A gift

Several years ago I had met my buddy Miriam through a frum sewing site that is now fairly dormant. Miriam and I hit it off right away. She is part of the Lubavitch community in Crown Heights. Despite the obvious differences in our worldviews we have become dear friends. Miriam’s youngest daughter is a delight and just got married.
I made this challah cover for her as a wedding gift.

I had offered the bride a choice of gift. I could have either purchased something from her gift registry or I could maker her gift. The bride chose a gift made by me.

I am really pleased with the couched cording at the bottom of the piece. It was obsessive and pleasant work.

This was my first serious attempt at cording and I assume that I will be doing more if it.
This week I also ironed a couple of old bits of linen.
This small table cloth is a tour de force of fine work. The base of the piece is a fine cotton or linen lawn.

I love the pulled thread border. It’s high level work done with great skill. Threads are carefully pulled from the fabric and then a design is built up in the empty space. The fabric is backed with paper for stability and then a network of threads is worked across the void. Those threads are then embellished with button hole and other embroidery stitches.

The interior includes more varieties of pulled thread work. This is really impressive stuff.



I also ironed this piece. I don’t exactly know the original use of the piece it’s a long embroidered rectangle with a valance.

It’s sweet eyelet work

Perhaps it was a curtain that was clipped onto a rod. That’s my best guess but if any of you have a better idea of what this is, please let me know. I have two similar pieces.

We use these pieces to cover tables in the apartment. It feels uncharacteristically old-fashioned use these pieces made with care by women a century ago. I love having the work of women who lived long ago populating my apartment.

I wonder what someone several decades from now will think about my work.