A Sewing Challenge

Saturday after services when our rabbi Toby asked me if I would mind taking on a sewing project, I was intrigued. There’s nothing I like better than a sewing challenge that requires some thinking and even some hard work.

It seems there is a bat mitzvah for twins in June. We’ve watched these girls grow up at Temple Micah and blossom into young women. But one of them is challenged by CP and is confined to a wheelchair. So for her reading from the Torah presents a somewhat different set of problems.



But Temple Micah is rising to address them. They recently installed an attractive wooden ramp to the bimah. Saturday when that twin came up to help with a part of the service, we all noticed that the reading table can now be lowered for her and then raised again with push buttons.



The task requested of me was to modify the velvet cover of the reading table to allow the push buttons to be more easily accessed and to accommodate her chair (and any wheelchair) under the table.



I basically decided to remake the back of the purple velvet cover. I installed a see-through “window” that will let someone access the buttons. I put in two giant zippers that will allow the center (reinforced with a dowel at the bottom) to be rolled up and secured with Velcro. When the opening is not needed, it can then be zipped back down and will look much as it did originally.



(These pictures all reflect the table in its lowered position.)

I must be out of practice because it took me several hours to make these changes. It was somewhat interesting to see how many different people must have worked on that velvet cover over the years. There were 5 colors of thread and lots of Band-aid jobs. Some of my time was spent redoing the worst of the repairs before I ever got started.

I can’t wait for the day in June when the twins lead the service. I’m sure the strong bond of sisterhood they share will be just as apparent on that day as they read from the Torah. I’m hopeful that the modifications I made will allow the girl with CP to more easily perform her role in the service.