Safe Hair

Peace

I’m not sure if I mentioned this to y’all, but I went to court last month and was attacked because of my headwrap. I wear it ALL the time when I leave the house. When I go into certain venues, I wear like a Muslim in order to keep people from making assumptions that don’t work for me. i.e. Most folks in Atlanta never heard of 5%ers or the Nation of Gods and Earths. I’m not trying to educate folks when I have business to conduct and I don’t need key people thinking I’m a cult supporting crackpot. Folks can think I’m a Muslim all they want.

I assumed that because I was portraying myself as a religious person (my nation is not religious so I was lying without speaking, and I’m OK with that), folks would not religiously persecute me by forcing me to remove my head covering. I was wrong. The Atlanta court system violated my right to religious expression and forcibly removed my head wrap.

This morning I had to go back. I could do 1 of 3 things…. I could go in there and demand that they acquiesce to my needs. I could compromise my values and allow Yakub’s world manifest to rule the day. Or I could make a compromise that satisfies both parties…..

A Hairnet! It allows me to maintain my 3/4ths and keeps me out of jail.


http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/muslim-womans-headscarf-incident-776839.html

These people here do not play. Especially if you’re Original. I was herded like cattle and reprimanded because I was required to appear to defend myself against an accident that wasn’t my fault. My question is why? A head wrap ain’t that serious. They don’t go wig snatching in court rooms. If I could hide something in my head wrap, I could hide it under a wig or a big weave. So the thinking is flawed. If you check the above links, one says that they were to be sued for their discriminatory policies. And it is discriminatory.

So to my righteous sisters, if you want to maintain your modesty in court and for some reason can’t rock a wig because you locs are too long, wear a headwrap that matches the color of your hair.


Peace

New Look 6648

Peace,

I don't normally buy Nu Look patterns. They don't go on sale. I don't pay full price for patterns. This pattern had been on my radar for a minute. When I saw it on sale at Joanns I snatched it up. I wanted to scream BINGO! Anywho......

I have wanted a striped outfit as well. I know I'm a big girl and big girls should stay away from big horizontal stripes but screw that. I want what I want.


Pattern: Nu Look 6648

Description: Women's Knit Tops

Size: 16

Did it look like the pattern envelope when you were done sewing it? No because I changed it a bit

Fabric: a 'sweatery' fabric with stretch in both directions

Were the instructions easy to follow? I didn't use them

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern? I need adult tops and this is one that doesn't look too juvenile but I am able to get the girls in them

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made? I blended views A and C. I wanted A's neckline but B's sleeves.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? Yes. And Yes. I'm already making plans. And I can see view D as a 'go to' for the summer

I made a skirt too, but the God said don't wear both together it's just too overpowering, and he says I look like I'm in a chain gang. LOL! What does he know?




Peace!!!!

Fashion Fantasies

Peace….

You what a fashion fantasy of mine is?… But will probably never happen? Make small new wardrobes every season. While discarding the previous seasons. So, make a brand new wardrobe (I suppose a SWAP) every season. I have a friend who kind of does this, but she buys a ‘new’ wardrobe from the thrift shops every season and donates it back when she gets her new one. That’s nasty.

You have seen those magazine articles that will have like 10 pieces that they mix and match and make 50-11 different combinations that look completely different? I would like to do that for fall and then spring seasons. If I did that then I could get my closet under control and not have a million pieces of this and that in there preventing me from getting dressed quicker. (Takes me FOREVER every morning. And laying out clothes the night before only works 50% of the time. I’ll change my mind while sleeping.) My home is about 14 years old so it has a walk-in closet, but not like the celebrities have with shelves and drawers and such. I tried to put a bookshelf in there for shoes, but it ain't that big of a closet. I got a Target brand shoe holder. I could have more space for accessories, jewelry, shoes and purses (Which I’m a go back too. I put myself on shoe-purse punishment but I’m about to go off….!) and I could fit that 3-way mirror in my closet like on “What Not to Wear” and a leopard print fluffy chair. I’d like to relax (having coffee or reading a book) in there. I'm thinking of painting it Hot Pink. But who paints a closet? But painting it would force me to take everything out of it and start over. We Shall see.

A perfect closet has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. As a child, I went to Catholic school and had few clothes outside of my uniform and 2 church dresses. But those additions would require me to downsize like a mug. Making a new wardrobes every season would keep me completely fashionably updated, satisfy my sewing addiction and get my charitable contributions on (since I stopped doing the church thing, I no longer have that donation statement at tax time). But what happens if I get lazy? Then I’d be naked. I don’t have that type of job.

Yeah …. That’s a pipe dream.

Another fantasy is to have a walk-in dressing ‘salon.’ When my 1st/late husband and I were considering purchasing a home in NJ, we looked at this one house that had this walk-in parlor. OMG! I want y’all to get this picture in your mental minds. This was an old house so these people remodeled. The master suite was originally 2 rooms that they combined. The bedroom was big and had a sitting/TV viewing area. Since it had a walk in close, there was no need for standard bedroom furniture. So there was a bed, plants, nightstands, bookshelves, and a fireplace separating the resting area from the lounging area that had a sofa, coffee table and TV.

This ‘parlor’ had windows. But… Because it had windows all the clothes were behind doors (My mother had a closet with windows and those windows allowed the sun to bleach her clothes!). You opened the French double doors from the bedroom and you’d find a hall that ended with a stained glass floor to ceiling window. There was one puffy chair and doors on both sides. Those side doors on the left opened to the wife’s clothing and the right doors opened to the husband’s. With both doors opened, it looked like a Macy’s showroom! There where shelves for shoes, drawers for accessories, shirts, pants, dress racks, purses, ties, EVERY-damn-THING. I get excited just thinking about it. Nothing was on the floor in front and behind the doors. The owners claimed to have ‘help’ that cleaned the closet floors weekly. The end doors had full length mirrors on the insides and flipped out in such a way that blocked the big window and could sort of 360* with them. And they had the nerve to have a pedestal in front of the window that you could stand on when the mirrors were out! That house was amazing on so many levels. And No, we couldn’t afford it but I wanted to look inside. That closet has been my inspiration closet since I saw it.

Would I like to have a closet like that? What do you think? But that desire wars with my crunchy philosophy of having a small wardrobe with only a few splurges outside of jewelry and accessories. So I remain torn. I would like to enter my closet in the morning naked, and emerge a beacon of classic and fashion forward hippiness. I would like my closet to be more organized, though. Looks like a bomb went off in there. And what of the chair and mirrors? I do have 2 of those cheap flat mirrors. But I haven’t figured how to rig them like a 360 yet. Maybe hang them from the back of the door and on the wall? And right now I could only fit a folding chair in there… Folded!

What are your fashion fantasies?

M6438 Revised.....

Good Morning Good People!


I am Friday Foster aka Pam Grier. I am doing a guest post on Serenity’s blog. She asked me to show off an outfit that I wore in my movie Friday Foster. And here it is…..

The blouse is from an out of print pattern that Serenity made last year. I just love a good “Pussy bow.” The skirt is a revision of M6438. She initially made them 10” wider because that’s what the envelope said to do. I told her she should be making muslins but she is sincerely hard headed. The jacket and boots she had. I think that was one of the reasons she wanted to recreate my outfit from the 1970’s. Either way, I gotta get back to fighting for the people I love, taking care of my little brother and showing off my boobies during intimate scenes.

Later!

M6394 - Epic FAIL

Peace Good People……

This weekend was Cray Cray! I worked all day on Friday; which I only do once a month. And I had a girls night out afterward. I finished my “Pam Grier: Friday Foster” skirt. I started a new class for girl babies on Saturday. More on that later in my “Serenity’s Cipher” blog. I attended a ghetto memorial service. Yes it was ghetto, but it was good ghetto. And I made M6394…. Out of all the things I did this weekend. M6394 sucked it, the hardest.

1st…. I need to accept that I lost weight. You see those people on “What Not to Wear” and they lose truck loads of weight yet still dress frumpy. I have always wondered why they do that. I would show off weight loss. But I ALWAYS cut the biggest size. I also measure, but always the biggest size. I learned with a that I don’t have to do that. But I’m always thinking bigger is better than smaller because I’ll be able to take it in. M6394 is not that dress.

2nd… I could only find 1 review of the dress. Not even on patternreview.com. And the dress looked horrendous on the author of the blog. She freely admitted it as well. Sometimes we sewists make ugly clothes because of the fabric we choose. So I chose something reserved like cream/brown. I chose the brown for the sides because I thought it would be slimming.

3rd… There are like a bazillion pieces to this pattern. It took an entire evening to get everything cut out. (An entire evening for me is 2 hours. 2 hours from the time I get home, I’m in bed asleep. And that includes cooking dinner!) If I had to cut it out the old way, I would not have tried to sew it up the same day. But thanks to my new toys, I was able to get it all cut out before breakfast. After the breakfast dishes were in the washer, the clothes were in the washing machine and the God was parked in front of the TV for Sunday football, I adjourned to the “sweatshop” to have my personal time.

4th… Because of the 2 different colors, it required a lot of thread/bobbin changes. I wanted to do this right. So I was changing them out with each panel. I actually wanted to wear M6394 to the ghetto memorial service. I was on the program. But…. That didn’t happen.

It turned out too big. Way too big. I cut a 20 (the biggest size). I also cut a D-cup. I have big boobies. Really big. The bodice for a D-cup was waaaaaay to plunging. Who does plunging for the buxom anyway? More proof the pattern is flawed. I didn’t do a FBA because I was (a) using a D-cup and (b) I made the dress out of knit. I followed the directions to a tee. I had too. I kept the pattern pieces with the cut out pieces just to make sure I was using the right piece at the right time. The directions gave no information about properly finishing the wide neckline. I, also, lengthened it 3 inches. Glad I did that because it would have been too short. LOL! And I’m short! It’s not like I’m going to wear it anyway. I won’t even put it on because it looks indecent. It looks better on the hanger than it does on me. Maybe I should have made it in an 18? Maybe a different fabric? I don’t know.

I doubt I will adjust it since I KNOW I’m not going to wear it. Thankfully I used knits that where in my stash. I don’t keep a big stash. But I had 1.5 yards of brown and 1.5 yards of cream fabric. My “stash” is really, “I changed my mind” fabric.

So there you have it…. A wadder… a failure that I dedicated 6 hours to. I ain’t mad. Lesson learned. All those different pieces were a challenge to assemble; like a puzzle. But I did it.

http://mccallpattern.mccall.com/m6394-products-14657.php?page_id=108

Peace

Concrete Gray 101

Peace,

This is my 1st time building on my nails. But I just love the polish so much I had to share…..

A month or so ago, I was watching HSN. Queen Latifah was showing her “Queen Collection.” I watched the entire 2 hours. Not because I wanted any of that stuff (I don’t), but because I fell mesmerized by the color on her nails. I was a gray that was creamy, not mat, not dark not light. I had never seen a color like it. It’s all I could talk about while it was on. I was even trying to snap pictures of it. I still have about a half an hour still on the DVR. Precise thinks I am crazy.

I set out to find that polish. My nail shop does not carry colors I like. And I usually bring my own polish in there unless I’m doing an American manicure. I wasn’t disappointed to find they didn’t have it. What completely shocked me was that I did manage to find the gray color but it was an OPI brand. That joint was $8.99. I ain’t paying that for nail polish. The nail tech heard my rant on the price and said…. If I went ahead and bought it, she would take the price off my service if I left it there. Unfortunately, we had a parting of company before I could take her up on that offer. I only want the manager to do my nails and if she is busy I am unwilling to let the other folks do them. They take too long and do a poor job. So…….

Mommie and I went shopping and I wanted to stop at this new beauty supply store. The store used to be a former JCP. I thought they would only be using a part of the store. Nope. They used the whole damned building!!!!! And it’s packed with more weave than I have ever seen in my life in one place. And I have seen a LOT of weave in my day. They had a big nail polish selection (how could they not?). And guess what I found? Yeah baby!!!! Kleancolor’s Concrete gray101. I’m happy as a fat kid with cake!

Why did the new nail tech try to steal my polish?




Peace!

M6438

Peace.

What? You feeling spoiled? I don’t post on the weekends. But that’s normally when I can do the work. Then when I get back to work, I post my thoughts. Who new I was going to have so many thoughts today?

We all know that you should never drive while drunk or even tipsy. You shouldn’t text while driving too. But did you know you shouldn’t sew while dieting?

Ok…. In the last build, I said I had been dieting. I lost 22lbs on the hCg diet. You can see it too. That was the promise of the diet. Weight loss you can see. Anywho…. The sewing urge got too strong to resist. I wanted to make something for me. M6438 fit the build.

Let me give you the back story on this…. I was watching some Pam Grier movie. And she was wearing a full circle beige skirt, a beige jacket, a green shirt with a pussy bow and some brown boots. Pam kicked ass in that outfit in that movie (I cannot remember which one, but I remember the outfit!). I want to kick ass too. I already own a beige corduroy jacket and the boots. I made the green blouse last year. All I need is the circle skirt. (Am I the only one that watches movies with a sketch pad?) That is where M6438 came in.

Now for the Bull….. I measured myself around the waist. That is the part that would determine size for me. Even though it broke my heart, I needed to add 10 inches to the waist for the garment to fit… ACORDING TO THE JACK LEGGED DIRECTIONS!!!!! And with tears in my eyes, I did. Size ain’t nothing but a number, right? Also, the dress needed to be cut on the bias. More Bull. I had 4 yards of 45” beige corduroy. This shouldn’t be a problem for 1 skirt right? AND I shortened the dress 10”. I’m not tall but I needed the skirt to still be appropriately long. Y’all know I have rules and regulations with regards to my dress.

I ran out of fabric. It was that bias cutting. That was a complete waste of fabric. The quilt pile is lousy with beige corduroy now. ***Deep Breath*** I get another yard and a ½ (y’all lucky I had a coupon!) and finish cutting my dress.

I have never had a garment come together so easily. I did not have to pull out “oh ye seam ripper” once. It went together in 30 minutes. I let is hang overnight before I hemmed it. I don’t really know why. But somewhere, sometime, someone told me to do that. I hemmed it in the morning. I wanted to wear my Pam Grier outfit to the Parliament. The easiest machine hem I ever did. Once all the way around. I never even ran out of bobbin thread. Even the button holes were ez-pz.

Guess what. The damn skirt is too big. By about 10 inches! Now I know I lost 22lbs. But I know I didn’t lose 22lb from my waist. I took before and after measurements. My waist went down about 5”. And I cut that skirt while dieting; not before. That joker should have fit. You know what that tells me? That the envelope lies. If the envelope lies then why even bother with it? I suppose they are in cohoots with the fabric industry forcing folks to do muslins or get wadders. I could have cut it as is at the biggest size and been fine…. Busters! Now I’m a have to take my dress completely apart, cut 8” off of it and re sew it. All that easiness I experienced will in vain.

My plan is to take the waistband off, then cut the middle seam 4”. That saves me from having to rip the front and back and remove the zipper. That’s where I added the extra in the 1st place. The waist band will have to be recut. Shortening it will throw off the dimensions. Good thing I have all that extra fabric.

Y’all know I have recently in the last few years come around to patterns. They aren’t free and they aren’t cheap. They need to not lie. If it says it fits a waist of a certain inch, them damnit it should fit that! I ain’t happy. I should have been able to wear this outfit this week. It literally falls off when I put it on. And that is the reason why there is no picture of said skirt on me.

All in all.... I don't hate the design of the skirt. Now that I know how it does me, I will make the needed adjustments. I actually want a loose skirt in jersey knit for a road trip I'm planning in the future.



Peace