Here’s a recent letter from a talented knitter who would like to knit or crochet vestments. This goal is, as you can imagine, an aesthetic and practical challenge but I think it could be done.
Here, Sister R. writes,
[I am] the person who wishes to make vestments using the homely arts of knit and crochet, possibly weaving. I’m trying *not* to make sweater vestments — that term is may be too reminiscent of somebody wearing a fair isle sweater with a clerical collar. (But! you never know that could work — never throw out an idea when brainstorming.) What I am looking for is what a real-world servant of God could wear either in church (or out) that would convey the message of “Cleric at work”, without shouting “this is a home-made vestment.”
I’m embarrassed to say that I am not familiar with what UU ministers wear for services. Being an Episcopalian, I have seen wonderful and wretched garments lofted as vestments. What do you think would work? There is a wide scope for innovative design within a traditional framework, but I would love some input from a person who actually has the vision that combines ministerial professionalism with style and personal flair.
Like yourself, I have the advantage of having a feminine shape and a short frame. Anyone who designs for clergy must take into consideration that real people are three-dimensional and vestments should reflect that. To coin a phrase, vestments should not only look good on the rack, but also on my rack.
So if you have the inclination, let me know your thoughts. There is room in the world for beautiful ceremonial garb that doesn’t mock tradition, but embraces and enhances it.
Surely, my friends, someone this hilarious and charming deserves some of your collective wisdom. PeaceBang, not being very well acquainted with the world of knitted garments, finds herself utterly at a loss.
Do advise, darlings, won’t you?
This is a bit out of my league and not quite an answer to the question, but apart from embroidery, weaving and tailoring, the textile arts I associate most with vestments are lace-making: tatting and cutwork, especially.
I would be honored to have a particularly festive pair of handmade Geneva bands with just a trace of fine cutwork, for instance.
Collars and cuffs (for the Continental Reformed and Lutheran Protestants) and amices (for the Catholics) — plus altar superfrontals — are other places some fine crochet work might be welcome.
I know I’ve seen samples at a certain German vestment maker’s site, but cannot now find it.
Oh, and yes, I knit.
I would consider wearing a knitted stole – if it were of a VERY FINE gauge and backed stiffly (don’t want folks to wonder why I’m wearing a muffler up there unless our heat is out.) I’ve seen lovely woven stoles, too. If you’re adding symbols, you really want them to stand out, so Fair Isle (feral?) chalices, doves, etc. should be done in high contrast if at all. Better in applique or embroidery o’er top, I think.
Since you mention considerations of bosom, my personal pet peeve is symbols right at chest level. Nothing like having this be the focal point of everyone’s gaze. Right now I favor more fluid designs that run the length of the stole, and if there is a symbol, at the ends. You don’t see them from the pulpit, but entering and exiting, song-leading, etc. Blessings on your new venture!
AND I’m really excited for tomorrow – it’s my 10-year anniversary of ordination (like yours, PB – can you believe it’s been that long?) and I’m receiving a gift from my congregation. Instead of thinking, “Gee I sure hope someone does something nice…” I boldly asked for what I wanted. A wonderful fabric artist in the congregation is making me a dyed silk stole based on Psalm 139 – where can I flee from your presence…if I take the wings of the morning, or go to the farthest reaches of the sea… We’ll see how that turns out! I hear there are two stoles, and my guess is there were two attempts that she liked. Now if this is as gorgeous as I think it will be having seen her work, we may need to coax her into a little stole business. (There’s NO business like STOLE business…)
A parishioner knitted me a lovely red stole out of chenille, but I confess it will end its life as a scarf. I had to stop my mother from knitting me a green scarf/stole, since she had seen me exclaim over the red one. I’m just not sure that I see knitting working in vestment form, but perhaps I am not being imaginative enough. Sorry to be a party pooper.
I am a knitter, but I had never thought of knitting vestments. Hmmm…
I did make a stole for a friend years ago. She had a BIG personality, a BIG voice, and a BIG body; and her clerical robe was bright red. I used a combination of eyelash and something multicolored, and ended up with a very flashy stole that looked great with her red robe. But let’s just say that it wasn’t solemn.
I think that whatever you make, you should keep it small, especially as you are short. Knitting, by its very nature, stretches, and something big will stretch a lot and make you look like you’re walking around in your bedspread.
Being a UU, my take on vestments is probably different from yours in any case. I guess I would be more inclined to make something delicate and pretty, like a knitted lace shawl, and either wear it when being ministerial (but not for conducting a service) or use it as an altar cloth (but be careful not to get wax on it–the scourge of altar cloths).
I hope you will let us know what you decide. You may have opened up a whole new field of endeavor!
I’m a crochetter……
If you go to the Prayer Shawl Ministry website:
http://www.shawlministry.com
and go to the “Tips/Ideas/Other Patterns” section, you should be able to find some vestment patterns; or at least some ideas on how to get started.
As a knitter, I think one of the keys here is creating relatively flat or drape-y garments; you don’t want to do some kind of popcorn stitch or cabling that’s going to add bulk and “homemadeness.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m crazy about cables, but I think they’d make a vestment look a little afghany. I would check out some cape/wrap books and see which of those look most like a vestment. For instance, try “Wrap Style” from Pam Allen and Ann Budd. I’m making “Asymmetry” from Jo Sharp in that book for a minister–not really as a vestment, but as a wrap she could wear during worship (she’s tall and thin, always a help for pulling off knitwear in an elegant, and not cozy, way).
Anyway, stay flat and relatively simple. Weaving, of course, would be easier than knitting (look at ruana styles from the Celtic traditions), but I think knitting could work, too. And what a nice testament to women’s work as sacred!
I’m mainly a quilter/seamstress, but I’ve been making stoles all spring. 😉
I would think the key to a woven or knit vestment is the fiber that you choose – nothing too fuzzy or “trendy,” but nothing too stolid, either. And then the tailoring (at the yoke and at the ends especially, for a stole) should be as precise as possible to keep it looking polished.
Something to consider also is the weight of the material that you make, and how it will stand up to gravity. I imagine that if you do a looser pattern or something more open or lace-like that it might stretch unattractively after awhile, unless it’s lightweight enough. Perhaps appliqueing or couching your woven/knit piece onto a structured material making up the body of the stole or garment would give you a sleeker look, and give you more lee-way with an open pattern?
Now I’m getting ideas. . .
I, too, have thought a lot about knitting ministerial garments, and particularly vestments. Someday, I’d like to come up with a line of stoles that would follow the liturgical calendar — lots of intarsia work with some beautiful fine silk yarn, for the durability and shine. I’m UCC, and very few UCC ministers I know wear more than the basic Geneva robe and the seasonally-appropriate stole. I do know a couple of mins who use the full-on fancy stuff for High Holy days, but for the most part we tend to be a pretty austerely-garmented (read: boring and samey) bunch if we’re going to wear vestments at all.
I’m not sure that it would work to knit an actual clerical shirt, etc. I’m just not convinced that it would be practical. A handknit v-neck sweater to go OVER the clerical shirt might be a good idea, though. I think that there are a lot of patterns available right now that would be appropriate for a lot of ministerial situations, but nothing comes to mind that is specific to Ministers Doing Ministry. I suggest browsing through magazines and books at your local bookstore and finding ideas that way.
…and for the vestments, I think we’re just going to have to come up with that stuff on our own. An easy starting place would be to measure the pre-fab stuff you already own. Then you could start swatching yarns you might want to try, and come up with some calculations for how much yarn you would actually need to make the item.
It’d be fun to put out a book of vestment knitting patterns some day, but I think the market for a book like that would be pretty limited!
I posted this yesterday, but it doesn’t seem to be showing up:
I’m mainly a quilter/seamstress, but I’ve been making stoles all spring. 😉
I would think the key to a woven or knit vestment is the fiber that you choose – nothing too fuzzy or “trendy,†but nothing too stolid, either. And then the tailoring (at the yoke and at the ends especially, for a stole) should be as precise as possible to keep it looking polished.
Something to consider also is the weight of the material that you make, and how it will stand up to gravity. I imagine that if you do a looser pattern or something more open or lace-like that it might stretch unattractively after awhile, unless it’s lightweight enough. Perhaps appliqueing or couching your woven/knit piece onto a structured material making up the body of the stole or garment would give you a sleeker look, and give you more lee-way with an open pattern?
Now I’m getting ideas. . . where did I put that crochet hook?
I’m already planning to knit vestments. I recently completed a wall hanging for one of my seminary classes which makes use of the symbols in chapters 1 & 2 of Ecclesiastes. It is currently hanging in the Dean’s office. It made me start thinking about how to incorporate similar patterns into a stole. My current plan is to knit a communion stole with a vine and grapes pattern on one side and wheat on the other. One of our professors at the seminary (who is very liturgical) wore a very simple crocheted stole that had been given her as a gift. I completely trust her opinion!
I have been playing with knitting stoles and so far I’ve completed three. I used Blue Heron’s Rayon Metallic yarn, which has gorgeous, rich colors, with a metallic thread running through it to set it apart from ordinary. I used the mini-clapouti pattern and elongated it to the length I wanted. Se far I’ve been pleased with the results and have gotten several positive comments. I agree that the key is using the right yarn–nothing fuzzy or ‘wooly’ looking–and lace or other fine-work type patterns. I hadn’t thought of backing them, but I think I;m going to look into it.