Sewing tips, scapulars, wearing the faith

I sewed just about all of my clothes when I was school, from the 7th grade through graduation. I did it because we had no money for clothes, and I didn't like having to wear 10 year old hand me downs from when my sister in law was young. They were great quality clothes, but 10 year old out of fashion was hard even in a podunk little village that I grew up in. Cotton fabric was 30 cents a yard and I could squeeze a sleeveless shell out of a yard. So I was able to make some very cool things and keep up with the fads, and a few really strange things too. The cool things included an orange Nehru jacket, a pure white Safari jacket and skirt, and paisley "Carnaby" look skirt and matching men's necktie. I learned how to make fairly complicated outfits, such as suits with lapels. Since I had to make due with hand me down fabrics (like turquoise hounds tooth) some of those outfits were strange, and that was the reason why. My sister in law's mother gave them to me and I had to use what I could get.

Sometimes, though, I'd be able to do something really special. One of my favorite pieces was a tabard. For those of you who don't know what that is, think of those advertising signs that people wear, where there is a board in front, and a board in back, and they are fastened together and worn over the shoulders with a strap over each shoulder. There was a bit of a medieval interest in fashion when I was in school, and so Simplicity patterns had a tabard pattern, hip length, with a hood, and fastened on the side with D rings.

Now, for various reasons too complicated to get into here, in those days it was not a great idea to wear a lot of things that trumpeted my Catholic faith. I got around that by using a lot of plaid, which if you think about it, is a lot of crosses. So I made the tabard out of a gray plaid with silver D rings and a hood. Therefore it was like wearing a scapular, without being obvious at all about it.

A scapular was a devotional garment worn in the Middle Ages, consisting of taking the outer garment of a monk's outfit, which is sleeveless and shaped like a tabard. Over time the lay people started wearing small symbolic versions of the outfit, shrinking them until they were two small pieces of cloth, joined by strings and worn like a double sided necklace, on piece on front and one on back. The Catholic Church has approved a number of scapulars based on verified revelations, particularly those from the Virgin Mary.

I started reminiscing about my home sewn tabard and it's discrete devotional sign because this July 16 is the Commemoration of Our Lady of Carmel, and the scapular she granted with the approval of God, the Brown Scapular. I then thought that I might share this story because so many people, students in particular, are oppressed about wearing signs of Christian devotion to schools or the workplace. So I thought that I'd pass on my tip that wearing plaid is a way to dress in a whole lot of crosses without having to get into a knock down drag out battle over wearing a sign of faith. So far no one has banned being a sign of a Scot ha ha. Anyway, it worked for many years for me. I've colored this blog post in the colors of my original tabard's plaid design!