Renewing the Kit

Essentially derived from the winter gown most medieval people might have worn from time to time, a cassock is the most basic item of the clergyperson’s kit. No matter what liturgical setting I’m functioning in, the cassock is the level below which I will not descend. Take from me my cotta, my chasuble and alb, but leave me my plain black! 

Ever since I was at theological college, I have had two cassocks. They were made by lovely Mr Taylor (a man captured by nominative determinism if ever anyone was) at his shop along the Cowley Road in Oxford, and have done sterling service for nearly twenty years. Thankfully my dimensions haven’t altered very much over that time! It was Mr Taylor who first alerted me to the fact that I am a bit wonky, my left shoulder being higher than my right.

The first warning I had that my cassocks were not immortal came quite some time ago when I tore the lining in first one and then the other while putting them on. Gradually the damage extended and this became more and more irritating as it was progressively harder to get my arms where they should be. Then I began to notice that the cuffs were wearing at the folds. There was no alternative but to replace them.

Sadly Mr Taylor, who has for all this time kept me supplied with ecclesiastical gear even after he’d decamped from the Cowley Road and set up shop in an industrial unit in rural Oxfordshire, had given up making cassocks. I turned to a well-known firm of clergy outfitters who I’ve dealt with very satisfactorily in the past, and tackled the options on their website – fabric, buttons, cuffs, number of back pleats. The company is based some distance away and unless I wanted to catch up with them at a church resources conference or something my measurements would have to be sent on. Helpfully the website gives a comprehensive list of what’s required and my sister was willing to wield a tape measure. There was a bit of a delay after the fabric I’d requested turned out to be ‘unsatisfactory’ to the company and had to be replaced with something similar: ‘only the weave is different’, they assured me.

But there are risks involved, especially when you’re spending something like £400 on a single garment. Medium barathea turns out to be quite heavy (about a third as weighty again as my old cassock) and I think the second cassock I order will be in a lighter fabric. We’ve also been a bit generous in measurements and the new cassock pokes out about an inch below the hem of my alb which looks ungracious. I’ve discussed this with the makers, and as they didn’t offer to alter it for me it looks like that job falls to me!