Aidan's Comfort Collars - a cottage industry

In 1999, St. Aidan's Episcopal Church in Ann Arbor, MI, began looking at creative ways to confront our budget deficit. As we discussed various fundraising ideas, it became clear that the Spirit was calling us to find ways to community growth as well as making a useful, possibly profitable contribution to the world. It was agreed that any activities designed to raise money must also be designed to strengthen the church community and build relationships.

A couple years previously, the priest at St. Aidan's had asked a parishioner who sewed to design and make a cloth clerical collar which would be more comfortable than the standard plastic ones.

A short time before this year's Diocesan Convention, the parishioner realized that the collars had potential as a cottage industry. She gathered interested people in the parish for a "Collar Bee" to make as many collars as possible in one day, and Aidan's Comfort Collars were born.

Parishioners come together about once a month to cut, iron, stitch, turn, buttonhole, and iron some more. We are committed to making a high quality product to help the church budget, and our commitment to the relationships that are growing at these Bees is also strengthening the church community. We hope that you will find as much enjoyment in wearing these collars as we found in making them.