Gold vestments to repair

This gold set is our first big repair project.  The embroidery is in pretty good shape, but the lining is coming apart and there are some minor gold embroidery repairs.

A beautiful new burse

Here is a burse, embroidered by Ronna.  Just lovely!

Constructing the burse was a bit tricky, but it turned out just right.

We will have a meeting this Sat. This is our list for this meeting.  I hope to see you all!

1. Padding hangers

2. Finish lining acid free papers in vestments drawers

3. Check collar protectors

4. Make First Holy Communion bows for boys

5. Iron

6. Check altar boys' cassocks: buttons are missing on some...

There are some other things we need to work on when we catch up with what we need to do now, such as

1. Make linens; lavabos, purificators, corporals...(maybe 10 each)

2. Make altar clothes for main and side altars (3 sets for each)

3. Clean vestments with a vacuum cleaner and lint remover

4. Mend a gold vestment; it is requested by Fr. McNeely

5. Clean and organize boxes and shelves both in sacristy and our meeting room

6. Take out extra albs from priests' closet to make room

7. Mend albs

This is worth mentioning.  I was told that purificator needs to be pressed flat using Magic sizing spray(Not with starch) It goes into a burse so priest wants it to be as flat as possible.  If you have a question how to iron and fold linens,  please let me know.  We can go over it again.

Thank you so much for dedicating your time and effort to serve our parish and priest.  May God reward you in heaven!

God bless,

A.M.D.G.

Tomoko

Here is the lovely Lucy that taught us how to care for our parish's vestments.  We hope to have more classes with her, as she is full of so much knowledge!

Here are some cross designs that I am going to practice to embroider on purificators and corporals.  I'll try to print these out and make copies for everyone at the next meeting.

Tomoko has provided us with an outline of what we covered in our class with Lucy Barter in San Francisco. 

I. Basic vestments care;
      A. Clean your hands when you work with vestments, linens, and etc..
      B. Wear gloves when; handling gold and vestments working with linens such as albs and lace
      C. When you are working on mending stitches, change your needle when it started to squeak.
      D. When you are working on stitching, such as putting a cross on lavabo, corporal, purificator, and amice, thread should not be longer than your elbow length.

II. Storing vestments; especially gold and silk
      A. Use acidic-free paper; can be found at u-line
      B. Roll instead of fold because the crease that you make can create damage to a vestment over time
      C. Make a sausage out of an acidic-free paper to support where you need to fold; due to space limitation  
     D. Line an acidic-free paper between vestments
     E. Use an acidic-free papered covered tube to support when you roll out vestment, and when store vestment over a year, change the tube twice a year

 III. When you are working with vestments;
      A. Put a white(NO dyed fabrics) sheet under the vestment
      B. Store a gold thread in a tin container to prolong the quality of the gold thread

 IV. Taking care of linens; albs, surpluses, etc. Washing linens, cotton albs/surplus, wools
      A. Use mild detergents, such as Restore Detergent, Grannies Wash, Maybe Woolite( oxiclean is okay)
      B. wash with lukewarm or cold water
      C. How to wash linen albs with lace;
           1. Dissolve mild soap in a lukewarm or cold water in a tub (Do not put too much soap, otherwise it  takes time to rinse it off)
           2. Lay folded albs in a sink and let it sink down by itself ( DO NOT RUB LINEN)
           3. Soak it for an hour
           4. Repeat twice or up to four times if it is necessary
           5. When rinse; rest the alb on a mesh and take a section at a time, pour water over
           6. Drying; lay the alb on a WHITE towel, roll it and press, repeat with another dry towel if necessary, and dry on a mesh(DO NOT WRING)
           7. Drying lace; before wash a lace measure or draw an outline on a plastic with WHITE foam board, and put wet lace and pin it following the out line. When you pin, put a pin center-out as you smooth the lace
           8.Ironing
                a. Set on low heat
                b. Wet a clean clothes such as clean diaper and lay it flat on the fabric

V. Dry clean
      A. Wear gloves
      B. Test if it can be wet-clean by; take little thread from each color on a vestment (get the sample from back side of a vestment) put each thread on a paper towel, drip a water on each thread, fold the paper in half, leave it for 40 minutes to see if any of the color is coming on a paper. If the color comes on a paper, do not wet-wash (colors such as green, blue, and red are more likely to come out.)

 VI. How to clean a vestment
      A. Use a small hand vacuum cleaner; you may find if at Bed & Bath and Beyond
      B. Use an embroidery hoop(put bias tape around hoops) and net, such as tulle, as you put net into hoop and secure the net, and run the vacuum over the net which is between a vestment you are cleaning
      C. Use a Scotch tape to take lint off; wrap tape around your index and middle fingers inside out so the adhesive part is facing out, and gently go over a vestment
      D. Use Dirt and Soot remover( can be found at Ace Hardware Store) break up a piece big enough to handle, use it dry, and apply to a stain( we are told that people used to use bread to do this job)

 VII. How to treat iron mould : it is a little red spot
      A. Apply Ferrosolve; contains Hydroflourie Acid 0.99%( Iron mould remover for white fabrics; Restore  Products tel/0161- 928- 0020)
      B. Or darn over the spot because the thread becomes weak and could end up with a hole

VIII. Hanging a vestment
      A. Use a wide hanger, pad it with a bamboo organic batting, and wrap it with Muslim clothes. Then stitch it with hand.( Do not use glue to attach it) It will ease the pressure on the shoulder of a vestment
or a cope, however it is recommended that we lay vestments and copes
      B. Make a tent shaped cover with Muslim clothes and tie front with bows

 IX. How to darn
      A. Use appropriate sized thread(different sized thread can be found at LACIS; can be found on line.  Egyptian cotton thread, size 50, is recommended which is about $30 a spool)
      B. Start with button hole stitch go down weaving in and out, and go across in and out

 X. Mending lace
      A. Use black piece of paper to lay it down and take pictures
      B. Match thread and start with button hole stitches and connect space and end with button hole stitches.
      C. If there is a big hole, use a same lace to patch it by stitch it around carefully and trim the extra lace around it. It should look like shading.

 XI. When you clean velvet, be careful not to pull the pile.

 Our Vestment Mending List:
 I. Gold stole(1960's) white with yellow backing, threads are fraying
      A. Use Japanese gold thread wax with bees wax, and size 12 embroidery needle
      B. Couch down with neat precise spacing
 II. White maniple
      A. Patch backing
      B. Lasso backing thread technique
      C. Use Passing down thread
      D. Put netting down where necessary: when applying a net make sure to pin always from center and stretch out
      E. Couch down
 III. Humeral veil for benediction
      A. Add a yellow fabric using fusing to attach it, so it will show in the front
      B. Use fusing red fabric for backing
      C. It is an Elizabethan stitch: use fine passing thread(check(fine)/ Rococo(wide) thread) it is a fine  Rococo thread
      D. Material can be ordered from Trevor Floyd
      E. Use mild soapy water and sponge clean
 IV. Green cope with multi-colored trims
      A. Use Stranded cotton to finish edging
      B. Netting each flowers ( use tea stained netting)
      C. Backing fabric: use Cotton Sateen(it is noiseless)
      D. Couching the ending
 V. Black vestment
      A. Clean
      B. Treat the quid/cud(?)
      C. I think we decided that this is over our skill, so ask someone to work on it?
 VI. I don't remember which one but I think we decided that same as a black vestment that it is over our skill, and we want someone to replace the fabric.