Here are two purificators. I made one of them a little while back and one just this week from a remnant of linen left over from the monstrance veil I made a couple of weeks ago. I keep usable pieces of linen and make ‘odd’ linens or handkerchiefs to give as gifts here and there. No one seems to mind an extra purificator, especially if it’s handmade, and surely everyone should have a linen hankie in their pocket or purse, the better to deal with scraped juvenile knees and weeping women, or weeping men for that matter!

This one is a fairly standard size… about 12″ x 18″, although I hold that there’s actually no such thing. Since when is every church, sanctuary, altar and sacred vessel the same size? One size does not fit all and the linens should just really be a good fit for where they’re being used. Standardization is what happened when we stopped making our own linens and big liturgical supply houses took over. However if we make our own then we get a custom product.

Here’s that hem a little closer up; a spoked hem, or at least that’s what I call it. It is a wee bit fiddly to do but I like the look. I only do the end hem this way, the other three sides are 1/4″ plain hems. The corners are mitred.

And here’s a closer look at the embroidery. A little Greek cross with a crown of thorns around it. Once upon a time, when I was less experienced with thread qualities, and wanting to give the best to Jesus, I used silk for the embroidery on altar linens… I learned the hard way that you can’t launder silk; the colour ran right out of the threads at the first washing! Oh dear!! I probably did know (buried at the back of the brain!) but was caught up in that ‘best’ thing. Now that I’m old and wise (do stop laughing…) I use a cotton thread for embroidery on anything which has to be washed.

Now here’s the one I just made from that remnant. A little bit shorter, about 16″ long but a similar width. Again 1/4″ hems all around with mitred corners but a plain stitched end hem this time. I was saving myself for the embroidery.

Here it is; a stem stitched IHS monogram. I like this particular monogram, I’ve previously stitched it solidly using a satin stitch. I thought I’d try it in this outline form to see if I like the look. I stitched it using two strands of thread in the needle, next time I might try it with just one to see if I prefer that.

By the way, these two purificators are sewn from the same kind of linen but slightly different colours. One is a very bright white and the other a little creamier. Again, nice to have options.

Next up on the worktable: a lot of linen. Two altar cloths to make, some credence table cloths and I have a couple of yards each of two new linens which I want to test to see if I like the quality before I offer them to anyone.

I’m also working on a cartoon for an embroidery. I can feel a bout of goldwork coming on…

Thanks for reading.