Alan's Tallit Bag

 

Although I had finished Alan's tallit in time to ship it to him before Rosh Ha Shanah I didn't have the time to make the bag that I had promised to go with it. Alan was willing to wait for the bag.

We had decided that this text 

אִֽם־אֶשְׁכָּחֵ֥ךְ יְֽרוּשָׁלָ֗͏ִם תִּשְׁכַּ֥ח יְמִינִֽי׃ 

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither; 

תִּדְבַּֽק־לְשׁוֹנִ֨י ׀ לְחִכִּי֮ אִם־לֹ֢א אֶ֫זְכְּרֵ֥כִי אִם־לֹ֣א אַ֭עֲלֶה אֶת־יְרוּשָׁלַ֑͏ִם עַ֝֗ל רֹ֣אשׁ שִׂמְחָתִֽי׃ 

let my tongue stick to my palate

if I cease to think of you,

if I do not keep Jerusalem in memory

even at my happiest hour.

would be featured in the interior of the bag.  Aside from that, Alan had given me carte blanche to do whatever I wanted. 

I wanted the bag to go with the tallit-- that is spare and men's wear related. The bag had to be sturdy because tallit bags get hard use. The bag also had to reflect who Alan is.

Alan is a T-shirt and jeans kind of a guy. He is a mathematician. He is a man with a bright interior life.

Alan had mentioned that he was uncomfortable in the multicolored Ethiopian tallit that he owns. I know that for some folks a rainbow of color feels like visual cacophony. I also  know that he likes purple. I remembered that I had fallen in love and purchased a length of jacquard woven silk with a pattern of tiny squares of purples in a tight range of shades. 

This silk was woven for tie-making. I loved that it was  both exuberantly purple (Alan loves purple) but also had a logical feel to it. The fabric reminded me of the rows of blinking lights on old time mainframe computers. The pattern felt reassuringly calm despite the vibrancy.

I didn't have enough of the wonderful black wool that I had used to construct the tallit stripes to make a bag. I dug through my stash and pulled out a selection of possible candidates and finally settled on a charcoal grey wool suiting. It is a similar weight to the wool used in the tallit and speaks the same language of menswear.

Every synagogue has some tallitot that can be used by visitors. I was nervous that if  Alan's bag were completely plain someone might just think that the tallit inside was communal property. I wanted to add something that was let people know that this tallit bag belonged to one person and wasn't communal. 

I decided to hand quilt the grey wool to a base of felted wool coating.

 that I had used for a couple of different projects.

This white wool, which is invisible in the completed tallit, is a wool, cashmere and mink blend. 

 I used pale lavender and pale grey for the hand stitching. 

I wanted the stitching to be all right angles. Yes, I was inspired by the wiring done on motherboards. I had a college friend who used to wire motherboards for her brother who had a computer business in the very early 1980s. Yes, this is also a reference to the basting done in the construction of  traditional tailored menswear. Yes, this is also a bit of a nod to Shashiko embroidery.

My next task was the calligraph the text. I prepared the plain beige Ultrasuede by painting it so it looked more like parchment.

Next, I created a ribbon to act as a frame for the text.

Lucky for me I have a stash of ribbons. The purple ombre ribbon has been in my stash for at least a decade. The roll is nearly finished but I had enough to complete the task. The purple velvet ribbon comes from a nearly full roll that I had purchased ages ago. My plan was to stack the ribbons and embroider them together.  I used a star stitch in a pale lavender embroidery thread to attach the two ribbons.

You can't ask for a better fit with the lining fabric.

Before I sewed the ribbon around the text I remembered that the Ultrasuede has a nap and would stick to the sole-plate of the sewing machine. I used an old-timey solution and backed the Ultrasuede with a piece of newspaper.

Here is the front---before thread trimming.

 Of course one pulls away the newspaper after it does it's job.

I then stitched the ribbon framed piece of text to the silk lining. Yes, this photo was taken before pressing.

I backed the silk with some fusible fleece and then constructed the bag. Forgive me for not showing the photos of those steps. I was focused on the job at hand and forgot to take photos.

But here is the exterior of the completed bag.

Here is the interior.

I created a little hint of the interior

with the zipper pull. Yes, you do see a heavy duty plastic zipper.

This was such a satisfying bag to make. I had purchased the purple silk as a bit of indulgence for me. I didn't know what I would make out of it, (maybe a sumptuous half slip, or a simple darted blouse). As soon as I knew that I would be making a tallit bag for Alan I knew that the silk was destined for his bag.

I love how all of the elements of this bag come together to become a bit of a portrait of Alan. I could not be happier with the results.