The Parochet….done!!!!

Wednesday evening, I was ready to do what for most people, would be the easiest part of this project, adding the backing. I cut a piece of dark blue Ottoman rayon to size, serged the raw edges and began machine stitching the front to the back. I thought that I had been pretty good about cutting to size but it was clear when I came to the bottom of the first seam that I had badly miscalculated.

M y plan was to apply the Ultra-suede border after the front and back were sewn together. I then realized that while I had calligraphed the names of all of the prophets the girls had chosen, I still needed several inches more of border. I chose a few more illustrious biblical prophetic types. In tryuing to undo my sewing, I ripped a piece of the parochet. I was then both furious and depressed.

I quit working for the night and watched a few episodes of Pee Wee’s Playhouse to cheer up. The next morning I was ready to attack the lining problem anew. I very carefully marked a piece of striped pinwhale corduroy, I cut it out and serged on the marked lines. I then hemmed and mitered the corners. I tried to stitch the front to the back again, and the lining was about two inches too short. Clearly the wool, the Ultra-suede ad the corduroy were just not getting along. I decided to bead the edge, using the hand beading to secure the lining to the face of the parochet. Yes, it was time consuming. yes my hands were sore from the effort but it worked. by securing each corner, and then the middle of each side, I was better able to control the shifting between the layers.

it looks great.
Unfortunately though I have to re-figure the sleeve I had added for hanging…the top flops. I will need another night’s sleep to figure this one out. Last night I got almost no sleep, my youngest needed to be picked up from the airport at 11:30 last night. My older son called us from Israel at 7:00 am . I’m pretty groggy at the moment, but Shabbat dinner is nearly done.

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מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים

וְנֶאֱמָן אַתָּה לְהַחֲיוֹת מֵתִים: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהֹוָה מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים You are faithful to restore the dead to life. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Resurrector of the dead. That particular line is recited at every single prayer service every day three times a day, unless you use a Reform or Reconstructionist prayer book . In those liturgies instead of praising God for resurrecting the dead God is praised for giving life to all. I am enough of a modern woman, a modern thinker, to not actually believe in the actual resurrection of the dead. I don't actually expect all of the residents of the Workmen's Circle section of Mount Hebron cemetery in Queens to get up and get back to work at their sewing machines. I don't expect the young children buried here or the babies buried here to one day get up and frolic. Yet, every single time I get up to lead services I say those words about the reanimating of the dead with every fiber of my being. Yesterday, I e...

Connecting with the past

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sarah in nyc

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