Israel is known for many things — great symphony, great security, great sightseeing — but great style is not one of them. Sure, most modern Israelis dress to the nines, but in the popular imagination the Israeli national uniform remains a pair of denim cutoffs and sandals. We think of shmatte, not Prada.

But that doesn’t mean you have to mark Israeli Independence Day by looking like a schlump. Instead, you can fashion yourself a darling Israeli accessory. This Yom Ha’atzmaut, whip up this cute, stylish coin purse, shaped like a falafel, the Israeli national dish. Use it to store your shekels and asimonim. Eizeh yofi!

Falafel Coin Purse

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You will need:

Scissors

1 square light tan or cream felt

Needle and thread

1 square light green felt

1 square red felt

1 square gold felt

Fabric glue

5 1/2-inch strip of Velcro

Cut a circle with a 6-inch diameter out of light tan or cream felt. Cut circle in half. Pin two halves together and sew along the curved edge, leaving a 1/4-inch seam allowance. Turn right side out. Now you have your felt pita.

Cut a 5 1/2-inch by 1 1/2-inch piece of light green felt. Pink the top edge to make it look jagged and salad-like. Glue to the inside of the bottom piece of the felt pita, about 1/2 inch down from the top.

Cut a few 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch squares of red felt. Glue to green felt, scattered to look like tomato chunks.

Cut three circles, each with a 1 1/4-inch diameter, from the gold felt. These will form your falafel balls. Glue to green felt so the top half of each falafel ball is peeking out from the pita. Allow glue to set.

Glue Velcro strip to the inside of the pita, near the top, to form closure. Allow glue to set. Then fill your coin purse with change and take yourself out for a real falafel.

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