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Caring for the Altar Linens

Thanks to Kristin Johnson and David Hoglund for supplying these instructions.

Deacons are typically assigned to wash altar linens for one to two months. Here are some tips.

What to Wash

• We have enough altar linens for about two services. Thus, during most times of the year, washing them every other week is sufficient. When there are two or more communion services each week, you'll want to launder them more often.
• Pick up dirty linens in the basket on the sacristy counter. Check the sacristy trash basket too, just in case.
• Also go into the chancel and check the linens on the altar for stains; launder these as needed. (Exception: Gulli Kula, who created the hand-woven cloths we often use on the altar, prefers to clean those herself.)
• Other items that need to be washed are the dish towels in the kitchenette (opposite the Alumni/ae Room) and the sacristy, and the diaper Ruthlyn uses as a cushion while changing diapers in the nursery.

How to Wash Them

• Pre-treat wine and lipstick stains with Spray 'n' Wash or another stain remover.
• Machine wash in hot water, no bleach.
• Iron with a steam iron. Use starch as necessary, particularly for the large cloths.

How to Deliver Them

After the linens have been washed and pressed, fold them (or not) as directed below and bring them back to church. Return them to the brown cabinet in the outer sacristy; one of the drawers is marked "altar linens."

Fair linen (very large altar cloth): wrapped around a mailing tube to minimize creases.

Corporals (square cloths about 20" x 20"): folded in ninths, as follows:

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Purificators (rectangular cloths, about 10" x 15"): folded in sixths, as follows:

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