stole from resting on the back of the neck and becoming stained by sweat. When paired with a high collar on most clergy wear and a stole protector, soiling becomes very easily avoidable.
Preserving Vestment Quality
Finally, don’t eat or drink while wearing stoles. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Just don’t do it. The name of the game should be to avoid wear and tear and staining as much as possible. If you follow the steps listed above, there’s no reason why your vestments should not last 50+ years. Will they need maintenance? Yes. But, prevention of damage is your first and best option for giving your vestments a long service life Lovely community, please feel free to add information in the comments if I miss anything. Or you have some useful tips and tricks!