sarah in nyc

I have been thinking a great deal about the difference between working with a pattern and my own work methods.  When one works with a pattern someone else has planned out all of the tasks needed to get the job done. That's one way to work but it isn't how I work. My way towards getting a job done requires a whole lot of decision making  throughout the whole process.  My painting teacher in college used to say that it isn't enough for a painting to be pretty it needs to be a response to a question. I think that this is true for my latest tallit. From a distance, it's pretty. Close up, you realize that there's a whole lot going on. I got the tallit completed but had to also make a bag. I had two small bits of the striped section of the tallit left. It wasn't quite enough to make the bag but it could work for the flap of the bag.  There is  lots of unseen inner construction to beef up the white raw silk  outer bag. My ini...

The other night I delivered the brit milah pillow to my friend. When I arrived at her office the sun was not yet setting but her building was glowing in that incredible late afternoon light that makes everything seem magical.   The low sun picks up details in the masonry that otherwise get bleached out by full sunlight. After a warm chat, I made my way home.  It was a bit later, the sun was making it's way down in the sky. While it wasn't a knock your socks off sunset it was still pretty. I loved how the mundane was changed by the quality of the light and the shifted colors. Last night we went out to celebrate my nephew's engagement and to meet his lovely bride. My husband and I walked north along Broadway.  The sunset became spectacular. As we walked north more and more people stopped in the crosswalks to take photos. ...

I have been part of an online sewing discussion group for something over twenty years. Over that time there are people who I have gotten to know really well even though we have never met in person. We write we share our work with one another and we solve our fiber related problems together. It is inevitable when you do creative work to get stumped by a problem. The joy of being part of a sewing discussion group with really smart members with and really wide range of expertise is that you have a couple of thousand minds to pick when you feel stuck. One of the wise voices on that list belongs to Phyllis who was a pattern designer for the industry and was for a while a wedding dress designer and maker.  She still has her hand in the world of design and craft although no longer in the garment industry. I  have always admired Phyllis' work for its crisp professionalism. Phyllis was in town for a sewing conference and suggested that we meet in real life. We met outside of Metro...

My husband and I leave town next week for a few days to visit his sister and her family. There was work that I just had to get done before I left.  (Suppose the plane crashes?) Today I finished appliqueing all of the celestial elements onto the blue base. I thought that it would be a nice touch to line the pillowcase. Aside from giving the whole thing a bit more structure, it would also hide the wrong side of the appliques. It wasn't terrible looking but it isn't something you would want to show company. I wanted to use a fine smooth cotton. I found some red cotton batiste in my stash. I thought it was perfect. ( there are verses in the Brit Milah ceremony that reference blood as a symbol of life). You can see a bit of the lining peeking out from the edges before I sewed up the pillowcase and added the hem edge.  I realized today that all of the pillowcases I have been making in spurts over the years to amuse myself was actually a good use of time. You never know w...