Book Review: Vestments

Vestments and How to Make Them by Lilla B. N. Weston, originally published in 1914, is a reference now back in print, newly rereleased by Ecclesiastical Sewing.

It’s an invaluable source of information on how to make religious garments, from chasubles to mitres, aimed at skilled makers who wish to create ceremonial garb for churches and officiants. 

It is also an excellent reference for research into how such clothing is constructed, not only for worship but also for academic and performance purposes. 

The pattern shapes and garment construction methods are not complex, and this book explains how they are constructed. 

This book seems to have been scanned from an original copy and optimized for reprinting. I’ve bought a lot of reprints of reference books so long out of print they’ve entered the public domain, and the quality of the reproduction is not always this good. It’s clear the publisher cares deeply about this edition’s fidelity to the source material. 

From a costumer’s perspective, whenever a production calls for religious ritual garb, there’s a concern for respect for the faith whose garments are needed and fidelity to the pieces in question. 

And sometimes we may not be making a garment that exactly replicates vestments (or other religious garb[1])—perhaps the shape or construction is simply intended to evoke some piece of holy attire. 

The ethical questions that surround dramatizing religious officiants wearing their vestments are issues for a creative team to grapple with; I am viewing this reference as a source of information for the maker tasked with creating these pieces, for whatever purpose.

I have to say, as a theatrical milliner who has made mitres for performers portraying popes/bishops, I am gratified to learn how such things are officially made, and thrilled that how I have made them in the past is pretty close to the way the actual headdresses are made.

Highly recommended, and I’m so thankful for this excellent reprint of a rare historical volume so long out of print.

[1] For example, the holy undergarments of the Mormon faith required by the play Angels in America by Tony Kushner