sarah in nyc

When Hannah and I first met it took a little while for us to speak the same language design -wise. She was very clear about what she didn't like and had a harder time explaining what she did want.  After our initial meeting, she went home and emailed  lots of images to me. That was incredibly helpful. Once I understood what she wanted I could go about making it happen. I have friends in the sewing world who detest sewing for others. Some of them complain bitterly about having to take direction from prom girls or from brides. I could see why some people might find it annoying to be taking direction from an almost twelve year old. I actually find the process of collaborating with a kid to be a blast. i like helping them think about what they want and don't want and figuring out how to express ideas that might be difficult to put into words. Hannah is a deeply thoughtful person. When she walked into my dining room and saw her  completed tallit for the first time s...

One would think that a tallit with  stripes made out of  ribbons  all cut to the same length would be fairly simple to put together. In theory,  this would have been a really simple tallit construction wise. Amazon.com Widgets Reality though was quite a different thing. One of the ribbons was incredibly fragile and had to be supported with some iron on interfacing.  Despite Linda's careful directions of where people should decorate their ribbons, Linda's dear friends and relatives were not so good at following directions. The glue on letters that one sister chose to use for her beautiful message kept peeling off as I worked. The fabric we had selected for the tallit turned out to be too fragile to support the heavy ribbons. We selected a second  sturdier fabric but it meant changing the whole process of construction.  These changes can be described in one quick sentence but took a whole day to complete.  All of those tweaks and headaches...

My favorite part of making a tallit is that moment when my client first sees the tallit. That reaction is my real reward for my work. Often clients are delighted. That's great. Cavill was overwhelmed and wanted to take a good long time to inspect and and admire his new tallit. I was really pleased with my work too, so we both really enjoyed that moment. Amazon.com Widgets Cavill wanted to use techelet , that is tzitzit with the Murex dyed strand. cavil was also particular about which method of tzitzit tying he wanted to use. I normally tie tzitzit either in the Ashkenazi tying pattern,7,8, 11, and then 13 wraps between 5 knots. I often use a variant of that pattern where we use half hitch knots rather than simple wraps. I also have tied tzitzit using the sephardi tie pattern of 10, 5 then 6 and fine wraps between the five knots. I had seen variations of tying patterns with alternating blue and white wraps on some websites. Frankly they made my head ache just to think about them...

Sunday, I tied the tzitzit for Charlie's tallit with his family. Most of the families I work with are lovely and have a nice relationship with one another.  Amazon.com Widgets His family just takes nice up a notch or two. For me there is something so gratifying to see family working together tying their tzitzit. At the beginning they are all very focused at the unfamiliar task. But soon , as they relax into the task and their hands get used to the work they start to banter and joke with one another. They were all happy with the work I had done. Tying the tzitzit also give them time to get to see the work I have done up close. Charlie's mother had clearly done her time making friendship bracelets. She was fast. As always, we ended with Charlie saying all of the intentional prayers before putting on his tallit, said the blessing and sh'hechiyanu. The next day I helped another familym tie tzitzit on a tallit that I didn't make but consu...

Jack's tallit was completed. it was time for him to come tie the tzitzit. I showed him the completed tallit in all of it's details. The base silk was different than what he had selected. I sent his family photos of the silks that were available and they were pleased with the alternative choice. ( I was too, it was a much nicer silk. Sometimes the stock issues of my silk suppliers play out in our favor.) I also showed Jack and his family the sad red silk that I had ordered and they agreed that the deep red velvet was MUCH better We were then ready to tie the tzitzit. I usually show the bar-mitzvah child how to do the tying first. Often the family wants to join in.  Jack's mother and grandmother joined him in tying the tzitzit. Of the three, Jack's grandmother was the most used to doing handwork. She was a quick study. there is always something so companionable about a group of people all working together with their hands. Jack used a tooth...