sarah in nyc

I know I haven't posted a whole lot lately. I have been struck down with what my buddy, and fellow sinus sufferer, Marla calls 'The Yuks'. After a few draggedy days and a few flat on my back days. I am now once again a member of the human race. Amazon.com Widgets During this time I taught two different art classes for seniors and teens together. In both classes we did a card making activity where working in a round robin fashion the participants created cards. Today was the final class. There were many lovely moments in this class. A few of the teens had never touched a needles and thread before last week. all of them were sewing pretty comfortably by the end of the class. this week, two of them were also embroidering. Working with the seniors was an honor. Last week one of the participants talked about hiding in the forests of France during the war. She wasn't in class today because she was celebrating her 101st birthday with fami...

These are sixteen scarves that I have cut out of mostly silk but with some lengths of linen and rayon thrown into the mix.and rayon  All of the scarves have been given a perl edge by my server. Please ignore the passive voice here(it is not an accurate representation of events as they occurred). The scarves did not hop onto the serger and emerge perfectly hemmed. This was the result of several hours worth of work yesterday.  The scarves will all be decorated with block printing  by members of a teen and senior art class that I have been teaching the past few weeks. The fabrics I edged have all long been part of my stash. Some were purchased for particular pieces for clients. Others came to me via the "Grandma who used to sew is moving to assisted living or died", route. Some are fabrics that showed up in my stash via  Fabric Mart Mystery Bundles . My serger can be cranky and temperamental. My serger does not like change and can get really balky when I have...

 Last winter I had begun a tallit making workshop for a synagogue. Between session 1 and 2 the Rabbi's mother died.  I was supposed to lead a session and had to cancel because my own mother was dying. We re-started  the project a while back. Amazon.com Widgets I suppose that if i decided ahead of time exactly what every participants tallit would look like, if I came up with some sort of a standard tallit formula I suppose it might have been an easier class to run. It does create more of a demand from a class to ask them to really think through both what is a tallit and what is YOUR tallit ( as opposed to what is a tallit that you could purchase in a Judaica store).  The class is made up of people with a really wide range of sewing skills (from zero to highly competent) as well as a similarly large range of Jewish knowledge and Jewish texts. So far the sessions have all taken place in a preschool in the Bronx with teeny tables and chairs. It was...

My sewing student brought me one of those adorable craft books from Japan with directions for making cute little stuffed animals. She really wanted to make one of the animals from the book. Before we started, I mentioned to my student that sometimes the directions in books are not written all that well.  So we got to work. Indeed, the directions in the book were not written well, and the project wasn’t all that well thought out. Making this monkey was just much harder then it ought to have been.  All in all, it was a pretty frustrating experience. But this was the end result.  My student designed the dress because she hated what the monkey’s legs looked like. My student came today for her last lesson before she went away for the summer.  She asked that we make something that could be completed today. I suggested a skirt.  My student was dubious that a skirt could be made in one lesson. My student went looking through my stash to choose a fabric for...

then it is easier to do it.   My student came for her second lesson today. She had decided to make a circle or infinity scarf for her mother out of some beige crinkle  silk chiffon she had seen in my sash.   The color was not my color.  It had arrived in a Fabric Mart mystery bundle.  I would assume that most sewing teachers would not give their students silk chiffon to play with on their second lesson. My investment in the fabric was  $1.5o per yard. I was happy for my student to make he mother the scarf out of it.   First I taught her the how to pull a thread so she could cut a straight line in the fabric. Yes, it’s pesky and boring, but it’s the easiest method to cut a straight line.     Then I had my student sew a French seam on the join of the circle scarf.  It sounds fancy, it looks fancy but it isn’t all that hard to do.  Here is her French seam.   Next, we discussed how to edge the scarf.  ...

  Sunday, I began working with a new sewing student.  I taught her how to run my sewing machine. She made a Barbie pillow/bean bag and a sleeping bag for Barbie.  My student has a little sister. you can see the sleeping bag and pillow rolled up together  ready for Barbie's adventures.  Yes, you are seeing beautiful top-stitching. I know top stitching is not part of a usual first sewing lesson, but my student seemed up to the task.  She has good hands.  I’m excited to see what she will be making.   I don’t think my student had realized that if she wanted to she could learn how to make clothing. Once she realized that she seemed REALLY excited. next week we will make  a Mother’s Day gift for her mom. I’m not telling what we are making, in case Mom is a reader.   I finished a gift for a friend. it’s a scarf I had dyed a long time ago. I used lace as a stencil and spray painted.  it’s a lot of look for not a whole lot of wor...

Earlier this week, Alonzo had asked if his brother, Dave, could join my class. Dave is a 45 year old mute retarded man. I agreed to have Dave in the class. I brought along extra velvet  so participants could practice  before they began to stencil on the actual piece. I was a little worried about having Dave in the class, but I figured that I could figure out something for him to do in case the task at hand was beyond his skills. Most of the other class members were away, having begun their Thanksgiving early. I got Dave stenciling on the scrap velvet.  He had no trouble at all. So when Ruth came in I asked Dave it it was difficult use the stencil, he grunted an enthusiastic “ No!”. So, Ruth who is usually timid, got into working fear- free. The three of us had a blast working together. Next week we add the lettering.

I’m teaching this class at my synagogue. CREATE A PIECE OF SYNAGOGUE ART IN FABRIC With Fabric Artist Sarah Jacobs In this workshop, we’ll create a “Bein Gavra” – the fabric covering that is placed over the Torah between aliyot — for the Sanctuary. The words bein gavra literally mean in between the people, meaning between the olim. The goal of these sessions is to create something beautiful that will both enhance and reflect our experience of being close to the Torah. We’ll spend the first session or two exploring our relationship to Torah both as individuals and as a community, and using that discussion to together design and create a piece that is meaningful and beautiful, as well as practical. The remainder of the sessions will be spent working on making the “Bein Gavra”. This workshop is open to all – adults and children over the age of 10. No sewing or fabric art experience is required. 5 Tuesdays 7:30-9 pm Beginning October 25 Materials fee $15 ...

Miriam, and her son, Jacob, who had taken my spring semester tallit making workshop at Ansche Chesed, came by this morning to tie their tzitzit . The way the workshop was structured, students selected a verse, or verses from their torah reading and then painted the neckband/ atara and the corner pieces/ pinot . Students selected the base fabric for their tallit and then i put the whole thing together. The last step is tying the tzitzit . This is a close up of Miriam tying her tzitzit. She chose a wonderful purple for her tallit . She tied the tzitzit for two of her corners ( She had to get to work.) and took her tallit home to finish it there. When I have photos of the completed tallit I will post them. Jacob decided to use techelet , the murex dyed blue wrapping thread for tying his tzitit . You can see some of the lovely decorative stitching on the edge of the pinah/ corner piece . That diamond stitch is just so pretty. Another view of Miriam tying her tzitzit.

My student is making this dress to wear to a special event. Often, my student will start the design process by going fabric shopping in my work space. She fell in love with a black rayon jersey knit. I don't blame her. I made two dresses out of the same fabric. It feels divine on and has a great drape. Then my student began to sketch a dress with three tiers of ruffles.We drafted and constructed a tank dress out of the rayon based on my students measurements. We planned to suspend the ruffled tiers from the tank dress. My student did a great job of binding the armholes with cross grain strips of the rayon. The results were tidy, a nice testament to her progress over these weeks. We has lots of discussion back and forth about the tiered ruffles and what they ought to look like, and what their placement ought to be, should the tiers start at the neck? or further down on the bodice? I showed my student a dress I had made using circular ruffles at the hem. she loved the restrained loo...

My student emailed me before her lesson. Purim ( the Jewish equivalent of Mardi Gras ) is next week. She wanted to dress up as Little Red Riding hood . Could I help her make a cape? Making costumes is a blast, so of course I said yes. And putting on my sewing instructor hat, I figured that some new skills could be taught here as well. My student had attempted to go fabric shopping in the neighborhood, but alas the fabric store was closed. I had some red light weight polar fleece in my stash, all that was left from the mountain of remnants I had purchased from Malden Mills six or seven years ago. I don't exaggerate THAT much when I call it a mountain of polar fleece. I think I paid $25 for the fleece and another $25 to ship it. It arrived by mail in a massive plastic bag that was taller than my youngest son. Some of the fleece ended up as coats. Some I sold at cost to some of my sewing pals. Most of it ended up being used, as is ,as blankets. My student drew a quick sketc...

For the past several weeks I have been teaching sewing to an 11 year old girl. We meet about once a week. My student's mother is an artist and a very cool dresser and my student has a pretty sophisticated sense of fashion. My student had been sketching lots of clothing and wanted to make the garments she was thinking about. My students mother and I travel in the same circles, and she asked me to teach her daughter to sew. I know that most sewing curricula have one start by having the student sew the lines on lined paper until they learn how to sew straight lines. I thought that it might be a better idea to start making clothes and then have the experience of sewing teach you how to sew straight line. One of the things that I had been working on teaching myself for the past few years is how to sew without a pattern. Basically I have been attempting to recreate a lost skill using bits of oral knowledge passed down by the grown children who saw their mothers sew in this manner, but ne...

Today is a big teaching day for me. This morning I am going to start a Tallit making workshop at my synagogue, and I teach my sewing student in the afternoon. Actually, more accurately, I hope that this will be a big teaching day for me. As of Friday, only one person had signed up for the Tallit workshop but all during services Friday night, and yesterday, people came up to me to talk about the possibility of taking the workshop. So either I w ill be working with one person or, I will have a crowd. Frankly, I'm hoping for a crowd. I like teaching. I love creating a setting where the class becomes a cohesive group, encouraging each other, offering suggestions and pushing each other to produce better and more interesting work. You need a critical mass of people to create that sort of an environment. This workshop is open both to adults and kids. I know that some people can't see working with both adults and kids together. I love the mix of early adolescents and adults. The ki...