Two Fine Fall Days

Yesterday, I followed the directions on this sign.

I didn't purchase doughnuts sold by the PTA, because I am a snob.

The elementary school my kids went to just a couple of blocks away sells only home-baked goodies on Election Day and not Krispy-Kreme.

I have been working away on Ezra's tallit bag. I had finished the fancy decorative parts of the bag

but it was time to put the bag together. The tallit is a thick one so I had planned to add a gusset.

Anyone who has ever attempted to machine sew velvet knows that it is a bear to sew. The nappy fuzzy bits lock into one another and make it nearly impossible to sew a straight line. One layer of velvet will decide to travel south and the other will travel north as you sew. This particular velvet is a crushed velvet and I thought that I was up for extra adventures in cursing.

Normally I would have used my serger which is slightly better at managing temperamental velvet. My serger is however at Gizmo's the sewing machine repair place. One solution to sewing with velvet troubles is to first hand baste.

My husband had a morning of medical appointments and it made sense for me to accompany him. I decided that I would hand sew the bag together as I waited between appointments. I set up a bag with my work before I left home.

I sat by this orchid and carefully stitched. I discovered that hand sewing has one advantage over machine sewing velvet: you can readjust the two layers of fabric between each stitch. When machine stitching, by the time you realize that one of the layers has traveled far away it's just too late and you need to unpick.

I used a small back-stitch which is a strong stitch. The gusset is now completely sewn to the front of the bag and partially sewn to the back of the bag.

I won't lie. It is slow going but I haven't had to curse. Not even once.

Another advantage of hand sewing while waiting through my husband's medical appointments is that the new mother of a teeny new baby wearing a hat with a fur pom-pom bigger than its head asked me about my sewing and may be interested in my making a tallit bag.

My husband, since you asked, is fine.

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