So you’ve finished making the main body of your tallit —or tallis, prayer shawl— and you’re ready to add the corner pieces, the square pieces of fabric that decorate the corners of the tallit and help reinforce the holes for the tzitzit strings. Does it matter how close to the edges of the tallit you … Continue reading
Will you be joining the Pomegranate Guild of Judaic Needlework Convention later this month in Atlanta? I won’t be able to make it, but this little pomegranate will be representing me. It’s made by hand applique using silk dupioni. This one pomegranate is a small part of a banner put together by the members of … Continue reading
Orange Summer by Justine Miller Have you heard the story about the woman who wanted to be a rabbi and who was told by a man that “a woman belongs on the synagogue bimah the way an orange belongs on a Passover Seder plate”? The story has inspired many families, including mine, to put oranges … Continue reading
Happy Purim! To mark the occasion, I’m posting this piece about the Jews in one of the cities of Queen Esther’s Persian Empire: Baghdad. It’s an excerpt from an article I wrote in 2003 on an exhibit about the Jews of Iraq at London’s Jewish Museum. The exhibit was called “By the Rivers of Babylon.” … Continue reading
Inspired by a quilting class in curved piecing and staring down a sizable fabric stash, Deborah Freedman crafted this tallit featuring the rolling hills around the Old City of Jerusalem. Deborah created the scenes on each of the two ends of the tallit as separate pieces, and then she appliqued the pieces on to the … Continue reading
Sewists in New York’s Mid-Hudson River Valley region have a new local fabric shop, Beetle and Fred, in the town of Beacon. Katy Hope launched the shop last year around Thanksgiving on the town’s picturesque Main Street, overlooking the Hudson River and not far from the Dia:Beacon museum of modern art. Katy has pulled together … Continue reading
A collection of happy Hanukkah fabric patterns. Click the swatches to see details on Spoonflower. I feel like I should point out that these are not affiliate links, just fabrics to inspire your projects and brighten your day. Happy Hanukkah! Continue reading
