starting Sara Beth's tallit

Sara Beth is the girl friend of the son of dear friends. All of our sons should have girl friends like Sara Beth. She is smart, kind, beautiful and funny. She also asked me to make her a tallit.

During the summers she works in a Jewish camp in Georgia. The tallit needed to be comfortable in the Georgia heat. She felt that a scarf shape would be easier to manage and keep on her body. The Torah mantle I did in memory of my father was around when I met with Sara Beth. She loved the beading. She also loved the look of the tallit I had done for my older son, a black tallit that my son wanted to look like "outer space". I had hand embroidered stars for the stripes.

The fabric we chose for this tallit is a rough woven silk, called "Silk Linen" by the folks at www.supersilk.com. In planning the tallit I had thought that I would double the silk in making the tallit. Yesterday I cut the yardage and realized that the two layers would just be too hot for Georgia summers. So now instead of hiding raw edges inside the tallit, I have to think about nice ways to edge the tallit. I think I have some black satin ribbon in my stash. That may do the trick.

I began beading the stripe section of the tallit yesterday. It's just a fun thing to do. like so many of the things I make, the combination of a dark base and sparkle is not something that my camera likes to take pictures of. As you look at the photo you need to see the black as a really saturated black and the beads with quite a bit of sparkle.

If you have any tips about how to improve my photos, just let me know.