This is a grand question and I thank Lela for submitting it,
How do you savvy and stylin’ ministers store your stoles? I have a new closet, but as of now am just putting them on hangers, which doesn’t feel right to me. Thanks!
Lela, mazel tov on your new closet! How did you manage to get one? I’m jealous! Like many ministers, I don’t have a closet in my study at church so I hang my vestments on nice suit hangers on a coat rack and hang some of my stoles over the shoulders of my robes. Some stoles are folded neatly and stored on a shelf and I shake them out once a year to make sure they’re not getting dusty or creased.
I have to admit that when I first started in ministry, I treated my robes and stoles with tender care, as though they were artifacts from the Vatican or as fragile as a Faberge egg. I’ve learned that they’re all pretty sturdy, in fact, and am not nearly as nervous about carting them around in garment bags, hanging them on wooden hangers, and folding and tucking stoles into my preaching folio or computer bag on some occasions. For me, the real nervousness comes when it’s time to spot-clean a stole. I use a white washcloth soaked in cold water with some Woolite wooshed into it and then carefully wrung out. I dab, dab, dab with furrowed brow and fear in my heart praying that I don’t spot or stain the garment. So far, I haven’t.
Candle wax removal can be very difficult but I ice any wax drips and then carefully scrape them off with an antique butter knife.
It never ceases to amuse me how people exclaim over the beauty of stoles I’ve worn dozens of times over the years and ask if it’s a new one.
Lela, here’s to you and your savvy and stylin’ ministry.
My stole collection numbers in the single digits, but a couple of them cost me some big buck$ (silk), so I like to take special care with them.
Here’s what I do: I hang my stoles folded in half (lengthwise) and upside down, using those hangers with little clips. The gravity keeps them unwrinkled, since the yoke hangs towards the floor, and if it’s a fabric that might dent from the metal clips, I pad the clip with extra fabric.
Have fun, Lela — what a happy occasion to be “in the closet.” : )
I have a tiny office, so I installed two hooks for my robes, and a small towel rack for all of my stoles. They hang nicely on the rack, never fall off, and I can easily grab the one I need. Plus they look pretty on my wall!
I have an old hanger for hanging pants that has 4 rows. I store my stoles on this. It works great. It doesn’t take a lot of room and it’s fairly easy to transport, when needed.
Thank you all for the lovely ideas!
I got my closet in the building project I inherited when I arrived last year. Not necessarily something I’d recommend for a first-call pastor, but there it is.