If clothes make the man, does the frock make the priest?
If so, Liz Zawacki and Beth Bogdanowicz have “made” many a clergyman with the custom vestments they create and sell through their business, Sacred Stitches, which grew out of a small project and took on a life of its own.
“Well, about 14 years ago, the priest at my church put out a call to the congregation asking if anybody could sew,” Bogdanowicz recalled. “I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. I mean, was he going to ask me to hem his pants or what? But as it turned out, what he needed were new altar cloths made and he vestments that needed some repairs. I did kind of work for him for a few years when he asked me to make a new vestment for him.”
Not up to the task, Bogdanowicz din’t think she could do it.
“He said, ‘Sure you can. You can do this.’ He gave me one of his old vestments to use as a pattern. So I decided to give it a try,” Bogdanowicz continued.
Bogdanowicz, who has known Zawacki since high school, pulled in her friend to help her.
Sacred Stitches was born after they made a vestment and altar cloths for Bogdanowicz’s priest and realized there was a market for handmade religious items.
Then, just when it seemed the business was picking up momentum, Bogdanowicz’s priest passed away suddenly.
“We thought, well that’s over,” Bogdanowicz said.
But when his successor contacted them to make a vestment for him, they were back in business.
Today the women work full-time growing their business and making vestments, stoles, and altar cloths.
Two sizes fit all
Zawacki and Boddanowicz don’t live in Secaucus, but Zawacki is here frequently as the coordinator of Project Linus, a group of volunteers who make blankets for hospitalized children and she is well-known in the community.
She and Bogdanowicz were both raised by moms who sewed.
“My mother sewed beautifully,” Zawacki said. “She made clothes for herself and made most of my clothes. I used to watch her. And I started sewing by helping her.”
Zawacki and Bogdanowicz said they each sewed throughout their teens and adult lives, but had never thought about sewing professionally.
Despite the ornate and elaborate appearance to the vestments, the women say they are actually much easier to make than they look.
“Honestly, [vestments] are really just big pieces of fabric with a hole in the middle,” Zawacki said. “They are loose, they aren’t fitted the way a blouse or a dress would be. So that makes it a lot easier.”
Also, the vestments only come in two sizes: regular and ample. So getting an exact fit isn’t necessary.
“Every religion and each denomination has very strict, specific rules about what can and can’t be worn on the vestment.” – Beth Bogdanowicz
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After meeting with the priest who will wear the vestment, he can go through books of fabric swatches and other embellishments to give them an idea of what he likes. Zawacki and Bogdanowicz go to fabric stores – or import cloth from abroad – and begin to design the garment based on the priest’s personal tastes. Some men, they said, like very baroque designs while others prefer something simpler, especially if they preach in a small, understated church.
“One customer said he didn’t want to clash with the altar,” Zawacki said.
“When we begin making a new vestment we always begin together,” Bogdanowicz said. “We always cut the fabric together because we’ve figured out that’s the most important part of the project. How the garment is cut will largely determine how it’s going to drape when it’s done.”
Once the fabric is cut, the sewing – they claim – is easy. But their attention to detail is apparent.
Many of the vestments have corded piping around the perimeter of the hem. Vestments that have collars are given an extra piece of fabric that covers the seam that connects the collar and the rest of the vestment.
Because Bogdanowicz and Zawacki are both Catholic, most of their clients are Catholic priests, although they are open to working with clergy of other faiths who need vestments of their own.
“The process would be different though,” Bogdanowicz said. “Every religion and each denomination has very strict, specific rules about what can and can’t be worn on the vestment. So, if we had a client from a different faith or denomination, we would have to let the client know that we’d be coming back to ask a lot of questions.”
Nun’s work
The sewing of vestments, altar cloths, and other religious wares was once done by nuns in convents, Zawacki and Bogdanowicz said.
“Now, most older nuns who maybe did this 40 or 50 years ago are giving it up because they may be getting too old to do it,” Zawacki said. And younger nuns tend to be more involved doing charity work in the community. The role of nuns has changed somewhat. So you don’t find that many people still doing this by hand.”
Most priests and ministers order their vestments out of catalogs from companies that mass produce the garments.
Like knitting and crocheting, they said, sewing vestments in the old fashioned way is fading away.
“Although you now see elementary and high schools offering sewing classes again,” Bogdanowicz said. “Who knows, maybe there could be an interest in this again.”
E. Assata Wright may be reached at awright@hudsonreporter.com.