Following on from yesterday’s post about the creation of altar linens written by one of the Marian Sisters of Santa Rosa, here are photographs of the detail of her work. I am ashamed to admit that I have barely given a second thought to altar lines and had no idea of care and attention that is given to them.
The comments are hers.
Hemming a Purificator:
Pulled hem and thread pattern:
Pulling threads
Three types of border – single (to hem and bind it once); double (pattern away from hem); and triple (finished part along the hem)
To hem and make a single border:
Pick up a number (in this case four) of threads
After wrapping the threads, take a small stitch to the hem
Double pattern away from the hem:
Wrap two threads from previous binding with two new threads
Repeat, crossing from top to bottom at each repetition
Four styles of crosses:
St Eugene’s Cathedral High Altar linen:
Detail of the corner, wrong side (facing side) up
Linen folded back, wrong side (facing side) up
Fitting around the Tabernacle
The Journal for Catholic Culture & Arts 
This lovely post reminds me of Romano Guardini’s precious book, “Sacred Signs”. He has a section on linens among other things. http://www.ewtn.com/library/LITURGY/SACRSIGN.TXT
In Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Montessori also has special lessons and work for the child with the linens.
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I’m glad you like the post. I didn’t know about Guardini at all. This is a whole new world to me 🙂
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