Tallit Construction: Atara and Corner Patches

Two or three times in the past we've emails emails from slightly alarmed customers, wondering why the corner patches of the tallit were not sewn on the correct side.

We put their mind to ease and explain how the tallit is assembled and sewn. This week we received this inquiry in an interesting form:

Some time ago I received a Sfardi tallit after mentioning that I believed my family was of Anusim Sfarad. Anyway I sat this tallit back as I used my first tallit for years.

I have a problem /question about it, and when I saw your post about tallits and Christians. I don't know where this tallit originated but there is something that was strange to me and made me suspicious. I would simply describe it as seeing the atarah facing out of course, but the corners facing in. i.e., the atarah is fine but the corners to reinforce the tzitziyot are opposite/inward to the body.

Is that just a mistake, a different minhag, or what?

I explained that actually there's no problem with his tallit at all. The way the atara and corners are sewn on is counterintuitive, and you are not the first person to ask about it.

The atara is sewn on to the top side of the atara so that it shows on the back of the neck (or on the crest of the head, if you wear the tallit pulled up on your head). The corner patches are sewn on the underside of the tallit, so that when you flip the sides (i.e. the fringed sides) up onto your shoulders, the corner patches are visible.

When I first started working with our present seamstress, I reminded her of this every time I had her sew on a different atara.