Please Note: Wonderful though the Internet is, it is not good at transmitting colors accurately. This is a problem for both of us.  The pictures of the fabrics shown on these pages cannot represent the actual colors. Nor can I show you the full array of colors that each fabric comes in.  A good example is the fabric 'Wakefield'. This fabric contains a great deal of gold (which does not show in the photo). Wakefield is a truly gorgeous fabric - and you'd never know it from the photo!  The same is true of the shades of the colors.  The St. Nicholas shade of green is different from the Fairford shade of green. 

Additionally, the photos cannot show the differences in the size of the patterns. While the size of the Chelmsford pattern appears to be similar in the picture to that of St. Nicholas, the Chelmsford repeat is 7 1/2 inches and the St. Nicholas repeat is 27 inches.

Now that I've told you what these photographs are not good at, let me suggest what they are good at.

It's my experience that we've become accustomed to seeing only a few ecclesiastical fabric patterns - the 'standards' of Agnus Dei, Ely Crown, Tudor Rose, Normandy and Coronation tapestry. These photos give you an excellent opportunity to view many other handsome, traditional liturgical patterns.

I am often asked to send out a 'full set' of my fabric samples.  I cannot do that!  It's impossible!  We're talking about hundreds of pieces of fabric!  The time and the expense would be prohibitive.  And, it's my experience that it would not be helpful to you either!  There's a better way.

By the time you are ready to begin looking at samples, you should have already made three decisions:

- You should have a good sense of your budget - how much the entire project will cost and/or how much you want to pay for your fabric per yard.

- You should know which liturgical color you will be using (on my Home Page, I give you the address of a wonderful website about our liturgical colors.  If you would like more information on this topic, that site is a great place to get it.)

- You should know which vestments and/or paraments you will be constructing.

When you contact me requesting samples, please have this information ready for me.  I can easily help you!  If I know your budget, I will know which fabrics NOT to send you.  If I know what color you are working with, I can make sure you receive a full group of the shades available.  If I know what vestments and/or paraments you'll be making, I'll know what scale will be appropriate - you don't want to use a large repeat on a small vestment or a small repeat on a large vestment.  (Remember, the pictures don't show the relative sizes of the repeats.)

Let me say something more about scale: St, Nicholas is a gorgeous fabric!  It's my absolute favorite.  The repeat is 27 inches - that's a HUGE repeat!  This very large repeat is designed for use on something like a large altar frontal.  While stoles constructed of St. Nicholas are handsome, a 4 - 6 inch wide stole cannot hope to display such a large repeat - the drama of these lovely shells will be lost.  YOU DO NOT WANT TO USE ST. NICHOLAS FOR CONSTRUCTING STOLES THAT ARE 4 - 6 INCHES WIDE!!!  If you are  making just a stole, you want a small repeat such as Chelmsford or Ely Crown.  Fairford also cuts up wonderfully into stole widths.  The same thing is true of using a small repeat on a large surface.  To use a small repeat - like Chelmsford or Ely Crown - on a large frontal will make the frontal look very, very busy. Matching the scale of the fabric repeat to the size of the vestment or parament is important.

I know my fabrics. I've used these fabrics for decades.  They're good friends of mine.  Let me help you with your decision making process. If you will give me your decisions about these three things, I can make your fabric decision so much easier - and, a great deal more efficient. 

Budget, Color, Scale

(Please Note: If you go to the M.Perkins & Son website, you can see other pictures of these patterns.)

Here they are!  I hope you enjoy them!

Click on any thumbnail image to view an enlarged photo of the pattern