Liturgical Color Craft in Seven Quick Takes

I mentioned in my Little Oratory Post that I hoped to add a liturgical color vestments display, soon. Well, it finally happened, so here is how we did it in Seven Quick takes.

1

Jessica at Shower of Roses details the history of this craft here. It has definitely made the rounds of the Catholic Blogosphere.  I debated on felt versus fabric and traditional fiddleback vs novo or do chausible.   I just couldn't decide.  The cost was the main factor. I liked the fabric but was only making one set, so what would I do with all the leftovers?  Then, I stumbled upon a real find at our church tag sale--cloth napkins!  Not only were they beautiful fabric, but since we were shopping the $4 a bag sale time and already had two bags mostly full, they were basically free. Hence, my upcycle version was born.

2

Then came the quandary of the cross to use. I was certain that I had an extra standing cross somewhere, but couldn't find it and every time I visited Hobby Lobby either I forgot or ran out of time to look.  While the kids were cleaning out their drawers, Cowgirl found a wooden cross that had been a Little Flower craft many years ago. She no longer had interest in it and it had the bonus feature of hanging on the wall to stay out of Little Man's hands and create less clutter on the table.

3

We first removed the pink heart that had been glued on. Then we used brown acrylic paint to cover the Little Flower blue paint. It took quite a few coats, but was eventually brown.  Buddy enjoyed painting it over and over again.

4

Next We folded the napkins so that they formed a triangle and ironed them flat. In the center of each crease, I cut a "head hole" to mount it on the cross.The only colors that I couldn't find in napkins were violet and black. For the black, I used a heavy broadcasts that we found in the scrap pile. Violet is presently made of felt, but I hope to upgrade it soon.

5

We then used scraps of gold trim, white trim, and golden hem tape to make crosses for the front of each vestment.  We attached these with hot glue.

6

The final step of crafting was to glue a white ribbon strip inside each of the cut out collars. This helped to finish it off and stabilized the cut fabric.  We used half inch satin ribbon and glued the fabric to the center of the ribbon so that only a quarter inch was showing.  This resembles the white collar of the lab that priests wear.

  

7

We then hung the finished vestments on the cross and the cross on the wall.  Vestment colors change often, sometimes daily, but at the moment, we are only changing ours according to the Sunday color.  

We have our red one all ready to go for the Feast of Christ the King.