I served the Episcopal Diocese of Albany for twelve years as the Diocesan Altar Guild Directress.  As it is the perogative of the diocesan Bishop to oversee the ministry of the Diocesan Altar Guild, the Bishop established our ministry and asked me to carry it out.  My ministry was to re-establish the crafts of vestment construction and linen construction within the Diocese of Albany.  I did this by offering classes, all materials and support.  This project was very well received and we soon had Sewing Groups that met every month established in each of our seven deaneries.  I did quite a lot of driving during those years!

At first I carried out this ministry within the context of our diocese.  And then, following the publishing of my book, Sewing Church Linens, the ministry became national.  While I (somehow!) did not anticipate this consequence at the time I wrote the book, the experience has been a very great blessing.

Although I am retired as the Diocesan Directress, I have continued the ministry here.  I've chosen to continue this ministry for a couple of reasons: First, because the people I work with are such a joy.  

The second reason I've continued this ministry is that I believe in good stewardship. I believe that giving of our time and talent is as important as giving of our treasure. I believe that the ministry of the Church is to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. I believe that our Church could perform this ministry more effectively if we would spend less money purchasing expensive, ready-made linens and vestments. I believe that almost every parish has people who are competent sewers, who are perfectly capable of making handsome linens and vestments – if only they had access to proper, reasonably priced materials, instructions and patterns. I believe that these people would gladly give of their time and their talent – if only they had a bit of guidance and support. I believe my ministry is to these people; to provide materials, instructions and patterns and to give guidance and support.  I am an outstanding problem solver! 

I wrote that in 1997 when I opened this website.  I believed it then and I believe it now, as I write this in January of 2009.

Of course, the instant I opened this website, my ministry went from national to international (a learning experience, as you can imagine!).  I've learned a lot from my customers during these 12 years!  And, the website has grown and changed. New services and products have been added.  New pages have been opened.  The site has become a bit of a mess and needs some tidying up!  I need to move the furniture around.  I'm working on this! Let me explain the changes I'm making so you can find things better.

This  site now has two major 'sections':   'Vestments' and 'Linens'.  I've organized it this way because most people are interested in either Vestments or Linens.  Some people do both but, not that many.  This arrangement gets you into the section that interests you.  Each section has a 'Home Page'.  The links at the top of the page will move you through the pages of that section.  The links at the bottom of the pages will move you to a different section.

This website also has a third section called 'Of Special Interest'.  This section contains information on topics such as vestments for the Latin Mass, custom-made vestments and machine embroidery.

I hope this method of organization is helpful to you!

In Christ's Love,
Elizabeth Morgan
Diocesan Altar Guild Directress
(Emeritus)