'I help other female priests make their clothes'

A female vicar who makes clerical tops and dresses for other clergywomen said it felt "wonderful" to help them express themselves.

The Reverend Naomi Nixon, a minister at St Clare's at the Cathedral in Coventry, said there was otherwise not much choice out there for female priests.

After her creations "sold like hot cakes" on Facebook, she designed a pattern so others could make the tops themselves.

"If you've been wearing things which were originally designed for men, and then adapted for women, and are expensive and not quite you, to then be able to just make your own thing on a Saturday and then wear it on a Sunday, I can't tell you how empowering it feels," she said.

"It's just such a wonderful feeling, I wanted more women to have that experience and put the possibility of doing it into their own hands."

The minister said that when she was first ordained 25 years ago there had only been male shirts available, "slightly adapted for women".

Other options that later came on the market included expensive made-to-measure tops that took a long time to arrive.

"They weren't really the kind of things we wear in our normal lives - it's like you're wearing someone else's clothes," she explained.

Her eureka moment came after she signed up for a sewing course and discovered she loved it.

"I went mad for making things for myself," she said. "The thing I really wanted to do was to make clerical tops."

She enrolled in another course, where a teacher helped her create a pattern for a smart yet comfy stretchy top with a neat collar.

When she moved to St Clare's, she decided to sell a few creations to bring in money for the church, her target market "the kind of woman who would buy a nice summer dress or a nice winter dress for work".

But she was unprepared for the demand, a batch of 10 selling out within 20 minutes on the church's Facebook page.

"The thing I realised was, I could help more women to have the opportunity to have the pretty pattern they fancy if I can make an off-the-shelf pattern just like you would buy from a haberdashery," she said.

"That you could literally just cut around your size, and make it yourself."

Clergywomen can now buy her St Lydia and St Felicity top and dress patterns as a digital download, with some printed versions also available in the St Clare's shop.

She has so far sold more than 650 and said the feedback had been "wonderful".

"The thing that's been the joy of it is giving it to people in a way that they can express themselves," she said.

"Choosing a print they really like or is special to them, or rainbow stripes for Pride, or a particular colour for their daughter's wedding.

"It allows us to just feel a little bit more normal, like other people who choose their own clothes for work."

The Reverend Tanya Lord said she had bought a couple of Nixon's short-sleeved shirts and made several of her tops and dresses in different materials, including one with rainbow-coloured hearts.

"I've never been one that's worn black as I think knowing God is good news," she smiled.

"I always get loads of comments... It's a lovely way to start conversations."

Currently a vicar at St. Nicholas Church in Hull, she described the £100 cost of clergy outfitter-made dresses as "prohibitively expensive".

She said St Clare's Clericals patterns were simple to follow and "shaped properly", and that she waits for the sales to snap up the material she needs.

"To make them myself as well, it just means it's affordable."

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