Mishnah Berurah — משנה ברורה

To the market - Or to the doorway of his house [facing] the street. But if the adult is embarrassed to go out [wearing it] even occasionally to the market, it is not considered a covering, even if he wears it in his house. And there are those who argue on this and hold that you only need [to fulfill the condition of] it [being large enough] to cover the head and majority of the body of a minor. And the later rabbinic authorities agree that one should be stringent to not make a blessing on a טלית קטן, even if it's large enough to cover the head and majority of the body of a minor, if the adult would be embarrassed to go out with it occasionally to the market; for even though he would go out [like that], his intention is rendered irrelevant by the opinions of all other men. And regarding the measurement of "[enough to cover] his (ie. a child's) head and the majority of his body", it is written in Pri Ha'aretz in the name of Derech Chochma that the measurement is 3/4 of a cubit for it's length, and 1/2 a cubit for it's width. And the Machtzit Hashekel and Artzot Hachaim wrote on this that there is no basis for this in the Talmud, and specifically regarding the 1/2 a cubit width that he mentioned. And the custom of men of [proper] action is to be particular that there should be a cubit in the front and a cubit in the back, and the neck hole does not count for that measurement. And with a טלית קטן like that, one will not have any doubts and is able to recite the blessing on it. Nevertheless, one should not go less than 3/4 of a cubit for the length on each side, for otherwise there will be a concern for a blessing made in vain; for the later rabbinic authorities wrote that they measured and found that the measurement of "the head and the majority of the body of a child" is 1.5 cubits; and see further in Biur Halacha. And the custom of the Ashkenazim (ie. those Jews in Germany) who take a small piece of cloth, one in the front and one in the back, and they sew straps onto them [so that the straps rest on their shoulders], and they affix ציצית to them - they do not at all fulfill their obligation of ציצית with them; and besides the fact that they negate the commandment of ציצית, they are making a blessing in vain every day and are violating the commandment of "Do not take Hashem's Name in vain", and it is also forbidden for them to walk out with them on Shabbat, as was explained in siman 10 and 13 - see there further. Nevertheless, those who do make it like that should not make a blessing on it, rather they should make the blessing in the morning on their טלית גדול, and with that they may go out with [the טלית קטן] all day since they nevertheless had the intention with this in order to not negate the commandment of ציצית all day. But anyone who is G-d fearing should not rely on this at all, rather they should make [it out of] a real [complete] garment, each place according to their custom. And in some places, they have a custom that the garment which is called "kamizel" or "vest", it is open in the back and they place ציצית on it's 4 corners - fortunate are they, however they must be careful to make sure that the majority of it is open. And similarly, [regarding] the טלית קטן that they make in our country, they should be careful regarding this (ie. the majority should be open). And see further, above in siman 10, se'if 7 and 8, what we wrote there. The Ari"zal wrote [regarding] a טלית קטן, that it is better that it should not have sleeves. If one wore a טלית and it folded/bunched up a bit, as is common when wearing clothes, and after it folded it did not have the measurement of "the head and the majority of the body of a child": it's written in the Responsum of the Beit Yosef - siman 106, that since it's able to be unfolded, it's considered to be unfolded, even though it is not yet unfolded, and it therefore has the correct measurement; see there. And see as well in Bnei Chaya. A טלית that has [the measurement of] "the head and the majority of the body of a child", but by sewing it, it does not have that measurement [anymore]: it is exempt from ציצית. See there in siman 66. And so too wrote the Leket Hakemach.