Enough withthe Sugar. Time for the Spice

What happened to my fabulousness? I used to be a force to reckon with. But now a days I feel like a has been. That my glory days are behind me. This is not in tune with the person that I am at heart. I am used to being the center of attention when I walk into a room. I was at the Laundromat last month and there was a woman in there scooping up all the male attention. Now she was younger than I, but I ain't no old bag... and she had a bad assed kid with her in tow. I'm thinking I should have gotten more attention than I got. All I scored was an old man in shoe boots. So have some serious pondering and consideration to do to reclaim that good feeling that I usually have unlimitedly on tap. Let's analyze shall we...

My appearance has multiple factors... Clothes, body shape, skin, accessories.
1. Clothes
First off, display of refinement can have its drawbacks. So it's not like I'm going to look like the folks in the magazines. And I'm on the bigger end of the spectrum so ain't like all the magazine clothes are available to me. Another thing is my money is funny right now and I need to acquire only a few necessary pieces that will make my wardrobe sing. I normally spend my money on thing that won't change. Purses, shoes, accessories. And right now I have a collection of such that will hold me over until I'm balling again. And I WILL BE!!!!!!

So where I need to put my focus is the clothing themselves and some new summer shoes. I haven't bought good summer shoes in a few years. I broke my foot a few years ago and that scared me off of heels for a minute. But heels are back on the schedule for this summer. I have a pair of sneakers for the bus and I will carry the heels with me.

I really want my hair to grow much longer. I want to have a reason for letting it out from time to time. I have noticed them Earths with long locs get away with wearing their hair out and folks don't say anything to them. I'm waiting, impatiently, on that day.

As far as the dresses go... I'm going to focus on spring and summer. It's almost February and that is what I'm going to prepare for. Some cute printed maxi dresses. I have 2 patterns already. My plan is to whip up some printed dresses based on those patterns. I already have a lot of single colored dresses and separates. I want to add prints to my repertoire. But you have to be careful with prints. You don't want it to look like a costume. And I have plans for a hot pink dress and some house/traveling dresses. I am almost certain that I will be driving to Show and Prove this year. That,s only 2 dresses, but the car ride will need to be comfortable.

2. Weight.
I am a big girl. No secret. But I am not ashamed of my size. Yes it's frustrating to find clothes and sometimes patterns. But I am not disgusting. Actually, my features are big, and if I was thinner I would look a little crazy. Not trying to tantalize, but my boobs are naturally gi-normous. My head is big and even my ankles are thick with bone. I am proportional with my weight so... This year is the 1st year I have decided to not dwell on it. If I'm cool with it then folks will be cool with it.

3. Skin
My skin is creeping me out! I am having the worst eczemitic outbreak I have had since I was 16. I have no clue what sparked it. But I do know that if this situation has not corrected itself by March, I am going to have to really go to the doctor and get it looked at. God said my skin feels like a big scab and he is uncomfortable touching me. Those are really words you want to hear coming form you man's mouth. But other than it feels nasty, is unsightly is that it HURTS. I have removed meat and dairy from my diet and have gotten rid of all my non-natural clothes. Yet I still suffer. I read that sunlight and salt water really help. So as soon as it gets warm. I'm going to the beach. I need it anyway. I still am flirting with the idea of going to a tanning salon. I just don't know the rules.

The bottom line, at least in my opinion, is I think if I look better I would feel better. I am in a rut. I haven't been doing anything new, interesting or useful. Just going to work and coming home. Not trying anything new. Not setting anything new in motion. So I have nothing to look forward to except aging. That's got to change. I have decided to implement the do some things along with the look betters. I need to work in the feel better as well.

So here is the tentative plan... I already have mentally instituted the get my clothes together. Shoes aren't ready yet. And when they are I will combine them with sales to score what I need and want. I'm a stick with the major department stores. Off store shoes hurt my feet. Same with purses and jewelry. Just waiting on a sale coupon. And I have my eyes on some upscale earrings that I normally don't do. But I'm gonna do them on the bigger side to what is traditionally done. I wanna appear more upscale but be loyal to my reality.

I'm a try the tanning bed. Although I'm holding out much hope for it working. Ultraviolet light has helped me in the past. We?ll see what it will do for me now. Otherwise I will be going to the doctor. This kind of discomfort is completely uncool.

I will resume my exercise plan of park walking. I used to do this with a friend, but she hemmed me up from walking or I used her as an excuse. Either way I'm going to walk more. Also... For some additional spice... I have decided to teach myself how to roller skate again. I used to be nice. Or at least I remember being nice on skates. That was 25 years ago or more.

Another spicy thing I am going to institute is the "Do Something on Saturdays". I do nothing all weekend long. I only shower to relieve itchiness. I don't get out of bed for 3 days. If you add in all the other bed time, I could be considered clinically depressed. Maybe the reason I am in such a rut is because I am not having new experiences. I don't know. It's worth a try. And since I previously stated my money is funny and my change is strange, whatever I do has to be free or the on the low low. I am determined to do it though. I have got to shake things up for myself. Things can not continue on this particular path I been treading.


Peace

The Basics

You know what really kills me? Now a days folks don't know how to do the basics with regard to sewing. Folks will take to the cleaners, hems, buttons, darning and slight alterations. Or they would throw the garment out entirely. Don't get it twisted. I freely admit that a lot of garments are nothing but garbage designed to tear up after a wash or two. But folks no longer know how to do anything.

Cooking is no different. There is a generation of people who do not know how to make potato salad! Potato Salad!!!! And when you try to show folks how to handle there business they can't be bothered.

People, Something is coming. The USA is not gong to be a superpower for much longer. We are not going to be able to waist money like we have become accustomed. Get your act together people and learn how to do the basics.


Peace

Righteous Remix

I bought this sweater fabric in the summer. It was cheaper then. I wasn't real sure what I was gonna do with it. Originally it was gonna be a long jacket, but..... I wasn't really feeling that. I saw a sweater dress a in Victoria's Secret catelog and was like that's it! That's what I want. So thats what I made. a righteous sweater dress unlike the one in the catelog but based on it all the same. I did use a bit of a pattern. McCalls 8523. It's an old pattern. I just used the top part for the top. The bottom I mentally made it more form fitting to imitate the sweater dress I saw in the VS catelog... BUT... It must be modest. And modesty in my mind is no boobies showing and below the knee. Here it is. Pay no attention to all the shit on my counter. And btw... I need all that shit!

Peace

Culture vs. Pattern

Y'all know I like to sew. I have been noticing that Original people through the diaspora rock colors and prints. Sometimes even that don't match. I have also learned that in countries where the colonialism is the strongest, the Original people, though still fly, adopt the boring-ness. Why?

Is it more natural and Cuturally significant to dispaly more pattern? Or do our people just work with what is at hand. I'm going to incorporate more patterns in my wardrobe and see if that makes me feel more connected. More resolution of 7:14. We aren't all different.


Peace

Sew On and Sew On....

I'm not sure when I started this blog if I posted my frustrations with patterns. If not I'll reiterate....

When I first started sewing around 25 years ago, my mother gave me some patterns to work with. She then put me in some sewing classes to learn how to use the patterns. I got really frustrated with patterns not really giving me what I wanted and even more frustrated when I would follow a pattern exactly and the garment turn out too big or too small. My father sewed (I didn't know this). His mother had been a seamstress and taught her children, girls and boys, how to sew and crochet. Daddy taught me that I didn't need patterns to create the clothes tht I wanted. Which was very freeing. and basically that's how I have sewed since then. Lately I have been reading a lot of sewing blogs and all these people used patterns. So after 25 years I decided to give patterns another try. Initially I found them jokers very expensive. So expensive in fact that if you account for the pattern, fabric, the notions and labor, garments are cheaper to purchase rather than make. The ability to sew now a days, is not something to be proud of. But that's another blog.

Anywho... Thanks to the goodness of a hood fabric shop, I have acquired several new patterns on the low low and have discovred for my self how to work and personalize patterns to my needs. Why didn't that class say that? Why didn't they tell me I could take the top from one and add it to the bottom of another? I used to feel like patterns stifled my creativity. I feel differently now. I see patterns as a template jumping off point. I will still sketch what is in my mind, but then I will look through my pattern stash to see if there is anything that I have there that will work with my vision. If so, I use it, if not I create my own patterns with newspaper. Now my sewing is still creative and authentically me, but it has also become incredibly prolific. I don't have to reinvent the wheel for every project. And I don't get as frustrated during production like I used to because I have no idea how to proceed.

I'm not a pattern hater anymore. That is until my hood connection dries up and I have to pay full price for them jokers.


Peace

The 14th Degree Don't Lie

I was doing some alterations for a dear friend of mine. They would have to be a dear friend in order for me to do alterations for people. I hate alterations. And since I never charge and folks you know are never satisfied AND they keep coming back with more and more shit... But I digress....

I was doing alterations on a velvet jacket and a blouse. My friend is a baller (though she doesn't admit it). I know she paid $$$$ for these clothes. The jacket, I actually was gonna buy, but it was hella expensive and velvet is one of those fabrics that you shouldn't wear after the holidays pass, so I passed on it. I was with her when she bought the jacket (does that make me a baller?) and I remember how much it cost.

Anywho..... This jacket was torn at the seam almost the entire length. It was also lined with a really cute fabric. But once I got inside, I found that the velvet was not the regular plush velvet, but a really cheap, fake nasty velvet that left nasty little traces on my sewing machine. I had to clean inside and outside of the machine. The lining wasn't any better. It was a thin, smelly, cheap piece of polyester. SMH. Having to take apart the jacket to get at the repair location. I saw that even the stitches were cheesy. This stitches I used were superior to what the garment came with. No reinforcing stitches either.

So the moral of this story is just because a garment is expensive and store bought does not mean that it is better than a 'homemade' garment.

Learn to sew people. It is not that hard and will save money in the long run!



Peace

Look for the Union Label

I recently watched a documentary on what has happened to the garment industry. It chronicled the decline of said industry. At one time, the garment industry was the largest employer in NYC. Now less than 5% of clothing worn in this country is made in this country. The reason why this latched on in my mental mind, (1) because I have been on a purchasing fast with regard to clothing and (2) my mother took me shopping for my bornday. She wanted to buy me something pretty.

I buy as much American as I can find. I have owned 5 cars, all of them American. I really wanted a Prius this last time, but I could not bring myself to buy one. And every time I see one pass me I tear up a little. But I think it’s important to support your own. And since I am a resident and citizen of this country, I feel it’s our duty to make supporting your own a priority.

In this society we have moved away from ‘we’ to ‘me’. That’s not cool. Me cannot support a whole country and our nonchalance for what happens to others will eventually slap us in the face. If our choices cause another family to starve, then our taxes will increase to support them on welfare or in prison. And there are more than just one person losing the ability to feed their families. Then it will become too expensive to own property. You got it like that?

You cannot have a society where all three classes are not represented. Low, middle and upper. It is real easy for people to turn their noses up at people who work jobs you think are beneath you. Blue color jobs in this country, support this country. But in the last few decades, it has become shameful in being a blue collar employee. Very few children now a days aspire to jobs like firemen, police officers, teachers, hairdressers, and so on. People usually fall into these jobs because what they were shooting for didn’t work out. But what happens when there is nothing to fall back on? Then what are you supposed to do? And don’t get it twisted, there are some jobs that grown folks just won’t get hired to do. Yeah, you got grown folks delivering papers, but how many grown folks you see flipping burgers. And you wonder why there are so many homeless, jobless folks out there. Being middle class has become shameful.

OK. I have said all of this to say, it is important for all of us to be mindful to support our own. Yes you may feel, and validly so, that big companies won’t miss your money. But for every cheap blouse you buy, you are supporting some Indian or Chinese family while starving your cousin in NY. For every foreign car you purchase, you support a German or Japanese family but causing widespread poverty in Detroit. You free to do what you want, after all this is America. But if we don’t look after our own, who will? You think people abroad are buying Chryslers and Fords? And do the Knowledge, the United States of America does not have a big export market unless you wanna count the military.


Peace