Curated By You: Aluma Meshulmi Makes Wedding Linen Dresses For Her Sisters
Dress made with FS TAWNY PORT Linen
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.
My name is Aluma Meshulmi, I am 21 years old, and I live in Israel. I am a photographer and creator. At the age of 10, my parents bought me a sewing machine for my birthday, and that’s how I started sewing.
Dresses made with FS TAWNY PORT and MIX NATURAL Linen
Why do you sew?
Because of the process.
It’s not economical in any way. I can sit for 15 hours sewing one dress, adjusting patches and fabrics and competition, and losing money on it, but within that time, I would have gone through a whole process.
It’s the same as the difference between buying a cake or baking a cake in your kitchen, or like weaving threads from real wool, with the smell of sheep, or like making jam from the fruit of the tree outside, with the scratches from the fruit tree, and the tear in the pants.
The greatest experience is doing something from start to finish, which is why I love sewing so much.
Dresses made with FS MIX NATURAL Linen
Dresses made with FS MIX NATURAL Linen
What do you like to listen to when you’re working (and why)?
I like to work quietly. It allows me to think clearly.
Dresses made with FS TAWNY PORT and MIX NATURAL Linen
Where is home and how does it affect what you do?
I live on a farm, we have goats, sheep, and a chicken coop. I live in nature, and this is the best inspiration for creation. My work is influenced by nature, I love natural colors, simple patterns, and linen fabric is an obvious choice, because of its all-natural look and feel.
Dresses made with FS TAWNY PORT and MIX NATURAL Linen
What was the first thing you ever remember making on your own? Tell us about this memory.
Until the age of 11 I was an only girl with six brothers, and all the time I wanted a sister that I could put dresses on and a bouquet of flowers on her head. When I was ten, my little sister was born and I tried to sew a dress for her. This was so much fun!
Dress made with FS TAWNY PORT Linen
Who are your muses and inspiration?
I take inspiration from the nature around me, professionally as a photographer, I shoot in nature and natural light, and the sewing, weaving, and other areas I create in, are influenced by the nature that surrounds me
Dresses made with FS TAWNY PORT and MIX NATURAL Linen
How important is it to make something with your hands?
We live today in a very fast, clean and easy culture.
At the push of a button, we receive clothes, that are cheap and neatly packaged, poor in quality, manufactured in unfair production conditions, and very quickly they all go to waste.
To create something with your hands is to object to the fast culture, and to engage in slow work, which leaves satisfaction, experience, and a product with a memory that remains even after the work has disappeared.
Dress made with FS TAWNY PORT Linen
What does success mean to you?
To get up every morning and to do what I love.
What have you chosen to make out of FS linen and why?
My brother got married two months ago, and I wanted to sew linen dresses for my little sisters. I did not find any quality linen fabrics in my country, and I received a recommendation for fabrics-store linen.
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22 Comments
Julie Earl
Thank you! Lovely photography and beautiful dresses! What a JOY!
Julie
Judith Colvin
I so enjoyed your story. My husband often asks me why I am sewing my clothes, and your explanation is perfect. I sewed when I was young and then got in to spinning and other fiber arts. I raised sheep for many years but now just work with the wool that I kept from them. Now I have the joy of sewing for my grandchildren. I do love working with the linen. Thank you for sharing your sisters’s dresses, they are lovely.
Hannah Sadar
Your photos have deeply touched my soul.
The goodness of the Creator who has made light, and sheep and laughing children….
Your work brings out the beauty of the world in a way people can see.
Alumah Meshulami
Thanks Hannah! This is very exciting for me ??
Gale Roanoake
Thank you for sharing your lovely story. I’m new at sewing clothes, but have been dyeing, spinning, and weaving natural fibers for a few years. I love the slow, meditative work and seeing the gorgeous, artistic items we make from start to finish. I’m very excited to have discovered this linen, and how beautifully it sews into the nicest clothes. Your dresses are so beautiful, and inspire me to create nice linen dresses for my daughter too.
Alumah Meshulami
Thank you, Gale ?
Don?t stop sewing!
Lisa Ingold
Shalom Aluma,
What an inspirational story. I too learned to sew at a young age and have recently resurrected my sewing skills now that I am middle aged. I loved so many things about your story, the joy of working with your hands, the satisfaction of completing a slow work, the no profit zone but the tremendous accomplishment feeling of completing a project. I too also prefer to work in quiet, so I can think clearly. And what beautiful photos!
Lisa
Alumah Meshulami
Thank you Lisa!
??
Jennifer Arnold-deglado
What a blessing to read this young woman’s thoughts and see the beauty of life through her eyes . Thank you for sharing – Sincerely, Jennifer Arnold
Alumah Meshulami
Thank you Jennifer
Nancy Gruber
How refreshing to read such a lovely story , with a look at a simpler way of living. thank you!
Alumah Meshulami
Thanks for reading! <3
Debra Vineski
Beautiful story. Such an inspiration! I love it! Thank you for sharing! Baruch aleichem….
Alumah Meshulami
Thank you Debra!
Christie Petersen
This story is beautiful I mirror this story in many ways. I was blessed thank you.
Alumah Meshulami
Thank you Christie!
Sue Callihan
This story is so lovely, and reminds me, as well, of the reason I love to sew. Every time I use something I have made – napkins, table cloths, dish towels, curtains, pillows, bedding- the experience of making them is still felt in my hands and remembered. These things (all made from FS linen) have so much more meaning than if I had bought them.
Alumah Meshulami
Hi Sue,
thanks for the beautiful comment!
CAROL MILES
Thank you for sharing this lovely story from a beautiful, creative, and thoughtful young woman. The dresses are so beautiful and the photos made me smile along with girls.
Alumah Meshulami
Thanks Carol!
Kathleen Mccartney
What a wonderful story. The dresses are beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
Alumah Meshulami
Thank you Kathleen!!!