Priest or Pastoral Stoles: Trim Options

It is always nice to have some basic supplies on hand if one plans on doing Ecclesiastical Sewing or  making Church Vestments on a regular basis. And so, my collection of Vestment making supplies continues to grow. Of course, one hopes the growth never gets out of hand, too.

Knowing that I had a bag of tassels safely tucked away in a drawer, and a few styles of Ecclesiastical trims on hand, I was not too worried about being able to finish the white stole for our vacancy Pastor.  The usual supply/fabric checklist for a stole is something along this line:

Supplies for making a stole:

1. 1 1/2 yards of fabric (or a piece of fabric at least 12 to 14″ wide and 50 to 54″ long)
2. 1 1/2 yards of heavy canvas or a piece as above (some may desire to only purchase 1/3 or 1/2 yards and cut on the cross grain. I prefer to maintain the use of the lengthwise grain so all materials are cut using the same grainline)
3. 1 1/2 yards of lining, or a piece as above
4. Decorative details: hand embroidery, machine embroidery, ready-made appliques, fabric for orphrey
5. Finishing trim: galloon trim, braid, fringe, tassels (I use 12), and other trims suitable for Church vestments

The supplies to complete a stole can be as basic and simple as the list above, or for a more elaborate stole, the list could be endless, if there were a great deal of hand embroidery with gold and silk threads.

Checking things over to make a white stole, there was no problem with the white base fabric and fabric for orphrey trim. The fabrics are from bottom to top: silk shantung, unbleached muslin for underlining the silk, cotton canvas, and a lining fabric. Usually, the lining fabric is a little more bold that this, but since this is for someone I have not met, the best option is to play things safe.

The bolt of trim, a white and gold metallic Dice trim, will work well. The dice trim finished the edge without over powering the Ecclesiastical fabric. Also on hand were two crosses that might work for the center back neckline. The gold color in the Ecclesiastical Brocade is a very soft gold color.

The work got started, and everything was going very well.

At about midnight, I checked the bag of tassels collected over the past year. Disaster struck! The gold tassels supply was depleted to 3 tassles, and the white tassels were too white. They needed to be cream. Everything on the stole project came to a screeching  halt. Well, I can continue with the lining, but the stole ends will remain unsewn for a few more days while proper tassels are located. Tomorrow evening might be the only chance for shopping this week, and I pray that 6 cream and 6 gold tassels are in stock at the fabric store!

Now, I do have other tassels on hand, but the colors do not work well. But what about the fringe? It would be an option, but it is needed for another project, and I do not think there would be enough at this point in time to place fringe on the stole. The fringe comes from the UK, so it is not impossible to get. Still playing that safe is a good idea. The other reason I prefer tassels is because of the weight. Tassels add weight to the lower edge of the stole which keeps the stole from “flying away” every time the Pastor moves.

So, tomorrow, the stole project might conclude, or continue on, depending on the outcome of the shopping trip. Stay tuned!

Solo Dei Gloria

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