It has been over 60 years since the last guide to the care of church linens and textiles was published and despite being used in every parish church, popular knowledge of their proper use and care is diminishing. This new guide offers help with the care of church linen and also to the use and care of vestments, hangings and other textiles.

It has been over 80 years since the last guide to the care of church linens and textiles was published and despite being used to a greater or lesser degree in every parish church, popular knowledge of their proper use and care is diminishing. Liturgical styles have changed greatly in that time, and there is need for this new updated guide, not only to the care of church linen but also to the use and care of vestments, hangings and other textiles. Part One focuses on altar linen and cloths. It gives advice about how to wash, starch, fold, iron and generally care for the main items used at the altar, as well as briefly describing their use. Part Two focuses on vestments and garments, with detailed advice on cleaning and storage. Part Three is a complete guide to laundering and dry cleaning church textiles, and how to remove common stains. Part Four offers a directory of sources and advice on the storage and disposal of church textiles.

The churches of Britain contain a remarkable heritage of exquisitely embroidered vestments, and cathedrals in particular hold some of the most beautiful textiles ever produced in Europe. The history of these priestly garments and how their use developed in Britain and Europe is fascinating. This book outlines the tradition and mysticism associated with them and the role they still play in the 'theatre' of church, and shows how colour and ornament are used in the symbolism of the Christian faith. It explores the history of vestment production up to the present day, covering the practicalities of design, the sourcing of fabrics and the embroiderers themselves.

The book provides the first broad survey of church textiles of Spanish America and demonstrates that, while overlooked, textiles were a vital part of visual culture in the Catholic Church. When Catholic churches were built in the New World in the sixteenth century, they were furnished with rich textiles known in Spanish as “church clothing.” These textile ornaments covered churches’ altars, stairs, floors, and walls. Vestments clothed priests and church attendants, and garments clothed statues of saints. The value attached to these textiles, their constant use, and their stunning visual qualities suggest that they played a much greater role in the creation of the Latin American Church than has been previously recognized. In Clothing the New World Church, Maya Stanfield-Mazzi provides the first comprehensive survey of church adornment with textiles, addressing how these works helped establish Christianity in Spanish America and expand it over four centuries. Including more than 180 photos, this book examines both imported and indigenous textiles used in the church, compiling works that are now scattered around the world and reconstructing their original contexts. Stanfield-Mazzi delves into the hybrid or mestizo qualities of these cloths and argues that when local weavers or embroiderers in the Americas created church textiles they did so consciously, with the understanding that they were creating a new church through their work. The chapters are divided by textile type, including embroidery, featherwork, tapestry, painted cotton, and cotton lace. In the first chapter, on woven silk, we see how a “silk standard” was established on the basis of priestly preferences for this imported cloth. The second chapter explains how Spanish-style embroidery was introduced in the New World and mastered by local artisans. The following chapters show that, in select times and places, spectacular local textile types were adapted for the church, reflecting ancestral aesthetic and ideological patterns. Clothing the New World Church makes a significant contribution to the fields of textile studies, art history, Church history, and Latin American studies, and to interdisciplinary scholarship on material culture and indigenous agency in the New World.

The classic book on sewing linens in a new edition. Revised instructions, worksheets, and special advice for beginners, and new patterns included.

This classic book on sewing linens for the church explains the materials and equipment needed, a variety of hemming options, special instructions on the small linens such as purificators and palls, working with fair linens, white work embroidery, and caring for church linens. New to this edition are directions for rolled hems, chalice veils, more specific directions and an improved worksheet for planning shrinkage, special advice specifically for beginners, an updated “Sources and Resources” section, and new patterns.

At their most basic level, liturgical vestments and textiles serve to differentiate the sacred and the profane, the clergy and the laity. Not only are they sacred objects in their own right, being consecrated to a holy use, but they point beyond themselves to historical parallels - to events in the life of Christ or to the furnishings of the Jerusalem Temple - or to anagogical symbolism of the heavenly graces.