work, work, work, work, work

I'm getting down to the wire on both the "not Mets" tallit and Naomi's tallit.  Naomi's tallit is really close to done. It is awaiting topstitching and the atara and pinot. Like Naomi, it is quiet but glows.

The "not Mets" tallitis in many ways more technically difficult. I  cut the white tussah silk to size and serged it to prevent shredding. Again, I'm so happy with my new serger. My old one would have had trouble cutting the edge and would have been spitting and complaining. This serger just cut through the thick rough silk like"buttah".

I was thinking about turning the edges and just having a  narrow plain hem. Then I remembered the beautiful roll of black and white striped grosgrain ribbon that I had fished out of the remnant bin at Metro Textile. Kashi let me buy the roll for a pittance. I folded it in half and edged the entire tallit with the ribbon. I love how the striped ribbon makesthe rough silk look elegant. I also love how the black and white stripes evoke  traditional tallit stripes.

Tallit edged in striped ribbon

I think that I will edge the pieced stripes with the ribbon as well. It will make the Seminole pieced stripes look less crafty and a bit more designed.

Reverse of pieced stripe now supported by silk chiffon

As I had mentioned in an earlier post, one of the orange silks is a Thai silk. That means that it is loosely woven and slightly irridescent. It also means that the silk can shred at the seams. I could have ironed on a thin interfacing. I'm actually out of interfacing. I was anxious about doing that because an iron on interfacing can sometimes bubble in a not so lovely way. I decided to support the more fragile fabrics by stitching them to a base. I wanted the base fabric to be light weight and not alter the hand of the fabric. I quilted  the Seminole stripes to a length of white chiffon using metallic thread. The thread is actually a fine and soft Lurex yarn made up of black and bronze. Unlike most Lurex yarns it is really soft. I think that the quilting wil provide enough support for the Thai silk.

I also did the lettering for both the atara and the pinot. So all in all, a productive day, considering that I also spent time visiting my friend Steve in the hospital on the East Side. If you were thinking of visiting Steve, you ought to go, if only for the amazing view from his room. His room is on the fifteenth floor, on the East River, facing north with completely unobstructed viewes.

Steve, though, is such a lovely human being that it would be worthwhile to visit him even  in an ugly basement room.