Dearests,
I pause in the middle of the day to post this burning questions about vestments because I am
aware that some of you have evening services and this might help you, too:
Dear PeaceBang,
I just finished an Ash Wednesday service and had an unexpected problem with my vestments.
I know you tend to focus on what we wear under our vestments, but I imagine you or one of your readers might be able to help me out.I have one of those gorgie Guatemalan woven stoles in purple which I love to break out for Advent and Lent.
The problem is that its one long piece of tapestry, about 6″ wide, with no stitching or darts or anything to help it lay neatly around my shoulders and behind my neck.
I’ve tried folding the middle part a bit so it could sit flat against the back of my neck, but it looks a little silly. I’ve also tried the trick of letting it go really loose, not letting the center touch the back of my neck, making it look like a hood back there. I hate being preoccupied with these things during church and Lord knows I can’t go about fussing with it once I’m up there.
Any suggestions on how to wear it or how to fix it so it looks neater?Thanks, and keep up the good work, Chick Pea.
-Mamacita
Dear Mamacita,
Did you just call me “Chick Pea?” How cute are you?
Well, about one thing you are certainly correct: you cannot go fussing around with your stole once you’re up there.
As for the rest, this is a tough question, and I would think that a good seamstress might be consulted before you wear this stole again.
Readers, what say you?
Goodness knows that the tapestried Rev has probably found a stole solution by now, but is it terribly important that the stole should move? What if she just pinned it to the back of the robe just behind the shoulders?
This from Tangerine Viking, the daughter of a PCA minister and missionary. While I love our church doctrine and emphasis on scholarship, I’d also love our services to be a little more High-Church. It would be so nice to be grounded in the liturgical traditions of the church calendar. My old home pastor (FL) and my new home (SC) pastors are perfectly presentable in their gray suits, but I really wonder how they’d look in a robe and stole. Could be an interesting experiment. 🙂