What is a Monastic Style Chasuble?

A Monastic style chasuble is a fuller and longer chasuble style. It can be between 60 to 80″ wide and is usually a bit longer at around 54″ or slightly more in length. It is a full and graceful vestment that falls in wonderful folds. It is a suitable style vestment for churches both small and large. It lends itself well to a traditional look as well as more modern styling. The larger size has one advantage for those in warm climates the additional fullness means it does not “cling” as much to the body. The larger size allows for more movement which means more airflow under that chasuble.  The Monastic Chasuble style can be made from almost any type of fabric from Liturgical Brocades to silks. One could even experiment with a few more economical fabrics such as poly-poplins to manage budgets.

The fabric used in the above Monastic Chasuble is our exclusive Luther Rose brocade. This elegant chasuble has a beautiful, complimenting red brocade orphrey band, which is centered on the front and back. The trim is our favorite St. Benet trim, which adorns each side of the orphrey. There are also orphrey sleeve details with the trim which add an elegant finishing touch to the monastic chasuble.

The above green chasuble from our Sanctified Collection was created for this summer’s Higher Things Conferences. This chasuble is also cut in the Monastic style. Because the embroidery designs are so beautiful in the Sanctified Collection, the Chasuble orphrey bands are “faux orphrey bands” created by sewing the trim in place without the use of extra fabric. For those wanting to create their own chasuble, this is an easy design concept to mimic.

For those who are not Lutheran, the same chasuble style and embroidery designs would look perfect sewn on the Winchester Brocade,  Glastonbury brocade, Fairford Brocade, or many of our other brocade fabrics.

As a designer, the best part about the Monastic chasuble is the ability to change fabrics to achieve a completely different look. Monastic chasubles can have simple embroideries and trims or they can be more elaborate in design. Having the wider width and longer length creates a pallet for endless design possibilities.

Sometimes allowing the beauty of the fabric to speak – it’s more than enough. Silk dupioni shimmers in this rose chasuble used for Gaudete and Laetara Sundays.

The Monastic Chasuble works well with various yoke styles such as a “v-yoke” or “round yoke” style. These can be with or without the column orphrey band. And of course, this body style lends itself to both traditional and more modern design styles with shaped orphrey bands. If you have a design idea or need that is not on our website, please free to contact us to discuss your project.

Part of our mission at Ecclesiastical Sewing is to assist churches and others who are interested in creating their own church vestments. We offer a variety of chasuble pattern styles. The monastic chasuble pattern is one of the chasuble styles that is available for purchase on our website.

The pattern is a full-sized pattern with both front and back pattern piece. There is also a column orphrey band and neckline facing pieces. The large pattern allows the designer to play with various style and design lines to create a truly unique vestment. Play with creating your own sleeve trim options, neckline variations or orphrey variations on both front and back.

The pattern comes is a multi-sized pattern which allows for adjustment in both width and length to fit different size needs. This also works well with various widths of fabrics.  The pattern does come with a limited instruction sheet. We are working on creating detailed sewing instructions for all of our vestment patterns which will be available in book form……………but that takes time. So, for now, the patterns are available and for those with some sewing experience, they are not difficult to make.

We also have an upcoming vestment making class in October at the Liturgical Arts Conference in Canton, Mississippi. Experienced seamstresses will be creating their own Monastic chasuble in the style of the St. Ignatius Monastic chasuble. So come and learn to sew like a pro.

Soli Deo Gloria

Please be sure to visit our online store at www.ecclesiasticalsewing.com to see our complete line of patterns, fabrics, and church vestments, and share the link with your friends!