The Old-Fashioned Church Alphabet | 2-Volume Sacred Lettering & Embroidery Study Book

A complete sacred lettering family for cloth

The Old-Fashioned Church Alphabet is a two-volume digital study-book set with a ten-file printable companion collection, published by Stitchesly Editions. It brings together a coherent A–Z ecclesiastical lettering family, supporting characters, sacred monograms, inscriptions, placement modules, finished-linen studies and practical scaling resources.

Across 80 paired studies, every composition appears first as an authoritative drawing and then as an embroidered material interpretation. The pair is meant to be read together: geometry beside thread, counterspace beside cloth, structural hierarchy beside goldwork, whitework and restrained colour.

This is not a conventional stitch-instruction book. It is an independent visual and practical reference for makers studying proportion, legibility, ornament, scale, placement and the translation of sacred lettering into textile.

Explore more independent publications in the Digital Embroidery Books collection.

What you receive — 12 PDFs / 365 pages

• Volume I: The Complete Alphabet & Supporting Characters — Studies 01–40 / 109 pages
• Volume II: Sacred Monograms, Inscriptions & Finished Linens — Studies 41–80 / 109 pages
• Printable Companion Collection: 10 additional PDFs / 147 pages
• 80 paired drawing and embroidery studies
• 160 full-page artwork plates
• 14 substantial contextual essays
• English-language editorial content
• US Letter portrait format

Printable Companion Collection — 10 PDFs

• Complete Alphabet Reference
• Alphabet at 2 Inches
• Alphabet at 4 Inches
• Alphabet at 6 Inches
• Numerals and Punctuation
• Sacred Monograms
• Inscription Layouts
• Altar Cloth Placement Templates
• Printing and Scaling Guide
• Letter Spacing Worksheet

The companion files turn the editorial books into a practical working library: select a letter, choose a prepared scale, plan spacing and placement, and print only the pages needed for a personal project.

Volume I — The Complete Alphabet & Supporting Characters

Studies 01–40 / 109 pages

Volume I establishes the family through twenty-six canonical capitals, then extends it through numerals, punctuation and foundational sacred marks. The drawings preserve cap height, countershape, stem weight, terminal language and restrained botanical syntax. Their paired textile plates explore how the same anatomy changes through thread, ground, relief and controlled colour.

• Complete A–Z ecclesiastical alphabet
• Numerals and supporting characters
• Foundational sacred marks and monograms
• Drawing / authoritative geometry plates
• Embroidery / material interpretation plates

Volume II — Sacred Monograms, Inscriptions & Finished Linens

Studies 41–80 / 109 pages

Volume II moves from individual signs into complete sacred surfaces. IHS, INRI, Chi-Rho, Alpha and Omega, devotional inscriptions and lettering arrangements are tested through medallions, plaques, centred compositions, corners, borders, vertical falls and complete linen applications.

• Sacred monograms and Christograms
• Devotional inscriptions and word compositions
• Scale and placement modules
• Altar cloth, lectern-fall, banner and memorial-linen studies
• Finished whitework and coloured-textile interpretations

Fourteen original essays

The Editorial Reader gives the publication historical and practical depth. Volume I includes: The Letter as Sacred Architecture; From Illuminated Manuscript to Embroidered Linen; Designing a Coherent Ecclesiastical Alphabet; Vine, Leaf and Bud: Ornament as Syntax; Goldwork, Whitework and the Meaning of Material; Scale, Distance and Legibility in Church Textiles; and Preserving Geometry During Hand Transfer.

Volume II includes: Sacred Monograms: Meaning Compressed; IHS, INRI, Chi-Rho, Alpha and Omega; The Devotional Inscription as Textile Composition; The Grammar of Altar Cloth Placement; Designing for Lectern Falls, Banners and Frontals; Memorial Linen and the Art of Remembrance; and Contemporary Making Within Ecclesiastical Tradition.

Drawing / cloth

The A pages govern anatomy: proportion, counters, stems, bowls, diagonals and the relationship between letter and ornament. The B pages propose atmosphere and material hierarchy through antique gold, Marian blue, crimson, linen, velvet-like grounds and whitework relief.

When adapting a study, preserve the A-page geometry first. Simplify secondary ornament as scale decreases, and let the B page guide material judgement rather than dictate one required stitch method.

Created for

• Textile and fibre artists
• Hand embroiderers
• Ecclesiastical textile makers
• Goldwork and whitework practitioners
• Lettering and surface designers
• Art and design students
• Creative researchers and independent craft-book collectors

Important — what this collection is not

This is a digital visual study and printable reference collection. It is not a step-by-step embroidery course, stitch chart, digitized machine-embroidery package or a promise that every motif will suit every production method without adaptation. No DST, PES, JEF, EXP or SVG files are included.

If you need production-ready embroidery formats, browse Machine Embroidery Files.

Digital format, viewing and printing

This is a digital product; no physical book will be shipped. View the volumes on a computer or tablet, print selected pages at home, or use a professional print service for personal use. The included Printing and Scaling Guide explains percentage enlargement and reduction. Printer settings, paper and screen calibration can cause small colour differences.

For download guidance, visit the Stitchesly FAQ & Digital Download Guide.

Creation note

This original publication was art-directed, selected, edited and assembled by Stitchesly. Generative AI tools were used in developing some visual studies and mockup imagery, followed by human composition, editorial development, quality control and publication design.

Personal-use licence

Copyright © 2026 Stitchesly. All rights reserved. Purchase grants one personal-use licence for viewing, study, inspiration and private printing. The files and their pages may not be shared, resold, redistributed, uploaded to another platform, extracted as a commercial image collection, repackaged or represented as an independent source collection without written permission.

Because digital files are supplied for immediate access, please review the product details before purchasing. If you experience a genuine file problem, contact Stitchesly so it can be resolved.