If you’re hosting a Passover Seder this year, bring new energy to your table by creating unique table linens with prints designed by indie designers on the custom fabric website Spoonflower. Continue reading
Category Archives: Sparks of Inspiration
Jewish Symbols of Healing
I received a question about Jewish symbols of healing, and it seems like a good time for a post on the subject. There are three primary symbols of healing in Judaism: the serpent, the sun, and the palm tree. You won’t typically find these three objects used in Jewish visual art in a way that … Continue reading
Stitched & Sewn: Jewish Needle Artist Trudie Strobel
In Trudie Strobel’s colorful embroidered artwork “Marriage,” a wedding chuppah sits between two large and impressive columns. The columns are Jachin and Boaz, the pillars that flanked the entrance to the Temple in ancient Israel. The arrangement emphasizes the strength of Jewish heritage and turns a moment in time into a celebration of Jewish continuity, … Continue reading
Hebrew Letter Fabric Panel – Easy as Aleph-Bet-Gimmel
Aleph, bet, gimmel. This fabric design features the 22 letters of the Hebrew aleph-bet and three Jewish symbols: a dove, a Star of David, and a hamsa for good fortune. When I started offering pre-printed fabric panels of this design in the SewJewish Etsy shop I announced it in the newsletter, but only when those … Continue reading
Cantor Deborah Katchko-Gray Shows How to Make Prayerful Creations with Swedish Weaving in Her New Book
Deborah Katchko-Gray is a professional cantor and accomplished needle artist. When she’s not weaving melodies with her voice she’s weaving embroidery thread, creating Judaica with a technique called Swedish weaving. Swedish weaving is a type of embroidery in which the stitches are worked on the surface of the fabric. Rather than the needle passing to … Continue reading
10 Books to Celebrate Jewish Book Month
Here’s a huge thanks to all the Jewish authors and the publishers who bring Jewish books to life. To mark this year’s Jewish Book Month, I’ve gathered a group of Jewish book recommendations for your bookshelf (and kitchen shelf). Most of the selections are new this year, but for the Jewish sewing and needle craft … Continue reading
For Brides, Pilgrims, and a Certain Angel: The Wreath as a Jewish Decoration and Symbol
Wreaths are not a major motif in Judaism, but Jews used wreaths as holiday decorations and wedding accessories even in antiquity, when the Temple stood in Jerusalem. Although today wreaths are strongly associated with Christmas, Jews made wreaths for Shavuot and other festive occasions before the birth of Jesus. And as a symbol, the wreath … Continue reading
Embroidering Sacred Texts – A Book of Judaic Needlework Designs from Rachel Braun
This month, when so many students are going back to school, seems like the perfect time to highlight Rachel Braun’s book, Embroidery and Sacred Text: New Designs in Judaic Needlework, in which Rachel draws on principles of mathematics to develop needlework designs that explore Jewish spirituality. Rachel teaches high school math and statistics, and she’s … Continue reading
The Rose as a Jewish Symbol
Roses are red, or yellow, or blueish, But did you know they can also be Jewish? OK, that was kind of corny. And we all know roses come in a lot more colors, like white or pink or peach. But the rose’s status as a Jewish symbol is less well known. A Symbol of God’s … Continue reading
Where to Buy Matzah Print Fabric
Online sources to order matzah print fabric for your fabulous Passover projects. Continue reading
Sewing Book Review: Stitch-a-hedron! Is Just Plane Fun
Get Stitch-a-hedron! in paperback (Amazon) or PDF (Etsy). Stitch-a-hedron! the latest book by Cathy Perlmutter, is just plain fun. Or maybe that should be fun with planes, as in flat surfaces. All the projects in the book are based on polyhedrons, three-dimensional shapes made from flat surfaces. Combine six squares and eight hexagons, for example, … Continue reading
Ready to make that first cut in your fabric? Be brave!
Let’s talk about that moment in a sewing project when you’re about to make that first cut in your fabric. It can be intimidating. Sometimes it can be downright scary. And sometimes that fear is enough to stop a project in its tracks. I’ve had sewing students tell me they’d pay someone just to stand … Continue reading
“Let them make Me a sanctuary…”
This is the season when the weekly Torah portion returns several times to the subject of the Tabernacle the Israelites built after leaving Egypt. Building the Tabernacle was a community project that involved sewing, weaving, and embroidery, among other crafts. I thought this would be a great time to post an excerpt from the introduction … Continue reading
Your Fabric Friday Selection: “Wheat” Kona Cotton
This Fabric Friday’s selection is Robert Kaufman Fabrics’ Kona Cotton in the color “Wheat,” to coordinate with the matzah print fabric you probably already have in your stash. I walked into one of my local quilt shops this earlier this week, not sure if I would find a color that would coordinate well with my … Continue reading
Introducing the Maraviglia Star – Free PDF Pattern
When looking for Jewish design inspiration, illustrated Jewish manuscripts offer a treasure trove of themes and forms. And now, the British Library has made dozens of illustrated manuscripts from the Middle Ages accessible online through the Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project. Within the digitized collection you’ll find hand calligraphed Passover Haggadahs, daily prayer books, Kabbalistic texts, … Continue reading
Get inspired by Stephanie’s full-size handmade tallit
Thank you, Stephanie, for sharing this beautiful handmade full-size tallit, personalized through a mix of creative techniques. Stephanie started with the tallit instructions in the Sew Jewish book, choosing the variations for the full-size tallit. Then she sewed on ribbons for stripes in a mix of blues, purples, and teal. She used fabric paint to … Continue reading
Introduction to Drawn Thread Embroidery – Open Sky Sukkah Workshop
This Sukkot I got the chance to lead a workshop for the Beacon Sukkah Project, a Sukkot-long program of arts and lectures organized by the Beacon Hebrew Alliance and Beacon Arts in Beacon, New York. To fit this year’s theme, “Open to the Sky,” I led an introduction to drawn thread embroidery, and thought I’d … Continue reading
Let’s Sew in the Sukkah
During the festival of Sukkot we eat in the sukkah, visit with family and friends in the sukkah, and sometimes, so I’ve heard, sleep in the sukkah, although I’ve never done that. Why not sew in the sukkah? Particularly during the intermediate days of the festival when we’re less likely to be entertaining friends for … Continue reading
Sew Jewish 