Pugin – just the mention of the name can be exciting. But many of you may not know who or what Pugin is. We have talked about Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin in the past, but he deserves to be mentioned again. Pugin was a famous designer of churches and all of the needed furnishings in England in the early 1800’s. He sadly died at the age of forty. But he has left a legacy of beautiful liturgical art for us to enjoy.
Pugin designed many items, including some stunning vestments. Today, the Victoria and Albert Museum houses a collection of his vestments.
This lovely design has been a favorite piece to view from the Pugin Collection as found in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The colors are rich, and striking. The limited color palette of neutrals with black and white enhance the simplicity of the design, while creating a sense of movement. The tiny dots surrounding the edge create a simple yet pleasing boarder. For those who may not be familiar with the V & A, I would encourage you to conduct some online searches to review the Church Vestments in the collection. The photography is good, as it shows nice details found on the church vestments.
Many of us would love to recreate a stunning Ecclesiastical hand embroidered piece in the style of the Pugin burse. But sadly, the patterns are not available. The photography is well done, which might aid in being able to recreate the design. But for those who may want the look of Pugin designs, with that simplicity of style, but have limited resources and time to take on a lengthy project, there is a happy alternative in the form of the above orphrey trim. Known as the Pugin Orphrey (the perfect name for a Pugin style trim), this orphrey has alternating motifs in a diamond and floral pattern. The orphrey is approximately 3 inches wide and comes in the liturgical colors of red, green, Roman purple, violet, rose and gold. The Pugin Orphrey Trim is a perfect color match to the Ely Crown Liturgical Brocade Fabric, too.
This trim will aid in the creation of a stole, chasuble, or other church vestment pieces. To make things easy for you, we offer the Ely Crown Brocade fabric in pre-cut pieced of fabric for us in making a pastoral stole.
The stole lengths are approximately 58″ long and 14″ wide, which is perfect for making one stole. The stole making kit includes the interfacing and lining material, too. So all you need to do is add a pattern, and some trim, such as the Pugin Orphrey. The Pugin orphrey trim can be added to the lower edge of the stole as either a single band of trim, or tow bands of trim spaced about 2 inches apart could also be used.
So put your creative powers to work, and be sure to share your ideas. We would love to hear suggestions and thoughts for the use of this trim!*
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. Sing 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.
Photograph of Pugin Burse used with permission, courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum
*This trim, along with an assortment of others is available for purchase on the new Ecclesiastical Sewing website.
Filed under: Ecclesiastical Sewing Tagged: Augustus Pugin, Burse, Ecclesiastical Sewing, pastoral stole, Victoria and Albert Museum
