About us

Join the Guild's national email list here (watch out for the confirmation email which may go to spam).

The Guild of St Clare was founded in Oxford in 2009. Its purpose is to repair and make the liturgical vestments necessary for the celebration of the traditional liturgy of the Catholic Church and to pass on the traditional hand sewing skills necessary for this.

The Guild today runs two Sewing Retreats each year, where liturgical sewing is combined with spiritual talks and liturgy, one in the spring and one in the autumn. 

It also runs Vestment Mending Days in London on Saturdays.

We have local chapters around the country.

Everyone is welcome at Guild events: we can find tasks appropriate for all skill levels.

The Guild is affiliated with the Latin Mass Society, which was founded in 1965 to promote traditional Catholic liturgy. The Latin Mass Society is a registered charity, number 248388.

The Guild’s spiritual patron is St Clare of Assisi, who, like many female religious over the centuries, made liturgical vestments.

You can see why we use hand-sewing techniques here.

The Mistress of the Guild of St Clare is Lucy Shaw. For any enquiry about the Guild, or to support our work, please email her on guildofstclare@lms.org.uk .