Cons. Anabaptist covering practices

[steve-in-kville]

Folks that are unaware of how this works... cap style coverings have to be custom made. My wife would get measured and a week or more later would be able to pick up her covering(s). Hanging veils, for the most part, can be handmade by anyone that is able to sew a dress. A covering shop may be able to keep stock of the basic round mesh coverings that was popular years ago in some of the COB circles, but most have to be made to order.

It is a process.

[Signtist]

Are we ordaining only ladies with cappes now?

Seems if God was worried how we covered or how we ordained He'd have spelled it out clearly. Also, if He wouldn't require something of a lady that was darn near impossible to do without years of practice in fabrication and design. Also, if it wasn't the men making the rules, or if we men had to make them, the minnow net head cover capp thing would not exist.

[Soloist]

Curiosity: How many of the sisters here, those who customarily wear the capp, make their own?

My wife makes her own dresses with no trouble, but has a girl down in Virginia make her traditional style caps. Apparently making a traditional cap (mesh, pleats, specific shapes/angles) is abundantly more complicated. Ideally somebody else needs to work on it for you so they can accurately see how it fits, adjust it accordingly in the process, etc (unless you're really spatially good sewing/altering based on looking at the back of your head in a mirror).... To the context of the question though, it does seem like we have significantly less ladies who know or are willing to make caps (either for themselves or others) than we used to. Similarly with making Plain coats (or making them over from lapel coats).

Since we're jumping around here , my wife (and I) is curious what the average cost is for your wives to buy a traditional/denominational cap from someone else, what kind of wait time you have to get it after ordering, and how long one cap lasts, if some of you would be willing to ask your wives and share. Thanks.

Wife: it really depends on how busy the seamstress is. I remember one time at the nationwide church and Utah that we were staying the night at, the lady popped one out for me in an hour, but I don’t think that’s the norm . I had another one ready on my way back to Oregon.

Usually around here, depending on the schedule of the girl who makes them, it can take about a week, but obviously if she has a lot or is out of town, that changes things. It’s only $15 here, probably more like $25 to 30 in Oregon and I don’t remember Utah, but not too bad and often, instead of mailing it, it would end up going with somebody or another who was visiting Oregon and once showed up in a handy pet carrier box. I’m pretty sure that, in Oregon at least, it was more expensive than the regular covering, and it just depends on who you use and what fabric they’re using…
I would say maybe two coverings a year, possibly more or less depending on how well you take care of them and how perfect you want them to look, and how often your children sit on them because you accidentally leave them on the couch.

I know that our former bishop’s family would’ve actually been more than happy to pay for coverings to be made for us as long as I could find someone to make them (we didn’t take them up on that), so if someone actually is tight on finances, they will often help out.

[Josh]

Folks that are unaware of how this works... cap style coverings have to be custom made. My wife would get measured and a week or more later would be able to pick up her covering(s). Hanging veils, for the most part, can be handmade by anyone that is able to sew a dress. A covering shop may be able to keep stock of the basic round mesh coverings that was popular years ago in some of the COB circles, but most have to be made to order.

It is a process.

It's possible to have an ill-fitting kapp that is premade. There are certain styles of kapps that can also be premade, but these would only work well for moderate-conservative groups (where they can be rather small). They are for sale in the Amish type of fabric stores in Ohio.

Given all these difficulties, it is particularly egregious to expect seekers to navigate this minefield. I don't like expecting seekers to wear things that make them look "dumpy".

Regarding prices, https://www.countrystorefabrics.com/hai ... uct_id=226 has "pre-sewn" cap coverings for sale for $24 (which, if I understand correctly, some women think is excessive in price) which comes in two different constructions: one with 14 sizes and one with 4. They sell the old-fashioned kind for $5.50. The veils for Sunday church are $15.00. They are just a simple square of fabric.

Most Holdeman congregations (but not at all) have either a fabric store nearby, or another type of store like a bulk food store that has a little fabric section, or else a lady runs a fabric store out of her basement, garage, etc. Unfortunately we recently lost our store run out of a lady's garage as she decided to stop running it. So it's back to mail order, or pick up items when visiting another congregation.

[mike]

Since we're jumping around here , my wife (and I) is curious what the average cost is for your wives to buy a traditional/denominational cap from someone else, what kind of wait time you have to get it after ordering, and how long one cap lasts, if some of you would be willing to ask your wives and share. Thanks.

It's around $15, and they get done pretty quickly.

[steve-in-kville]

Since we're jumping around here , my wife (and I) is curious what the average cost is for your wives to buy a traditional/denominational cap from someone else, what kind of wait time you have to get it after ordering, and how long one cap lasts, if some of you would be willing to ask your wives and share. Thanks.

It's around $15, and they get done pretty quickly.

Way better than our area!

[Josh]

Are we ordaining only ladies with cappes now?

Seems if God was worried how we covered or how we ordained He'd have spelled it out clearly. Also, if He wouldn't require something of a lady that was darn near impossible to do without years of practice in fabrication and design. Also, if it wasn't the men making the rules, or if we men had to make them, the minnow net head cover capp thing would not exist.

In the moderate-conservative Mennonite world, there are congregations where the ministers' wives always wear kapp coverings but the rest of the sisters feel at liberty to wear hanging veils. So, yes, it seems that in some cases, we only ordain ladies with kapps.

I personally find such laity-clergy distinctions not befitting an Anabaptist doctrine and lifestyle.

[ohio jones]

Seems if God was worried how we covered or how we ordained He'd have spelled it out clearly.

But of course He did, in the Rules and Discipline of the Lancaster Conference. One need only quibble about which edition.

[Neto]

My wife must have made her own in the past (because I remember seeing her stash of the special fabric), but in the recent years before the congregation went to all hanging veils (not that there are not some sisters who still wear the capp), she would get one at an area store that had them ready made - slightly different shapes and sizes, to hopefully be able to find a good fit. Travelling by air can be challenging, as the nice one has to be kept in a 'tupperware' or some other sort of sturdy box or container. (Remember, 'high' women used to have to travel carrying a hat box, and some of those were much larger than a capp.)

(I met my wife out in Oklahoma, while she was there for missionary training. I didn't see her in a capp until she came to the door the first time I traveled to Ohio to visit her, and meet her parents. As I recall, she didn't think about it, that I had never seen her with one on, or even a photograph.)

[Heirbyadoption]

(I met my wife out in Oklahoma, while she was there for missionary training. I didn't see her in a capp until she came to the door the first time I traveled to Ohio to visit her, and meet her parents. As I recall, she didn't think about it, that I had never seen her with one on, or even a photograph.)

And your honest initial thought upon seeing her in a capp, other than naturally being bedazzled by her beauty and charm? v