Purim | Laura Lee Burch Blog

After Purim-time on my hands-not really!

March 6, 2012 | children's fashion, Costumes, Holidays, Living in Israel, Needle Felted, Purim

Emili is a black rose

I’ve just finished another successful Purim season (whewwww!) To try to explain the frenzy, as an artist, Purim for me is like Christmas craft preparation time would be in the United States. First of all I’d like to thank everyone in Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas for all the orders! I’ve been working like a donkey for a few weeks now, day and night trying to finish the orders in time for everyone’s party. Word of mouth has brought me enough to keep me busy and I usually take the special orders that involve needle felted accessories rather than sewn pieces.

Rose hat detail

I reconnected with some old customers which was really nice. I really didn’t let people know where I was or what I was doing after I closed the store because I needed to figure it out myself first! I decided to make toy making by needle felting my main priority but the costume gig follows me around where ever I go, which isn’t a bad thing.

Squirrel tail and ears, a needle felting engineering feat!

Taking orders is a tricky business, I’m always afraid I’ll accept too many and then not be able to finish on time. I don’t accept any and all orders, I take jobs that interest me and I work with clients who appreciate the art of the costume. Many times, I ask people to call me back in a few days to see where I am and to give me time to re-evaluate my time situation.

Lili's "Clark Kent" version of Superwoman-I made the body suit that's under the shirt.

Taking special orders freaks me out a little, I always feel much better when I know that everyone (especially the kid I made the costume for) is happy-if the kid is happy the parent is happy! I also love to receive photos of the kids in my costumes-I have a collection! I think next year, I’ll start to ask for orders in January so I can stay on top of things better.

Marie Antoinette dress and needle felted wig

The problem with deciding “what you want to be” early is that kids constantly change their minds. One week they want to be a tooth fairy and the next week they want to be something completely different , therefore early decision making is risky!

Glee cheerleader costume

Every time I start to sew, I wish for……. a nice studio, with a window, away from my kids’ play room, and space for all my fabrics, wool, felt, tulle, tools, laces, trims, ribbons, zippers, snaps, Velcros, sponges of different thicknesses, bias tapes, metal and plastic boning, threads, iron-on fabric backings and hundreds of patterns to be organized. I wish for…….. a place for my little sewing machine, my iron and ironing board, my mannequins, my photo backdrops and lighting and hanging rack to sit and not be in anyone’s way. If I had my own organized space, creating would be so much easier!

Needle felted deer mask

After I finished the last costume order, I wandered aimlessly around the house trying to decide what to do! I decided to cook some food for my hungry family that I’d ignored for the last few weeks. I now have some new patterns to prepare for my Etsy site and special orders, I’m working on some needle felting tutorials for Craftsy and I have a fun project: to design several little boys’ kippas. So back to work…..

Needle felted dinosaur hat, tail and claws

Customer photos:

Fusia rose hat

Pink rose hat

Purim Season Again

February 14, 2012 | Costumes, Purim, Sewing, The store

Emili is "working it" for the camera, she's been my most expressive model.

I wanted to write a blog post about the new costumes I’ve been making, but it’s Purim season and everybody has once again asked me at the last moment for costumes and I haven’t had time to photograph any of them yet. I’m not sewing the costumes these days because I don’t have a studio space with which to work; I’m needle felting costume accessories because 1) I love to needle felt and 2)needle felting doesn’t take up very much room. I took most of the photos of my costumes and my girls were usually the models. Emili and Elli did most of the modeling because they liked it, Lili was such a diva about modeling for me that she usually only shows up in the early costume photos. So in the spirit of Purim, let’s reminisce over the last five years at my store and the costumes adventures and fun that my girls and I have had….

The ever-popular mermaid costumes

We made several types of religious children’s costumes for the Institute of Notre Dame in Jerusalem; Emili was appropriately somber and pious looking for the photo shoot where she modeled the monk costume and then…