My Heart has been Stole-n

I'm absolutely delighted with my first attempts at making clerical stoles and I would definitely love to make more of them!
The whole project
 came out of feeling useless during the pandemic and wanting to contribute to church life in some way, even though I was holed up at home, like everyone else.
It took me ages to pluck up the courage to talk to Rev'd Green, the Dean of Cloyne, but after months of research and playing with design ideas I finally approached her and she loved the idea. So, after more months of consulting on the design with the Dean and playing with construction techniques and shaping, I came up with three different basic shapes of stole
  • the one for ordinary time, with curved piecing in mainly green, with shots of colour thrown in to represent, baptismal waters, pentecostal fire, celebratory gold and some celtic knots thrown in for good measure, is simply tapered from the base to the neck. Each section is  quilted individually (much fun was had!)
  • one all seasons stole has a high keyhole neckline, with improvisational piecing in all the colours of the rainbow
  • the other all seasons stole uses simple bars and careful graduation of colour through the rainbow from stately purple to fiery red and has a deeper, more accommodating keyhole
Both of the all seasons stoles are quilted in a flame design, representing tongues of pentecostal fire, which I absolutely love.

Each stole is finished with a full faced backing, which I hand stitched with a prick stitch at the back for a lovely, neat professional finish. And they are all labelled with a dedication to Dean Susan and a bible verse. Here is her favourite :

'What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?'
                                                   Micah 8:6
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