Making Your Own Tallit

In the Torah we were commanded to put fringes on the corners of our garments to remind us to follow God’s commandments. In those days fabric was hand spun and hand woven. It was very time-consuming, and therefore costly, to make cloth. Most garments were made with the fewest cuts possible, since the fabric was so precious, and were rectangles, or made from rectangles.

In our tradition a tallit, literally “little tent”, is a shawl big enough to enwrap the body during prayer. Any four cornered garment can be a tallit. It can be a tabard or poncho, a shawl or scarf, a shepherd’s coat or cocoon, so long as there are four corners. If you find a fine shawl or scarf that says “tallit” to you, you can just add the corners/tzitziot and crown (see below) and you’re done.

Tallitot have been traditionally been made of wool or linen, and more recently silk. There is no specific rule on the choice of cloth, but it should not be a linen/wool blend because that is forbidden in the Torah for all cloth. Some people interpret the prohibition to be against mixing any animal fiber with plant fiber, so that would also exclude a wool/rayon blend, or a silk/linen blend. In addition, there is a preference for purity, so a pure fiber is better than any blend.

Purity and reverence are why you should choose the best quality fabric you can. Cotton is generally considered a lesser fiber (in the hierarchy of snob value), but very fine cotton, with no slubs or knots is better than poor silk full of flaws. Because the inside shows when you wear a tallit, look at the reverse side of the fabric. It’s easiest to use something that looks good on the back (the inside) in a single layer. You can line your tallit if you prefer, and ignore what’s on the reverse of the cloth.

It’s also important to think about comfort. Don’t choose a scratchy wool, or a silk so slippery that it’s always falling off your shoulders. If you tend to wear slick clothes, like silk blouses, think about a raw silk or a wool with some “tooth”. If you tend to wear wool suits, choose something slick enough not to “grab” or stick to your clothes as you adjust it. If you tend to be cold try a closely woven wool or heavier silk. If you tend to be hot, choose an open weave that will give you some air flow.

Your tallit is an important garment and all due care should be taken in the making. This is not the time to pick up a bargain from the flat fold sale table where you don’t know what the fiber is. Good fabric from a good store should be rolled on the original bolt, and have some indication of the fiber content. Silks are often rolled on plain tubes, but you can usually trust that they aren’t blends unless they’re so marked.

You can have your fabric tested for linen/wool blends at the following places, but linsey-woolsey is not a popular fabric currently and it’s highly unlikely that you’d accidentally buy any. Most of the testing done is to see whether linen interfacing or thread has been used in wool suits.

Some say that a tallit should be big enough for two corners to be in back and two in front. Others prefer a small, cool scarf that can be worn around the neck. Most suitable fabrics come standardly in 45”, 54” or 60” widths. If you’re very tall, and want a very big tallit, you can try a 60” cloth. For most people 45” will be more comfortable. If you love the fabric and like sewing you can buy wider than you wish to wear and cut and hem the fabric. It’s easier to buy the width that suits you and leave the selvedge edges unsewn.

For the length the best bet is to unroll a long amount and wrap it around you. No matter how wide the finished tallit is, it must be long enough to enwrap the body. Have it cut to the size you think you like plus about half a yard for margins. You can make a matching tallit bag with the excess. If trying it on in the store isn’t practical for you, measure from fingertip around your shoulders to fingertip with your arms at your sides and you should get a good length.

There are many discussions about what kind of thread to use on tallit. For the sewing a silk thread will be easiest and disappear best. Cotton sewing thread will work. Wool thread is hard to find and harder to stitch with. Rayon thread isn’t as strong but comes in many colors and is good for decorative stitching. Polyester or poly-cotton is stronger than any other thread, but perhaps too strong for this—it’s better to have the thread break than the fabric tear. Also, hand sewing with polyester is difficult.

Using the same fiber for the thread as the garment is often considered a good idea in sewing, but not necessary. One rabbi asserts that the thread for sewing tallit should positively be different than the fabric! Just remember not to mix linen with wool, especially if you’re using fancy embroidery threads.

If you’re eager for a fiddly crafts project, you can unravel several inches of each end of your fabric and tie fringe edging. A small crochet hook helps in pulling the threads through the knots. Alternatively, you can hem the ends, and apply a decorative trim, piping, faggoting, or any other decorative finish.

Some people insist that a tallit must have an atarah, a crown. It is the band at the neck. The reason for the crown is to tell inside from outside and up from down. The necessity for this does not seem to be universally agreed upon.

The atarah often has the blessing embroidered on it which one says when donning the tallit, or some other Hebrew saying that puts the wearer in the mood for prayer. You can use fabric paint or ink instead of embroidery, but it should be done with reverence and as much skill as you can muster. Practice on paper first, then on scraps. The atarah can be plain as well, or have something decorative embroidered or painted on it.

The corners of the tallit are often reinforced with appliquéd fabric that matches the atarah. The reason is that the tzitzit are often pulled when they are accidentally sat upon, when children play with them, etc. The corner appliqué helps to keep the tallit from ripping. It’s not necessary to match the atarah. Use your own design sense.

A shortcut to hemming the atarah and corners is to line them with a lightweight fabric. This can be the fabric they’re made of if it’s not too heavy. Sew around most of the shape, leaving about ¾” unsewn. Turn inside out and use a bodkin, or closed pen or other sharpish wand to poke out the corners. Press carefully with an iron so that the lining fabric doesn’t show. Sew up the gap gently so as not to pull the piece out of shape. Alternately, turn 3/8”- 1/2” under and press in place, then baste around the turned edges. Do not skip the basting. It’s worth the effort in the long run. Use a slip stitch or top stitch to apply to the tallit.

The atarah can be any shape, but most often is a narrow band with pointed ends. Fold under ¼” of the short end of the atarah and press. Fold the end in half and put a pin in the exact center. Fold back the corners the same amount (measure), from the pin out to each edge, and press. Cut the corners off, leaving a seam allowance (at least ¼”) on the outside of the fold, and baste as above. Some people may find it easier to baste the corners in place, then trim the excess after.

Be careful centering the atarah. Fold the tallit carefully in half from side to side, and put in a pin at the exact center. Do the same with the atarah. Match the pins and place a couple pins through both layers on either side. Remove the center pins. Make sure that the atarah lies flat when the tallit is spread out flat on the table. Keeping both pieces flat on the table continue pinning from the center out. Baste into place around all sides and remove pins. Make sure that you don’t get any puckers. Use a slip stitch to apply the atarah. You can also use a decorative edging stitch. Remove basting threads. (Hint: Use a light colored basting thread that’s a different color from your sewing thread and the fabrics to make it easier to see to remove.)

Be careful pinning on the corners so that they’re in just the same place on each corner. Use a very accurate ruler, or make a measuring strip out of heavy cardboard, if you don’t want the appliqués on the very edges. To make a measuring strip, cut a square as big as the top inside corner of the corner appliqué out to the bottom outside corner of the tallit. Then cut out the size of the corner appliqué so that you have an “L”. Put the “L” on the very corner of the tallit and butt the appliqué up to it. Pin in place. Baste and remove the pins. Make sure there are no puckers. Slip stitch and remove basting. You can put corners on the inside as well, making sure to match them up exactly with the ones on the outside. After the atarah and/or corner appliqués are on you should press them with an iron to make them crisp.

Before running the tzitzit threads through the corners you should reinforce the holes. You can make a small buttonhole or eyelet, either by hand or machine. You can also do a darning stitch or other decorative stitch. Use a button hole cutter or awl to make the hole, or use a very sharp embroidery scissors very carefully, making sure you don’t cut the reinforcement stitching. If your fabric is a loose weave, or your fringe threads are very fine, you can skip cutting the holes, and pull each fringe thread through with a needle. The hole traditionally should be between two and three fingerwidths (inches), or the length of a thumb joint, from the edges of the tallit so that the thread will be “on” on the corner as it goes to the outside edge.

Some people insist that tzitzit must be made specially for the purpose, and the threads must be specially spun (Shulchan Aruch). This is for the purity of the object. If you would like to do this you can buy packets of tzitzit at the Jewish book and ritual stores on Fairfax or Pico.

There are several ideas about what the source was for the blue threads mentioned in Torah. There are schools of thought claiming a snail, a squid, cuttlefish and indigo. Versions of these are also available at some of the Jewish stores. There are several different tying patterns that can go with the blue (techelet). It may also be tied in the normal way as the wrapping thread.

If you don’t require that degree of ritual purity you can use any beautiful, durable thread of any color for the tzitzit. It should be a thread that doesn’t knot or tangle easily, so silk is always a good choice. If your tallit is wool you might prefer a wool thread. It is generally accepted that the thread should be spun and twisted, so filament thread and floss are not appropriate.

Embroidery shops, such as Aristeia in Brentwood Village or Nettie’s in Beverly Hills, have a good variety of threads in wonderful colors. Rainbow Gallery brand has both silks and wools of a good weight. Tapestry, knitting and needlepoint yarn aren’t strong enough or fine enough.

Instructions for tying tzitzit are available in our archive.

A tallit bag can be as simple or complex as you please. Whether you make a simple envelope or a heavily constructed bag with a zipper there are a few things to think about. The fabric should be durable enough to be stashed in a book rest or pocket, to endure people sitting on it, etc. Don’t use something that is easy to snag or stain.

If you’re using a zipper or Velcro for the closure, make sure to test it on scraps from making your tallit to make sure that they don’t snag the fabric. Be especially careful with the fringe. On the other hand, a plain flap closure, or a button, while safe for the fabric, can be harder to keep closed. You want the design to keep the tallit from falling out when the bag is upside down. Velcro should be sewn on, rather than glued. The glue on the back of self-stick Velcro can make the fabric deteriorate.

Some women like to have a pocket for necessities such as tissue. Others prefer to keep the usage special just for the tallit. Adding a strap is one way to make it easier to keep track of the bag while greeting people.

In recent years women have taken a new approach to the wearing of tallit. Because it is not required, for women it is a much more personal thing. Instead of conforming to the fashions of the community, as was traditional for men for hundreds of years, modern women make unique, feminine, special tallitot, employing color, symbolism, and style. Your tallit should be an expression of yourself, full of comfort, meaning, and joy.