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Liat's tallit

 Normally I will post about a piece as I am working away on it.  as many of you are learning Covid is a real energy suck. I could have either worked on Liat's tallit or I could have blogged about it. I was unable to do both. I could delay writing a blog post but the bat-mitzvah wasn't going to wait for me to get better. So I chose to work even in my diminished state.

Covid did make lots of the tasks involved in making this tallit take much longer than normal. Case in point, the pinot or corner pieces.




Under normal circumstances, they would have been completed in a day.  With Covid, the task took five days. 



As of this minute, the tallit itself is completed.


Some of my sewing buddies detest sewing for others and never do it. Some of them find working with a client to be an entirely unpleasant experience.

As I look at this tallit I love it because I never in a million years would have envisioned the sight of the sounds at Mount Sinai to be the color spectrum. How freaking brilliant is that?

Neither Liat nor I could have come up with this on our own. 


The design for this tallit came out of the process of us wrestling with the texts together.



 Liat chose a line  from her haftara for her pinot. it's Isiah 6:3.

מלא כל הארץ כבודו
His presence fills the earth




Liat and her mom also wanted wing imagery. I had just been given the wonderful lace trim in the form of birds. Each corner has four wings--arba kanfot.


A tallit can be functional without an atara. So I have left that for last.


I calligraphed the text on paper and then outlined the letters with a Sharpie. I covered the letters on paper with cotton voile.


I flipped the paper over and taped it to the cotton to keep the cotton in place



while I traced the letters.


I then basted the voile onto the same hand-dyed velvet that I had used for the pinot,


so I could begin to embroider the letters.



this photo was taken a few hours ago and I have made a fair amount of progress since then.







I could just look at this tallit all day long.







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Comments

  1. Lisa LareeJanuary 13, 2022 at 10:42 PM

    I can see why you'd want to look at it all day...it's gorgeous. Praying you're better soon!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sarah JacobsJanuary 15, 2022 at 7:23 PM

    Thank you Lisa! I left the tallit out on the dressmaking dummy and and been looking at it with a great deal of joy.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Betsey KuziaJanuary 20, 2022 at 6:20 AM

    I love these stories and really enjoy seeing the tallits when they are done. I thought of synesthesia when I read your description of this girl and l know that the tallit will be very special. Actually, I’m speechless as I try to write this as I was overwhelmed by not only the process and the outcome. I’ve done some work for others but find it way too stressful so I also admire that you are able to do this!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah JacobsJanuary 20, 2022 at 1:08 PM

      Thank you Betsey!I have always loved that verse about seeing the sounds. Traditional Jewish commentators said that the experience of being at Sinai was so overwhelming that the people witnessing were unable to sort out what they saw and what they heard and what they felt. Liat's understanding of that verse was just so completely unexpected and wonderful.

      I have thought a whole lot about why I actually do like sewing for others. In our family growing upthe expectation was that you made gifts and didn't buy them. That could often be a little stressful because Mother's day, Father's day, each of my parents' birthdays and their anniversary all came in a rush of a few weeks---but that is a tangent. But back on topic- my assumption has been trained by that experience that one makes things for others.

      I have always been most creative in collaboration with others. I love the opportunity to get inside the head of another person for a while. I have learned about color combinations that I never would have thought of. It is endlessly interesting to figure out how to meet a complicated set of needs both stated and unstated.

      Everything any set of human hands makes is imperfect---especially mine. A painting teacher I had in college used to say that if you see the struggle then it is art and not just decorative design. I have been fortunate to work with clients who have been terrific. As I look back over the past thirty years of work there have only been a small handful of client relationships that have left me with a bad taste in my mouth

      Delete
  4. Margy ScherrJanuary 20, 2022 at 3:21 PM

    BEAUTIFUL TALLIT!!!!! You are so creative and talented. Stay well, be healthy and create!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sarah JacobsJanuary 20, 2022 at 3:50 PM

    Thank you Margy! thanks for visiting and thank you for your kind comments.

    ReplyDelete

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