Paraments - First Lutheran Church, Palo Alto

I did the basic construction of these pieces, then turned them over to Tami who, with perl cotton, patientily attached the edge bands to the central pieces with a kind of stitching called "faggotting". This narrow opening around the edge of the cloth is an elegant accent. It makes the piece special without detracting from the beauty of the fabric.

The fair linen often used with the green paraments is edged with crochet made more than 50 years ago by Gustava Benson (1863--1952). Gustava was born in south-west Sweden. She and her husband, Per Bengtsson --- as they were called in Swedish --- had 13 children; five survived to adulthood. Individual members of the family migrated to California over a period of several years. In 1906, the entire family was reunited here. One son, Karl, later returned to Sweden, but the other children, John, Parul, Bror, and Selma (who married Albert Troedsson,) remained in Palo Alto and were active in varying degrees in the early years of First Lutheran Church. The fillet edging, featuring a rose motif, was crocheted by Gustava to edge a bed sheet, but had never been used. It was given to First Lutheran Church by Gustava's granddaughter, Zelda Troedsson Jury. This gift from the past now graces the altar at First Lutheran, a reminder of the faith of the founders of First Lutheran Church, and an illustration of the skills of their hands. We learned later that the fair linen traditionally hangs down on each side of the altar, rather than just covering the top. Also, the fair linen is normally not decorated or trimmed. However, in this case, the piece of crochet had such special relevance to the congregation, we have continued to use and enjoy it.