Liturgical Embroidery

Hello, and welcome to my web page. My name is Bill Fitches and I have been sewing for forty years. In the last eight years or so, I have done a number of pieces for various churches. A few of my pieces are the property of St.George's Anglican Church

One of the first pieces I did was a commission on behalf of the choir,of which I am a member. It was decided that it would be a St. Cecilia banner that could be processed on special occasions. The banner was dedicated on February 3,1991. It is displayed on the north wall of the nave toward the narthex.

The inspiration for this piece was a St. Cecilia window located in All Saints Anglican church in Whitby. The shape of the banner echoes the shape of the beautiful stained glass windows on both the north and south walls of the nave.

A very challenging commission was completed in time for a dedication on May 25,1995. It was a frontal and hangings in memory of Archdeacon Harold Cleverdon, and was done in blue for Advent. The Advent symbols were intertwined with Ladyslippers and Trilliums which grew at the Cleverdon cottage. On Sunday, December 10,1995 a cope was presented that complemented the frontal and hangings.The hood is shown in the accompanying photograph.

Another cope,done in white, was fascinating to create. It was in memory of Rosalie Gill and was commissioned by the Wotton family. Rosalie's brother Earl, who is a chorister at St. George's supplied me with information about her. He said that she liked to watch sunsets from the dock at their cottage on a river, occasionally with a glass of red wine. She also loved her roses and once in a while a martini.Could these things be used to make the cope?

As you can see, the symbols worked well. The sunset, or sunrise, with the cross, fit the shape of the hood. The river, made with layers of organza, acted as a background for the other symbols. The grapes,roses and olive branch(for the martini) completed the design.