sarah in nyc

This logo was designed by my client's uncle who emigrated to Israel in 1948. The family name is Benjamin. The wolf image comes from Jacob's death-bed blessing of his son, Benjamin, who he compares to a wolf. The Benjamin family has used this logo on t- shirts for family reunions, and even on checks. The great nephew of the man who designed the logo is having his bar - mitzvah in Australia. His aunt and uncle decided to have me make him a tallit bag and asked the bar- mitzvah boy for his input before I got to work. I was told that the bag needed to be black and it also needed to include the wolf from the logo. The bar- mitzvah boy also wanted gold on the bag.The boy's bar mitzvah actually includes the reading with Jacob's blessings to his sons. I had a piece of wonderful black wool flannel which is deeply black. My client was happy because it seemed to be just the thing. My client also decided to include the following line from the boy's reading " ...and he b...

I just cleaned up after another sewing lesson with my student. One of the things that I keep realizing while teaching, is that as a teacher I can either empower my student so she feels capable, or I can convince her that I am the source of all knowledge, and that she is but a bug, in the world of sewing. Probably the best way to help my student to feel capable, is not to hover as she works. So I make myself busy as she sews. I do some of my own sewing. I deal with the laundry, or make myself a cup of tea as she sews on my machine. As she begins the next step on a garment, I will point out the sorts of mistakes that I tend to make over and over again, so she can avoid them. Generally, my errors are good teachers. I will generally explain why we are using a particular technique. If I know that my student knows a couple of different ways to approach a task, I will ask her which one she prefers to use. One of the things I love about my student is how different her work style is from min...

Last Wednesday I got together with my friend Elizabeth, who I met through http://www.patternreview.com/ . Elizabeth has a much more precise and careful approach to sewing than I do. It's always nice to share ideas and to run around in the fabric district with a fellow sewer. We had planned to meet at Greenberg and Hammer. Both of us had notions-ey purchases to make and since we were showing up form different directions it's comfortable place to poke around while waiting for a friend to show up. I got there a bit early and was looking through the latest issue of Threads magazine which had an article about working with rectangular godets. Elizabeth showed up and we both bought interfacings for different projects, needles and threads. Elizabeth also needed some zippers. It's a nice place for poking a round with nice staff who can also walk you through the intricacies of different sorts of interfacing. Most of the folks at http://www.patternreview.com/ love shopping at Metro T...

My student came over for another lesson last night. After the careful and focused work on the little girl wedding dress, she was eager to begin work on a dress like this one With a jersey knit tank top, a wide exposed elastic waist and a slightly gathered skirt, like this one from www.metropark.com . Often we will draft a bodice for my student by starting out with an existing top that fits her. Other times I will chalk out a draft directly onto fabric based on my student's measurements or I will draft by eye. I wanted to see how much my student had actually absorbed from working with me. so I asked her to do the draft on her own. Her first attempt was far too small with an armscye the size of a tennis ball and no neck. I asked my student to look at her first attempt and see if she thought it might fit. I also took a length of elastic and used it to measure from the top of her shoulder, essentially tracing out the length of the armscye. seeing that length of elastic gave her a bet...

My husband and I subscribe to a paper the house organization, which means that we have the opportunity to see Broadway and Off- Broadway shows at less than the cost to going to a movie matinee. Last Friday there was a though provoking article in the Wall Street Journal about a new play, "In the Next Room, The Vibrator Play". So when I got an email yeasterday, that tickets were available for last night, I reserved two. I got to the theatre before my husband did. As I was waiting , as always, I crowd watched. The audience was clearly a local crowd, with very few, if any tourists. I was standing next to the poster advertising the show. After a while I noticed a man in his early 80's , wearing a clerical collar, seriously studying the poster. I mused if his liturgical presence would make audience members uncomfortable, or if he would be uncomfortable with the topic of the show. After several minutes, a man about 30 years younger, greeted the man with the clerical collar wit...

Given that most of my work these days is making tallitot, I spend lots of time working with twelve year olds. I know that lots of people avoid working with middle school kids. While in my younger years, I spent lots of time with really little kids, teaching day care, and doing Jewish programming with the under 5 set, I have discovered that I adore working with early adolescents. Usually, a parent will call or email me to discuss the possibility of my making a tallit for their child. Then, I will meet with the parent and child together. I assume that by meeting with me, the parent is sold on the idea of a tallit and of working with me. So, during that initial design meeting, and during the rest of the process, I treat the child as my primary client. The parent foots the bill, but it is the bar or bat mitzvah that is my main focus. It is hard to be an early adolescent. There are many parallels to toddler-hood, so my experience with young kids comes in handy. One of the iconic images of t...

My sewing student is friends with a little girl in our community. I met the little girl, as her mother, was saying kaddish for her own mother. The little girl would come to Friday night services and carefully fold and unfold pieces of fabric during services. Clearly, I was enchanted. The little girl's grandmother was a sewer. Her mother was not. Several months ago, the little girl requested that her mother make her a wedding dress for dress up. The mother was sad, because she knew that this was exactly the sort of thing that her own mother would have excelled at. The mother said to the little girl " I really wish that I could make you the dress, but I can't sew." The little girl then piped up that they did know someone who could sew, my student. So, my student was given the task of making a wedding dress for the little girl. My student and I discussed how one listens to what a client wants, drawing sketches to make sure that everyone is on the same page . My studen...

The first of this series of challa covers was given as a wedding gift to the Jewish bride marrying the groom of Hispanic orgin. The center image for the Challa cover comes from a compilation of images of syangogues built in Spain before 1492. The next challa cover in the series is being given as a wedding gift to the son of friends. The groom's father comes from a Sephardic family that had lived in Turkey and Egypt. As I was going through my stash looking for just the right border fabric, I didn't find anything that struck my fancy. If I don't have exactly what I need, it is often easier to construct something that will work than to go out shopping. It was time for a bit of inspiration. I decided to mine my book of Jewish Illuminated Manuscripts for possible ideas for the border. A bible from Lisbon circa 1483 yielded this image. Here you can see both my adaptation and what I was copying from. Detail from the Lisbon Bible My variation on the Lisbon border, painted on velvet...

Beth was a member of our community. She taught at one of the local Jewish Day schools. She had her husband had three kids, so good, so sweet so smart that they made the rest of us look like we had raised a pack of Juvenile Delinquents. Beth was diagnosed with breast cancer and fought it for many years. She died about a month after her youngest's bat- mitzvah. For many years, Beth co-taught with Linda, her best friend. Linda, too, had three kids. All six kids knew that they were equally welcome at either home. Beth's oldest just became engaged. Linda asked me to make a challa cover as a wedding gift. In thinking about it, seemed to me, that the challa cover needed to express Beth's wishes for her oldest. Linda wanted me to design to challa cover with the bride. Sunday we had a long phone conversation. I quoted the prayer that women often recite after lighting Shabbat candles. the bride loved it and felt that it did express her mother's hopes for her childr...