This morning as I was vesting for the 10:30 mass, I noticed that the shoulder of my alb was wearing through. Now, you well may roll your eyes, because you know that I haven’t bought any new vestments since I was ordained. But even more than that, this is an alb the my father-in-law handed down to me — so it had been in use since the 60’s, perhaps even the 50’s.
The servers were talking with me about a local tailor, but the linen has worn pretty thin all over. I think that it would be like trying to refurbish the One-Hoss Shay. I’ve put “poke around on vestment company websites” onto my to-do list.
you should at least get it backed with new linen so you can frame it for display in a nice glass case.
I can’t believe I ever had one made of linen. Am I getting a hint that it is time for me to come across with another hand-me-down? The only trouble with retirement is that I am still using my alb regularly. I have dreams of not being able to get into my vestments. In reality I can’t seem to get out of them.
Pa Moose — not hinting at all. I’m getting over the “they don’t make ’em like they used to” feeling as I look at alb materials and prices, but the Vanpoulles “Traditional Priest’s Alb” looks like a very suitable pro tem solution. Since Pippa arrives soon, I’ll ask her to measure my back, and we’ll be in business.