Care Instructions & Notes:

DRY CLEAN ONLY. Regular dry cleaning (2-4 times a year for a garment worn daily; 1-2 times a year for a garment worn only on Sundays) will protect the fabric and keep it looking its best. Most cities have a dry cleaner that will give a church discount-check your local area.

For spot cleaning, I offer brass bristle lint brushes for $20 each. These are excellent for removing small stains, dirt smudges, and lint. Inexpensive masking-tape- type lint rollers also work well.

If you have purchased an anterri, it has the following features: decorative stitching and braid, spare buttons sewn on the inside of the right hip pocket (as worn), pass-through pockets (so that you can access your pants pockets while wearing the anterri- these are slits to the back of the hip pocket on the inside), functioning button cuffs, and reversible fronts (if you spill wax on your anterri, just reverse it until you can deal with the stain). Because the anterri is reversible, one of the front waist tabs will not be in use-just button it down with the button to keep it in place.

If you have purchased an exorasson, it has the following features: crepe satin linings in the fronts and sleeves, silk knot button at the collar, and what I call "windy loops". These small loops are found about waist-high on the inside of the fronts. While wearing the exorasson, bring your arms back inside the sleeves without taking off the garment: you can then grab the windy loops and keep your exorasson from blowing around in windy weather (hence the name) or lift it up as you are climbing stairs.

Machine-washable with the following instructions: Wash in cold water on the delicate or gentle cycle and then hang dry (this fabric will dry quite quickly). NEVER PUT IN THE DRYER. The first time you wash the garment, you can add 1 cup white vinegar to the load to help set the dye. Please note that to due to the heavy amount of dye used to achieve a dark black, the performance fabric can leave a bit of dye "shadowing" on the collar of a white shirt. If you want to avoid this, then I recommend having your performance fabric garments dry-cleaned.

All vestments are DRY CLEAN ONLY, including poly/cotton sticharions (unless you have specifically requested a machine-washable sticharion). Regular dry cleaning will keep your vestments looking beautiful and extend their life. For gold/white sets that are worn frequently, dry clean 1-2 times per year, for colors worn less frequently (purple, blue, red, etc.), once per year or two is sufficient. Tell your drycleaner to not use a steam press and to dryclean as cool as possible (too high heat can damage the brocades). For white sets, tell your dry cleaner you want them cleaned with a new batch of "perc" (dry cleaning fluid). Dry cleaners routinely use perc for several loads of garments and white sets can become dull-looking if they are dry-cleaned in perc that has already cleaned other garments. Most cities have dry cleaners that will give a church discount- check your local area.

Environmental drycleaning: Please be very careful when using any drycleaner that utilizes "environmental" or "green" drycleaning processes. In an effort to minimize chemical use, this type of drycleaning sometimes relies on high heat, which is very damaging to most vestment fabrics and galloons. If you are uncertain, have your drycleaner test-clean a small piece like a cuff or the zone since these are more easily replaced should damage occur.

Vestments should be stored one of two ways: first, they can be hung on a sturdy hanger (the kind used for suits are best), or second, folded and wrapped in a vestment cover. I recommend the first method for frequently-used vestments or vestments being used in the current liturgical season (e.g. blue during Dormition). However, I strongly recommend the folded method for vestments that are being stored (off-season colors like blue, red, and purple) or when traveling. To learn how to properly fold phelonia and sticharia, please click on the "Folding Info" button to view a demonstration video. Proper folding will prolong the life of your vestments. Additional vestment covers with color-coded ribbons can be purchased for $20 each.