Several months ago someone in our congregation donated a very basic set of vestments to the church. Altar frontal, burse, veil and stole. If you are not familiar with liturgical terms, a burse is an envelope to hold extra linens used for communion; it sits on top of the veil and chalice. The veil is the square cloth that is used to cover the chalice before and after the service. The stole is part of the vestments the priest wears, and represents part of the clothing worn in “Bible times”. The frontal is the cloth that covers the top of the altar and hangs down over the front and sides.
And thereby hangs a tale. Because I am a seamstress, I got “elected” to put fringe and appliqued crosses on the appropriate pieces. Putting small crosses on the top of the burse and the front of the veil, as well as lining the veil, was no big deal, and putting fringe on the stole was no problem. But I came a cropper when I started on the frontal.
The frontal that was donated is about ten feet by five feet, with a 10 inch square cut out of each end of one long side – a sort of loooog, squat “T” shape. I carefully basted the fringe to the frontal, making absolutely sure the fringe was straight, and today I sewed it on by machine. A row of stitches on the top of the fringe heading and another row across the bottom of the heading. All neat, with no puckering or dips. Perfect!
I folded the fabric in half so I could center the large cross on the front – and discovered I’d sewn the fringe to the back edge instead of the shorter front! Removing that blessed fringe is going to be a major pain. One misstep and the entire thing could come unraveled.
I’m going to have a long, warm bath, a glass of wine, and a big piece of cake. And go to bed. I don’t need to have the frontal done until mid-November, and life will look better tomorrow. Scarlet and I will think about it in the morning.
Next time somebody asks me to do this sort of thing, I’m going to blush, bat my eyelashes, simper, and whisper, “Hell, NO.”
thisendoftheswamp 
Lol my mom did the same thing to my running tights the other day. The wine and bath sound like a perfect recovery plan:)