Everyone who’s made a tallit by hand, especially a tallit for a teenager, has probably considered at least for a moment if it would work to use denim. Well, Darlene Gordon has done just that, sewing a tallit from white cotton denim. And she shared the above photo. It looks really cool!
Darlene made the tallit as a gift for a young man who she says is like a son to her. She sewed fabric stripes to the tallit and embroidered the atarah with the words of the blessing that is recited when putting on the tallit.
And she reports that the denim was easy to work and sew with.
Thanks so much for sharing, Darlene. With your example, I expect we’ll see a lot more denim tallitot in the world!
Sew Jewish 
Wow, that tallit really looks nice! I was actually wondering how would that work when I saw the title. I’ve been atempting on making one in a very lightweight cotton fabric [lightweight enought to be see though, though] but I have no idea on how to make it hemming-free [kinda atempting to avoid hand-sewing, and since I don’t have a sewing machine…..]. Any council you could share?
Any idea on how to make a panneled kippah? I can’t find any decent patterns online that would fit my head.
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Hi, Ayit. The tallit fabric you’re using sounds beautiful. I don’t think you’ll be able to get away with not finishing the edges, but you can finish the edges of very lightweight fabrics fairly easily by hand by sewing a rolled hem. Here’s a link to a great video tutorial by Amy Wright on Kollabora: http://www.kollabora.com/skills/techniques/sew-rolled-hem-hand.
For the kippah pattern, you might want to take a look at my book, Sew Jewish. The kippah is shown on the front cover. You can find it in my Etsy shop: etsy.me/1Qfz2xl.
Good luck and happy sewing!
Maria
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I have a question, I have been searching for the proper fabric to make a Talus for my Husband. Is Denim acceptable to use? if so it would solve some problems since I do not have a lot of choices where I live. I have purchased your book and find it most instructive.
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Hi Carrie,
Denim is certainly acceptable from the perspective of making a kosher tallit. For the tallit above, which was made for a teenager, it seems to especially capture the kind of young energy that a young person –or someone young at heart– would appreciate. If you’re looking for something more formal, like wool, that’s not available in a shop near you, I would recommend looking into purchasing fabric online. There are a number of reputable online fabric sellers. Many have customer reviews that can help you assess the quality of the fabric and the service. And I’m glad you’re finding the book instructive!
Best,
Maria
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