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Linda's tallit

One would think that a tallit with  stripes made out of  ribbons  all cut to the same length would be fairly simple to put together. In theory,  this would have been a really simple tallit construction wise.

Reality though was quite a different thing. One of the ribbons was incredibly fragile and had to be supported with some iron on interfacing.  Despite Linda's careful directions of where people should decorate their ribbons, Linda's dear friends and relatives were not so good at following directions. The glue on letters that one sister chose to use for her beautiful message kept peeling off as I worked. The fabric we had selected for the tallit turned out to be too fragile to support the heavy ribbons. We selected a second  sturdier fabric but it meant changing the whole process of construction.  These changes can be described in one quick sentence but took a whole day to complete. 

All of those tweaks and headaches were complicated by two days of Holiday in the middle of the week. Neither Linda no I like to do things at the last minute but there were were, essentially at the last minute, tying the tzitzit.

I got the pinot finished by lunchtime

This is Linda's spectacular calligraphy on the atara. She has such a pretty hand there. I am really impressed.

I constructed the atara and sewed it onto the tallit by 4;00.
Then Linda came by to tie her tzitzit.
As I expected, Linda learned how to tie the tzitzit quickly.
She followed the cheat sheet I had set up for her and worked away at the task.

And them it was complete!
Shabbat Shalom!

Comments

  1. This is beautiful! Even though it was last minute, it was because of attention to detail and that makes a big difference.

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  2. Usually when I finish a piece all I can see are all of the many flaws. it usually takes a bit of time before I can see the piece as a whole and see that it is actually a nice piece. I didn't have that time to be able to get a bit of distance and see the piece as a whole. But when I was in synagogue yesterday and could see Linda and her tallit from across the room I could see how well it all worked. With more time I might have done some things differently...but all in all..it could be much worse. Thank you for your kind words Sandy- I always appreciate what you have to say.

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