The work of figuring out

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 initial thought was to use the grey silk. But on its own, it showed its true greenish color. The white silk needed a whole lot of underpinning. P

This is the border for the  dedication.  I can't show it yet because this tallit is a surprise for the recipient. 

I could pretend that constructing this bag  was easy but that would be a big lie.

I usually need time to mull over possible solutions to both design and technical issues.  I just didn't have that luxury on this piece.  

I don't know if it would have been a better piece with the luxury of time, but producing it would have been a less anxious process.

The tallit and bag were picked up this evening. Tomorrow at the crack of dawn my husband and I leave for the airport.