Fresh and New Clergy Stole Giveaway

I've just finished a new set of designs for clergy stoles, and I want to share the joy. So I'm hosting another giveaway! To enter, comment here, and let me know which one of the three designs you'd like to have. Be sure to include a way to contact you, in case you're the big winner...

I'll choose the winner randomly on Monday, July 7, and send them a sewn stole in the design of the winner's choice. Check out more about this trio of stole designs here.

Or go ahead and order yourself a cut-and-sew panel to sew up yourself!

White stoles: mountains, rainbow, crosses

I created a new panel of three stole designs that are primarily white. 

One features a mountain-themed image that uses the colors of various liturgical seasons, so it would be appropriate for year-round use. It includes words from Isaiah 52:7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace." The mountain design is set into a Gothic arch. The image is based on a photograph of Longs Peak in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park.

One features a subtle, shimmering rainbow. The colors are in bands, using a celtic design for the trinity. 

One is decorated with the intricately intertwined lines of a celtic cross, printed in a charcoal gray color.

Like my other stole panels, these are designed as cut-and-sew clergy stoles--the shape and pattern for sewing them in printed onto the fabric. In sewing them, it is easy to shorten the length to fit the wearer, by simply cutting the bottom portion off. Two of them may be sewn back-to-back to create a reversible stole, or each may be sewn onto a backing fabric of your choice. (I used white Kona cotton, and mid-weight fusible interfacing.) My sewing instructions are posted here. **Please note that after sewing the front and back together, you will want to trim all of your seams to remove any of the printed color that marks the cutting lines in the design.

I designed these as the kind of simple, elegant stole that would be wonderful for weddings or funerals. (I find I often want something with simple elegance for funerals and weddings.) The mountain one, because of its use of green, red and purple, is also suitable for any season of the liturgical calendar.

Order the fabric here. Please note: this fabric is designed to print full-size on the organic sateen fabric!! 

Reversible altar cloth for retreats, home churches, small groups & more

I am fairly often looking for ways to easily make a space feel holy, or to engage people in tactile ways of praying for the world. I designed a fabric for sewing into a round tablecloth/altar cloth for use in retreats, small groups, home prayer or house churches or whatever. I designed it with an image of planet earth on one side, and the pattern of the Chartres labyrinth on the other--it ends up as a circle approximately 28" in diameter. In the space leftover in the fabric, I also included two pieces that can be sewn into a small table runner or antependium, with a reversible green or white Celtic cross design. (This piece is about 7.5" x 27", depending on your seam allowances...)

I imagine you could use these in a multitude of interactive ways--pinning prayers onto the earth, tracing the labyrinth with your finger, touching and holding and adding to them. Or, you could simply use them as an image for visual focus. 

I designed them to fill one yard of the linen-cotton fabric that a Spoonflower offers--the fabric is extra-wide to accommodate the design, and the weight is substantial and elegant. 

Like my stole designs, the fabric is available for sale thorough Spoonflower--they handle the order and print and ship the fabric. It's up to you to cut and sew it, if you'd like to do so. :) I didn't write instructions for sewing in this fabric, as it seems pretty simple; I just cut the two circles and sewed them, right sides together.

(I basted a section about 10" long, then sewed about halfway around. Then, I turned and pressed that half; after pressing, I removed the basting, and sewed the rest of the way around, back to the point where I'd started basting. Then I turned it all right side out, pressing the rest of the way around. Finally, I hand sewed the previously basted and pressed section closed. The basting and pressing made it easier to keep a smooth, even curve all the way around.)

The Circle Cloth is available now--I'd love to know how you use it!!

God's Cosmos Stole Pattern

My first designs are a set of stoles that use images from NASA as the ground for the fabric. I had a lot of fun connecting our liturgical seasons to the wonder of the cosmos, and hope you enjoy them, too. I explain the collection here.

My current pastoral appointment means I'm in ministry with lots of folks who work in the aerospace industry. I married an engineer who loves both rockets and astronomy. I believe that my Christianity and science are very compatible--each asking and answering a very different set of questions. The wonder of God's cosmos continues to inspire me, as it has inspired from, perhaps, the beginning of time. "The heavens are telling the glory of God!" begins Psalm 19. So, this collection was inspired by all that, as well as a hope that celebrating God's cosmos in worship might help us be better stewards of it.

The set is formatted as two fabric panels, each with three designs printed on it. You can choose how you sew them: whether you sew the pattern pieces front-to-back to make reversible stoles, or using another fabric as backing and make separate stoles out of each piece.

One panel features red Pentecost design, a green Ordinary Time design, and an off-white Easter stole.

The other panel features two purple designs (for Lent and Easter), and a plain white pattern that can be used to sew a stole on which you can draw, dye or paint your own design. (Or let the Sunday School kids do it...) Or, if you prefer, you can use this as a backing for the Easter stole on the other panel...

Whatever you choose, one panel or both, it's a heck of a deal: three lovely, thoughful, science-affirming, cosmos-admiring stole designs for about $30. Order them here.