In Genesis chapter 29, Jacob has run away from his brother Esau and gone to his mother's family to find a wife. After agreeing to work seven years in exchange for the younger, more beautiful daughter Rachel, he is tricked into marrying the elder daughter Leah, and must work a further seven years to pay for Rachel. Leah bears Jacob four sons.
For some reason, Jacob actually looks quite puzzled and cross standing next to Leah, but when you compare the shot of him standing with Rachel, he looks quite happy. I think it might be due to some body language caused by the one-shouldered tunic... What do you think?
Anyway, I drew their tunic and dresses with one shoulder because that is how they are depicted in ancient records. See the example below:
Verse seventeen talks about Leah having weak eyes, but Rachel being both beautiful and having a hot body! There are two theories I have come across regarding Leah's weak eyes. The first says that she had blue eyes, which were considered weak and unattractive in that culture, where brown eyes were dominant. The other theory says that Leah's blue eyes were her only redeeming feature. She was perhaps blessed with a fertile, child rearing body... not a hot bod, and was not beautiful, and the only nice thing they could say about her was that she at least had nice eyes.
Interesting!
Memory Verse: When morning came, there was Leah! So Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I served you for Rachel, didn’t I? Why have you deceived me?” Genesis 29:25.
Materials needed to create Jacob's Wives quiet book page:
- A4 felt background sheet. I used mid blue.
- felt scraps
- sewing thread to match each colour of felt
- sew on press studs
- material or lace for the veils
- two small blue beads and four small brown or black beads
- embroidered flowers, I got a fairly big bag full for $1 from Theo's Discount Craft in Melbourne
- hot glue gun and glue sticks
- the template
Use the template to cut out the pieces from felt in appropriate colours. I used purple for Leah because she was the mother of Judah, through whom the royal line of King David, and thus Jesus, descended. I gave her blonde hair and blue eyes, and gave Rachel brown hair and eyes for reasons outlined in the devotional section. I used the darker shades for Leah and Rachel and used lighter shades of the same colours for Bilhah and Zilpah in the next chapter, so you might want to keep that in mind if you are doing a double page spread like me. Jacob was allocated red clothes because that's what I had already given him in the previous chapter, Genesis 28 - Jacob's Ladder Quiet Book Page.
Next, lay out your pieces and position everything on the page so you know where you want everything and to make sure it fits on your page. Pin so you can peel back as many layers as possible to sew underneath. Make sure you leave enough room for the son's names labels if you are using them.
For details on how I made the son's names labels with press studs, please refer to my Genesis 30 - Jacob Increases Quiet Book Page. Only do this part if you are making a double page spread with these two chapters.
Sew each piece down in the order listed below, matching your threads to your chosen colours.
Next, lay out your pieces and position everything on the page so you know where you want everything and to make sure it fits on your page. Pin so you can peel back as many layers as possible to sew underneath. Make sure you leave enough room for the son's names labels if you are using them.
For details on how I made the son's names labels with press studs, please refer to my Genesis 30 - Jacob Increases Quiet Book Page. Only do this part if you are making a double page spread with these two chapters.
Sew each piece down in the order listed below, matching your threads to your chosen colours.
- large hair sections for Leah and Rachel
- torso/arm sections - remember to insert the girl's dresses underneath the arms and on top of the torsos before sewing
- heads and feet
- dresses and tunic
- rest of the hair pieces
Cut two sections of material or lace for the veils and sew them on. Then add the beads for eyes. Finally, hot glue down your embroidered flowers over the spot where the girls hands meet.
Finished!
Difficulty Level = Intermediate
Sewing Leah and Rachel's arms is the most difficult part of this page because they need to be sewn over the top of the dress before it has been sewn down yet, and you may get issues with lining them up properly. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be though!
Key Learning Areas and Skills
- Genesis 29 - this page tells the story of Jacob marrying Leah and Rachel
- Visual Discrimination - spot the difference between Leah and Rachel
- Peek-a-boo - lift the veils to see their faces
- Press Studs - learn to line them up, push them on and pull them off
- Fine Motor Skills - all quiet books encourage fine motor skill development
- Hand-eye Co-ordination - all quiet books encourage hand-eye co-ordination
Read the Chapter
Genesis 29Devotional
In this chapter, Jacob the deceiver - his name actually means that, gets deceived himself. He gets tricked into marrying the wrong woman... not a nice surprise I imagine. I had thought that he actually had to wait another seven years to marry his beloved Rachel, but it turns out he married her the next week, and had to pay her off for the next seven years.
For some reason, Jacob actually looks quite puzzled and cross standing next to Leah, but when you compare the shot of him standing with Rachel, he looks quite happy. I think it might be due to some body language caused by the one-shouldered tunic... What do you think?
Anyway, I drew their tunic and dresses with one shoulder because that is how they are depicted in ancient records. See the example below:
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Interesting!
Cute page Crissa, you'd think that Jacob would have noticed the bod despite the veils! milla
ReplyDeleteWell, perhaps the first theory works better, or perhaps he was a little intoxicated!
DeleteThe template looks great! Easy to print & use :)
Delete