When Joanns has a sale, you buy 24 yards of grey cotton flannel.

 Yeah, that happened.

Hello lovely people. 

Virginia says hi.

You know when you are sitting at your computer at 2 in the morning and you go on a site that you really don't need to buy anything, and they just happen to have a super good sale going on, so you look across your office and see that, "Gee, I could make new curtains for my pony wall."

Yes, I have a My Little Pony wall.

So... you buy $70 worth of cotton flannel and spend a day and a half making those curtains?

You too?

Ha!

My brain has sort of shut off for the last half of the year. Doing anything complicated with sewing, while I work full time at my normal job has been so much. But I love sewing, so straight lines are about all I can handle right now (I know).  I get to zone out and just concentrate on a crisp seam. That's all I can do right now in my life and I feel at peace with that :) I will get up the gumption to get into more complicated stuff, rest assured.

When I moved into my new place in January (home tour coming up I swear), I DIYed this pony wall for my collection. I love it, and I hung my white curtains from my old place because there really was no need for me to take the time and spend the money to make any new ones.

That is until a sewing site had a stupid good sale.

I should also say all the curtains in my place I made, and for some reason I used cotton flannel. So why not continue that theme?

The width of the fabric was 44". I remeasured the length of the panels that I'd need for the pony wall and decided to brave it and have them kiss the carpet. It was 94" exactly, so I shaved an inch off that length because we all know that exactness in sewing can create a terrible mistake.  I cut a total of 6 panels with two sets sewn together.

I technically needed about 18 yards of fabric for this project. Not 24, but they would only sell in bolts after a certain amount, so instead of the 20 that I planned, I had to get 24. Three bolts. Three bolts of 100% cotton flannel for $72. I am VERY okay with that!

This was mostly a cut and overlock type of project and did most of it while I watched the remake of Candyman for the first time. I LOVE horror movies, and I can talk about my thoughts on it if you you want :)

The curtain rod system that hangs from the ceiling is just hooks on a rail, but I have to create something for the hooks to rest in that will also have the panels keep their shame. I did a reinforced strip of the same flannel and just left a gap 7" apart. Worked great.

I will say, I didn't oversew as much as I normally do, that is, until it got to the pleated top that I decided to do at the last minute. I nearly got out my ruffler, but I didn't want a seam, so I tacked each pleat down to the cotton tape and now they look like unironed box pleats. I put loops at about 7" apart then simply thumb tacked the pleated panel into the ceiling. Didn't think the tacks would work, but it came out perfect.

As many of you all know, I can be lazy when it comes to ironing curtains, and as with these, I didn't iron anything except the center seams on two double width panels. Wrinkles galore. Ironing panels this large is a pain, and I would use my steamer, but I don't feel like removing all my ponies just in case. Instead I took some liquid fabric softener I never use (I'm a white vinegar household) and water and made a fabric releaser. I'm sure over the next week or so more wrinkles will soften more and the drape will look fine. 

Below you can see the forward panel is after the fabric releaser.

As I was finishing everything up, I decided to remove the two smaller panels and just stick with the 4 panels sewn at the center seam. It's not as full, but with the ruffle at the top, it works.

I like it! Protects my ponies and neutral enough not to distract me. Just want I wanted.

Okay, that's it for me and my random post. More to come!

Felty-goodness for the Holidays.

 Hello lovely people.

Oh, has it been a year.

We all know that, so let's all stay safe, and be careful.

When I'm stressed, as I have ben mostly all year, I like to craft to ease my mind.

I'd wanted to replace a cheap wreath I've put on my front door for over 3 years. Previously, I've done a felt pumpkin for halloween, and a protesting turkey for Thanksgiving

Vintageville #39

Vintageville #39 is up!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/168744317263695479/

Notion Gizmos

Its Tom Waits tonight.

Yes, I loves me some sewing gadgets. There are all sorts of things out there to aide in sewing, and none of them are more interesting, or useful, than the vintage ones.

This first one is my plastic bobbin holder. Its seen better days, much better, but it was my mother's so it will never be replaced.

This next one I love simply for its graphics. Late 50s more likely, back when women were euphoric in their girdled dresses doing housework and such.

Speaking of girdles...Im leery of the elastic. Im sure its past its prime.

Same for this one, but lookit that hair!

Apparently home pleating was big. As well as the ways to do it. I find it interesting that now if you have enough yardage, you can just send off and have your fabric pleated.

I am all about that pleating measure thing, though. CANT wait to try it out!

And the bevy of self belt making kits. I have a lot of these. Many different brands.

Im also somewhat of a seam gauge collector. I LOVE the vintage ones, and this one (probably 60s) is my favorite. There isnt anything this thing cant measure!



This is the latest addition to my collection. I got it mainly for the calatin buttons, but look i the upper left, a SCALLOP RULER!!!!!! How awesome is that! VERY!
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Black Hair pt 1

I was having a phone conversation with my nearly 90 year old Grandmother the other week and other than her consistently telling me I need to move back to Kentucky, she had a sound reason why I was in the job slump Im in.

"Do you still wear your hair like that," she asked.

"Like what," I said.

"You know, that way."

"The way it grows out of my head?"

"Well, yes. You need to go to a black hair dress and get a perm. Then Im sure when you go for a job interview, you will look more presentable. You would be surprised how something like that would keep you back." I said thank you as I normally do when she says something insufferable and we ended the call.

Later that day, at the bus stop, I was approached by an older black woman, about late 40s, intrigued by my hair.

"Why do you have it covered up?" she asked. "You wear it natural, right?"

"I do," I replied. I had a bandanna on, mainly because my hair was pretty wild that day, but also I was just out running errands, and the wind was strong.

"What, are you ashamed of it?"

"Not at all, my head is cold."

"Oh," she said slightly embarrassed.

"I love my hair," I resounded. She was happy to hear me say that and we went on and had a good ten minute conversation about black hair.

"Black women are so broken when it comes to their hair," she said, and I couldn't have agreed more.

Let me reiterate.

I love my hair.

Not as in, 'I love the way my hair is styled today', or 'I love the cut I have this week', but, I love my hair. I love its texture, its color, its sheen, its body, its behavior, everything about it. And this love did not come easy, especially growing up as most black women do, with an instilled belief that your natural hair is wrong.

I got my first perm at about 8 years old. For people who dont know, a perm for black hair does the opposite of what a perm for white hair does. It makes it straight. The term 'relaxer' seems to be the new thing to say, but I grew up with all the hair dressers saying 'perm' so that is what Im going to say.

My mother did it for me with home kits, and I had so much hair that it often took two or even three (and those were the adult sizes). So I got a perm roughly every two months, and my hair was washed every two weeks.

The early years were the hot comb, and lets just say that a stove heated oily metal comb nearly singeing your scalp for three hours bi-weekly isn't too much of an improvement to having your scalp chemically burned by a white mayonnaise solution. But, thats what little black girls were subjected to. That is what we were told would make us pretty.

When I was about 12, and my mother got lazy, I didn't get my hair washed for nearly a month. The sides, in front of my ears started to thin, and then fall out. I lost a lot of hair on that washing, and I could tell my mother was a bit saddened by it. It was then that I thought, why do I have to go through this, why cant I wash my own hair?

When I was about 14, I was allowed to make some of my own hair decisions. By then I had a 'wave' or I guess if you are using 80s lingo, a jerry curl. It kept my hair and scalp constantly wet, musty, and ruined many a pillow case. Not to mention my face often broke out.

By 15, I started using less and less of that 'curl' solution, and i noticed my hair felt better. Soon I stopped using it at all, and just washed it and oiled my scalp (another black hair myth Ill get to later).

When I got to high school, I realized the way I had grown up with my hair didn't have to be the only way to wear my hair. I stopped putting stuff on it, and I started washing it and twisting it, and it grew. My sides even began to fill out.

But then, out of pressure from my Grandmother, I was sent to the beauty parlor and got a perm. My hair was straight, shiny and down to my shoulders. Even my brother said it looked good. I felt not dirty, but violated in a way. This wasn't me, and I was so not a conformer. At 16, that was the last perm I got.

Some years, tattoos and a few piercings later, I realized I needed to revisit my hair. I bleached and dyed it for the very first time, ever! This was when I began to experiment with vintage hairstyles.

I was living in San Francisco, still wearing my hair naturally, but noticing it wasn't doing too well. I was trying all sorts of 'natural' black hair care products, as it was popular now to have your hair 'chemical free', but I realized something. It was these products that were making my hair brake, fray and frizz in the first place. A lot of them had mild 'relaxers' in them to make the hair more 'manageable'. Thats a bunch of shit, I thought to myself.

So I threw them all out, and started as natural as I could. Castile soap, jojoba oil, vitamin e oil, burdock root oil. It was a revelation, and I haven't looked back. Its amazing how your hair can tell you what it needs if you just pay attention.

I brought this aspect up to the woman at the bus stop during our hair pow wow, and she concurred.

"They are pretty harsh on your hair." I also told her I didn't oil my scalp. She was pretty surprised by that one.

"I wash my hair every 3 days. I rub a bit of vitamin e oil in it, and Im fine," I said. "I don't do any of the ritual I was raised with, and my hair is better off for it." I could tell she admired me. One for being able to take a stand about my hair at my age, and her never having that opportunity, but also that I was perfectly at peace with my hair. I embraced it. I didn't want it to be super straight, or a comical giant afro. It was my natural hair tied back with a scarf because it was cold that day, no more no less. But it made me realize, I AM taking a stand with my hair and I didn't even know it.

Here is my hair as of this morning, freshly washed, non styled or combed.

Im bucking over a century of common law wisdom associated with black women's hair by wearing it the way it grows from my head. Amazing isn't it?