sarah in nyc

I had a doctor’s appointment today. on my way back to the subway, I noticed that Paron is having a moving sale. Paron is moving a black south to 39th Street. Fabrics in their regular price store are now 30-60% off.  I’m not quite sure the percentage off in their half price store. I assume that prices are a bit fluid. Fabrics in the back corridor are now all priced at $3/yard. I bought these three fabrics from the bolts in the back room. They are from left to right, a Lurex knit, a rayon knit and a hammered silk. Oddly, each of the bolts had the identical yardage, a yard and a half. I’m especially pleased by the hammered silk. It has a beautiful drape and a great feel. While my fabric was being measured, I noticed a box of ancient vintage velvet ribbon. As the various fabric stores in the district close up shop they tend to sell their stock to the ones still left standing.There are all sorts of treasures to be had here. This is what I bought; grey 1  1/2 inch wide,...

Most Torah mantles have some sort of trimming at the top. Most also have fringe at the bottom. Some of this decoration is there because the Torah is dressed sort of like the High Priest, the Kohen Gadol. When I started making mantles though, I realized that some of the trim is there for functional reasons. Very often when you make the mantle, you pad the wooden frame and then and stitch the "skirt" to that padded frame. Inevitably that join will be imperfect. The trim at the top hides any lumps in the join. Today I went trim shopping. This isn't an off the rack sort of a Torah mantle and I didn't want off the rack trim. Often people use upholstery trim. I didn't want to use just silver, because I thought it would look too cold. I wanted something that would pick up the colors that I had used. I also have a less than lovely join to hide so I needed a bit of width. I thought that if I layered standard trims I would get the look I wanted. When I purchased the velvet...