[00:00:00] Lisa Woolfork: Hello, stitchers. Welcome to stitch, please. The official podcast of black women's stitch, the sewing group, where black lives matter. I'm your host Lisa wool fork. I'm a fourth generation sewing enthusiast with more than 20 years of sewing experience. I am looking forward to today's conversation. So sit back, relax, and get ready to get your stitch together.
[00:00:54] Lisa Woolfork: Welcome everybody to the stitch, please podcast the official podcast of [00:01:00] black women's stitch, the sewing group where black lives matter. And I know I say this every week, whenever I talk to someone, but I also, once again really mean it. This time I am on the line with Pamela. PR Pamela Hinton. Predo, am I saying your name properly?
[00:01:18] Lisa Woolfork: Proto proto, Pamela proto, like proto proto, um, who is the owner of Emerald curtain fabrics. This is a custom fabric company. And we're gonna talk about custom fabrics, especially because Pamela's fabrics. Something that I'm really drawn to is her commitment to centering images of black girls and black folks in her work.
[00:01:43] Lisa Woolfork: She also covers a lot of other issues that could be rela related to questions of diversity and inclusion. Um, the things that I'm really drawn to are how humorous her designs are some of the irreverence, um, of her designs and just some of the beautiful blackness that we [00:02:00] see come through her work. So Pamela, thank you so much for being here and for joining us.
[00:02:04] Lisa Woolfork: Thank you for having me. So let's just get started with a question I ask many people is how did you get started? Sewing? How long have you been sewing? Um, and what kind of things do you like to make?
[00:02:15] Pamela: So I started sewing when I was 16. Um, my sisters actually took sewing, um, in high school and won state competitions. And, um, they worked actually sewing one of their classes. They would get to leave and, and go sew at Springs industries and I would see them making things. And I was always really impressed. So when I got into high school, I took two semesters of a clothing and textile course, and that's how I learned to sew.
[00:02:47] Pamela: Um, so I'm 40 now. So that was a really long time ago. I've been sewing off and on since then. Um, I like making clothing. I also enjoy making [00:03:00] handbags. Um, but I typically make clothing in handbags. uh, that about that's about it.
[00:03:05] Lisa Woolfork: Think that's fantastic. So I know that spring industries is a, is that a large fabric company? Like what, tell us about what is spring industries? I, I, the name sounds very familiar and I keep thinking about it in terms of seeing it in printed on certain fabric manufacturers. But so tell me about spring industries. And first of all, anything that would allow me to like leave school during the day would probably be something I would want to do.
[00:03:30] Lisa Woolfork: um, so let's tell more about that.
[00:03:33] Pamela: Springs, actually, it's unfortunate. They're closed now where I live in our community. They're not around anymore, but they do. They make fabric. So on the salvage of your fabric, you may see Springs, but they make a lot of sheets and pillowcase. Also a lot of wash cloths and towels.
[00:03:50] Pamela: If you look, it'll say Springs and before the textile industry kind of crashed in the us, that was the, the big, um, [00:04:00] That was a part, a huge part of our labor market, where I live. Um, so yeah, my sisters would leave school and they'd go and they'd sew for Springs, um, and earn a little bit of money and also get to miss school.
[00:04:10] Lisa Woolfork: Wow. That's fantastic. I mean, I feel like there's a lot of ways that you can incentivize kids to sew. Um, but for some kids, like being able, just to like walk out of the school doors and go do something else for a little while is an important part of a practical education. Um, so I think that's really cool. And, and so it's funny that your sisters had that experience sewing for Springs. And did you end up doing the same thing? Was that available to you by the time you started it?
[00:04:37] Pamela: Wasn't by the time I started that wasn't available,
[00:04:39] Lisa Woolfork: Well, I guess I'm imagining like an interesting cross between like child labor and internships , um, and, and unpaid paid internships.
[00:04:49] Lisa Woolfork: You know what I mean? I'm just like, Hmm. I think it's a wonderful program though. I can totally see how someone, I, I could totally see how some companies, I'm not saying Springs. Of course. Yeah. Um, could like take [00:05:00] advantage, you know? Um, and by that I speak of myself. I did hire some high school students to help me, um, organize my pattern collection.
[00:05:07] Lisa Woolfork: Um, it was a very extensive project. I think I had them over for maybe. Six weekends or something. They CA they just lived in the neighborhood. So just come right, right across the street. I've known them all since they were little. Um, but I paid everybody and it was still a lot of work. Um, and so, you know, young people are very enthusiastic, you know, and you pay them and you get, make them cookies.
[00:05:28] Lisa Woolfork: And they're like happy to do the most boring things ever. Absolutely. Um, eat 'em and give them money. They're happy, feed them and money. Well, you know what real talk, feed me and give me some money. I'll do some ball rush shit too, you know, I mean, I'm not gonna pretend like I'm above it all, cuz I am certainly not.
[00:05:45] Lisa Woolfork: Um, so let's talk about Emerald cur fabrics. How did you come up with that name? I'm looking at the logo and I think maybe it's related to the Wiz or the wizard of Oz. Yeah. Um, but tell me, tell me more about how you came to that. Oh
[00:05:59] Pamela: gosh, [00:06:00] coming up with a name was so stressful. I, um, I tee back and forth between, do I want a very, um, Afrocentric name or something that defines me as a black woman, um, to going to, well, maybe not and you know, just not being sure.
[00:06:18] Pamela: So what I ended up doing was deciding I'm gonna name this, something that I love, it's gonna be related to something that I love. And, um, the wizard of Oz is, has, has, and is, um, An important movie to me. And it, it sounds a little silly, but I'll, I'll give you the backstory on it, please. Um, and a lot of people know this and some don't, but I had a really, um, difficult childhood.
[00:06:45] Pamela: I, you know, my parents did not make a lot of money. You know, there was a lot of poverty. Um, sometimes our electricity wasn't on, you know, so I grew up in a, an unstable household. My dad was a drug. [00:07:00] Um, and as a kid, that movie was kind of my outlet. I watched the wizard of Oz over and over again. I learned all the songs.
[00:07:10] Pamela: I would write down the lyrics. I would write down what they're saying. I was just, so it was just an outlet for me as a child. And as an adult, I've learned that many children who come from, um, unstable households will latch onto a cartoon or a movie as a way of escaping. And so that's what I was doing.
[00:07:31] Pamela: They didn't realize it then, but that's what I was doing. And to this day, I own that, that Blueray, I owned the Blueray of the wizard of Oz and I still watch it sometimes because it just brings back, you know, fond memories for me. And so I ended up getting into, uh, wicked and all of the different, um, there's different books written about the characters.
[00:07:54] Pamela: Like there's one written about the Cowley lion and his. Story and I started that's right. Yeah. They're so [00:08:00] good. They're so good. I started getting into that and I saw wicked. I went to see it and I was just so impressed. And then there is behind the Emerald curtain, which is all about the making of wicked.
[00:08:12] Lisa Woolfork: Oh my gosh. I didn't know that. Okay. Amazing. Yeah. So
[00:08:15] Pamela: that's where I got the name from. I said, well, I don't wanna name any wizard of Oz or anything related to Emerald city, but behind the Emerald curtain, I was like, I love that. So Emeral curtain fabric is the
[00:08:26] Lisa Woolfork: name that I came up with. That's really wonderful because what I, what I hear in your story is that you were able to connect in a really meaningful and self therapeutic way.
[00:08:40] Lisa Woolfork: Even before we had the vocabulary talk about a kind of therapeutic or a coping mechanism or whatever, you were able to care for yourself by. Kind of in some ways going behind the Emerald curtain kind of right. Absolutely. By like immersing yourself in the wizard of Oz. Yeah. Um, and developing an early [00:09:00] fandom about the transformative properties.
[00:09:02] Lisa Woolfork: So I think that's, I think in some ways the wizard of Oz is a really classic hero's journey, you know? Um, you know, I think that's how the story is often described and how each person kind of already had what they were looking for inside themselves, you know? Yeah. And so it's just a really powerful reminder of how we become who we are and that we all have such powerful and great potential.
[00:09:27] Lisa Woolfork: And you're still thriving there. You know what I mean? And so not only is this like a self-healing thing for you, you have then transformed. Into something that other people can use to, you know, to celebrate themselves, to create, to build. I mean, it's really a beautiful, it's really a beautiful story. Um, and I'm just, I'm so glad to know this very rich background, you know?
[00:09:53] Lisa Woolfork: Um, so, and do you have those flying monkeys on your, on your, on your curtains? [00:10:00] Because I think that everybody can agree objectively that those things are scary as all hell. I love the, and um, I dunno, um, why whatever was going on in the mind of Frank Baum, you know, I don't know if he was dropping acid. I don't know what would make him think of such a thing to terrorize children with.
[00:10:17] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. Um, but maybe he had some traumas of his own that he was working out because, um, Terrifying. Absolutely. I love the
[00:10:25] Pamela: flying monkeys. Even as a kid, I was like flying monkeys. Oh my gosh. That's so incredible.
[00:10:30] Lisa Woolfork: oh my goodness. And so tell us about when you decided to create your custom fabric work. So, and before, what, what, what was some of the, the things that motivated you to do this yourself?
[00:10:41] Lisa Woolfork: Um, and we are gonna talk later, um, y'all about like the custom fabric world, because if you are, if you, if you have only purchased fabric from fabric stores or from online vendors of fabric stores, like larger, big box places, you might not realize that there is an entire. Custom [00:11:00] fabric world. And I am not exaggerating when I say this is a world.
[00:11:05] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. And they have its it has its own vocabularies. It has multiple communities. Um, it has even like a policing agency. I would say with that group called free speech yeah. On Facebook, which I have never in life ever once entered, like I refuse. I oh have, oh no. Ma'am oh no. Ma'am look, look at here. I have enough stress in my daily life.
[00:11:32] Lisa Woolfork: I need to be fooling with these people like that and all the games and all the drama. Oh my gosh. No ma'am no, ma'am don't speak on free speech for just a second though. Yes, please. So I hear this a
[00:11:45] Pamela: lot. I get that response from people about free speech. And honestly, for someone like you, you may not benefit as much from free speech.
[00:11:55] Pamela: But when I first joined and this kind of ties into your question about how I got [00:12:00] started when I, I started back sewing, um, I think it was three years ago, two or three years ago. I started getting back into sewing out their break and. Um, free speech was one of the groups that a friend of mine added me to,
[00:12:15] Lisa Woolfork: and I,
[00:12:16] Pamela: I have kind of a love, hate relationship with free speech and just like anything there's good and there's bad, you know, is there drama and unnecessary drama on free speech?
[00:12:25] Pamela: Absolutely. You know, that's everywhere, but I have learned so much on free speech about, um, and, and even as a black woman about my own community, how marginalized we are, I've learned about, um, ableism. I didn't know what that was until I joined free speech. I didn't know how the puzzle piece was offensive to, um, the autistic community until I joined free speech.
[00:12:50] Pamela: Um, so I I've learned so much from there. So I use free speech as a way to gather that useful information and weed out the rest [00:13:00] of the information. That's not helpful, but if I hadn't been in that group, I wouldn't know the things that I do today. So I credit free speech
[00:13:07] Lisa Woolfork: with that. That's, that's a really good way to look at it that you're able to kind of Winow and sift through.
[00:13:13] Lisa Woolfork: And what is the full title of that group? Patricia? I think it's like, I know people, the shorthand y'all is free speech, but it's, it's, something's something like free speech for custom it's free speech
[00:13:25] Pamela: patterns and. Fabric edition. I think
[00:13:28] Lisa Woolfork: that's what, yes. So this is a forum on Facebook where people can go and pretty much say because it's quote free speech can say pretty much anything they want.
[00:13:39] Lisa Woolfork: about, um, usually usually it's small businesses, right? Small pattern companies. Yes. Small fabric companies. No one is going in there to bitch about Joanne's, you know, you can bitch about Joanne's anywhere Joanne's does not care. If you don't like Joanne's right, right. But you know, if you are a small business, if you are a small [00:14:00] pattern maker, if you are, you know, a small business owner, you really do care about your reputation.
[00:14:05] Lisa Woolfork: So I have certainly heard folks say that they are in free speech because they wanna make sure that their own name doesn't come up. And so if their name, if their name comes up, they're like, oh shit, let me go see what's happening. Oh, okay. Fine. That's fine. That's fine. That's not, it does, you know, and also as if,
[00:14:22] Pamela: if you own a small business, that's gonna involve the sewing community.
[00:14:25] Pamela: It's a very good place to be, because not only you wanna hear, if your name comes up, but you need to know what's happening in the community. You know, these are the people you want to be your customers. And if you don't understand the dynamics of the fabric community, then you're not gonna be successful.
[00:14:42] Lisa Woolfork: That is, that is an excellent point. And so what happens in this group? Again? This is all because I, I have chosen to opt out um, I think that my project is a very different project. I'm not so much trying to kind of secure [00:15:00] customers, um, or even listeners really. I mean, I feel like I put out what I think is valuable, important.
[00:15:05] Lisa Woolfork: I'm very clear and transparent that the purpose of this podcast is to center black women, girls, and fems and sewing. And that's what I do every week. Um, and so that's the overall project and. And so I can't really think right now off the top of my head, how I might benefit from the participation in the free speech group.
[00:15:26] Lisa Woolfork: Um, other than, you know, because I, I just, I don't know. And I really do have a lot of other stressors, so I will I continue to just say, you know, everyone's not gonna like me. I'm not for everybody. I'm not a brownie. I'm not gonna be universally loved by all, you know, everybody loves brownies in my opinion.
[00:15:44] Lisa Woolfork: um, and so I'm not that that's okay. Um, but I do love the idea of thinking about this as a form of research, as well as participating in a really robust way in a larger community. Um, and I can say I did not need to, I [00:16:00] don't need to join a group and I'm pretty sure you didn't either to know that the sewing community is racist and, um, and homophobic and has a lot of problematic social.
[00:16:12] Lisa Woolfork: Aspects to it that come with living in a white supremacist, patriarchal capitalist society. Yeah. You know, none of that is news to me. That's actually my day job. That's what I do for my day job. Right. So I, I got
[00:16:22] Pamela: all that. I got it. Yeah. That's why I don't think you would probably wouldn't benefit as much, but some people, you know, when I first came in the sewing committee, I didn't know that.
[00:16:30] Pamela: And, and that's how I learned.
[00:16:33] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I talk about this a lot as sewing with the whites, um, and, and so much so that my kids think that like the whites as like an actual person, like her person is named Mrs. White and mama, doesn't like to do sewing with the whites. Yeah. Um, you know, I mean, I do some collaborative stuff, you know, but.
[00:16:54] Lisa Woolfork: You know, but the purpose of, you know, personally, but the, the purpose of this project of this podcast is [00:17:00] to make deliberate choices, to be a counter-narrative right? Yeah. To go against that, which we already know to make an intervention in this community and to let people know that we are here and we are here, not because we wanna seat at the table, I am not, you know what, I've been seated at a whole lot of tables, you know, I would much rather have a table that is where I don't have to fight for a seat.
[00:17:25] Lisa Woolfork: You know, I, I don't need to be way down at the end and somebody, you know what I mean? I don't, I don't, I don't need that. I'm not interested in that instead. I'm building my own table. Yeah. Um, and building my own community, which is what you have done. So splendidly, I think with Emerald curtain fabrics, I really feel like you are create and, and you and other black women, um, custom fabric designers and manufacturers and businesses have really taken the risk to say, you know what?
[00:17:55] Lisa Woolfork: This might make some people uncomfortable. [00:18:00] But I don't care about that. What I care about is making myself and my folks comfortable, you know, the comfort and happiness and joy of black sewists is important and worth celebrating and preserving. Absolutely. And that's something that I just, so that's something I really love about your work.
[00:18:23] Lisa Woolfork: So we're gonna take a, just a little short break. Um, and we, when we come back, we'll talk about some of the vocabularies of custom fabrics and to hear from Pamela, what some of her favorite designs are. I will, I already have one or two favorite designs, um, that she's done, but I wanna hear the ones that she likes so much.
[00:18:41] Lisa Woolfork: So stay tuned
[00:18:55] Lisa Woolfork: here. It's please. The official podcast of black Lu
[00:18:58] Pamela: stitch. We talk a
[00:18:59] Lisa Woolfork: [00:19:00] lot about sewing, but if you want to see and not just hear about some of the things we've been discussing, feel free to join us on the socials. You can find us at. Stitch please on Facebook. And you can also find us on Instagram at black women's stitch.
[00:19:18] Lisa Woolfork: You can find photos of projects that we've been working on. Really interesting social commentary and on Thursdays at 3:00 PM Eastern standard time, you can join black women's stitch for a live Instagram chat. Again, that's every Thursday at 3:00 PM. So find us on the socials. Follow up with us. We are happy to hear your direct messages.
[00:19:41] Lisa Woolfork: You can reach out to us at the black women's stitch page on Instagram, and we'll help you get your stitch together.
[00:19:52] Lisa Woolfork: I am back and I'm talking with Pamela predo of the Emerald curtain fabric. And we [00:20:00] as promised, we're gonna talk a little bit about the world of custom fabrics and some of the vocabulary that you hear. If you again, have only purchased fabric at a fabric store, um, if you've never, um, purchased fabric through a custom.
[00:20:14] Lisa Woolfork: Knit. When I first introduced was introduced to this world, it was custom knit fabrics. Um, and there was so much that I did not know. I didn't know so many things. I didn't know what a pre-order was. I didn't know what a round was. I didn't know what a strike off was. I didn't know the difference between pre-order and retail.
[00:20:34] Lisa Woolfork: I, I was like, okay. So I gave somebody some money on a and then I signed up on a Google. Spreadsheet. And now I just have to hope that they give me some fabric. like, um, is this like, what is all of this? You know, what is spam? You know, like, what is this, what is spam me with ideas? And I'm like, I thought people didn't like spam.
[00:20:57] Lisa Woolfork: Like, I don't know, people are asking for it [00:21:00] now, what is this? So can you just tell us a little bit about how the custom fabric, um, protocols are? You know, just in general, you don't have to go into too much detail because y'all, I did do an episode about this last October, October of 2019. Um, And so I will include a link to that in this week's show notes.
[00:21:20] Lisa Woolfork: So you can listen to that episode about all the details, but what, how does it work? Like how basically would you describe the procedures of custom fabric and purchasing it as being different from just going to the store and buying some fabric? Pamela? Yeah, it's definitely
[00:21:34] Pamela: different. It's um, so custom fabric I operate by offering what's called a pre-order and a pre-order is a certain amount of time or days I'm gonna give where customers can go onto my website and they can order fabric.
[00:21:51] Pamela: Typically, my pre-orders run two weeks. I try to run 'em 14 days. And during those 14 days, I have a [00:22:00] team of SOS that we call strike off SOS, who. So the fabric for me to preview to customers. And I hold my team in high regard, because without them, none of this would be possible, literally none of this. So during those 14 days, my team they've already sewn up their garments with the fabric that I'm offering.
[00:22:22] Pamela: And they go to different Facebook groups, Instagram groups, and they promote what they're wearing. Hey, I made this, um, I use this pattern and people say, oh, that fabric's beautiful. Where can I get it? Oh, you can get it at your cur and fabric. They have a pre-order open and they usually provide a link. So during those 14 days that's happening and people are going, coming to the website and they're ordering on that 14th day.
[00:22:46] Pamela: That is the last day that you can order any of the fabric I'm offering in that pre-order, after that day, I close it down. So you can go to my website and pre-order, and behind the scenes, I am. Tallying how much fabric [00:23:00] was ordered and providing that to my fabric printer. So my fabric printer gets that order and they start printing the fabric.
[00:23:08] Pamela: And that can take up to 12 weeks depending on how large the order is and their own timelines for printing. And, um, they contact me, let me know your order's done. And it typically ships to me like 24 hours. They tell me that day, sometimes the next
[00:23:23] Lisa Woolfork: day. It's on my
[00:23:25] Pamela: doorstep. Wow. Yeah, it's really kind of, it's very quick.
[00:23:29] Pamela: So I get the fabric and I might get, you know, 300, 400 yards of fabric and I have to process that fabric. So what I do is I open it. I am cutting the fabric. I am, you know, making sure there's no, um, flaws and that the fabric is of quality. And I then cut it into whatever yardage was ordered during the pre-order and I ship it to customers.
[00:23:54] Pamela: So the difference is you are paying ahead of time for your product, and then you have to [00:24:00] wait for that fabric to be
[00:24:01] Lisa Woolfork: delivered to. And so can you tell me a bit more about when you say you get 300 yards or 400 yards of fabric? For example, I kind of think that I currently own 300 yards of fabric in my sewing room right now.
[00:24:15] Lisa Woolfork: That is what I think, I know I have said this on a recorded platform, so I'm sure someone's gonna throw it back in my face again, just like when I told Carolyn that I really like sewing hams, which I do, I have quite a few sewing hams and people have continued to ask me how many hams do you have? And it's like, well, I'm not telling you because I don't know if this is a judgment free zone or not.
[00:24:36] Lisa Woolfork: Um, but the, when I think about 300 yards of fabric coming to your. Right. Mm-hmm I, I know we, I know you've probably seen those memes that say, I've said like of a ups truck and it's like, you know, oh, here, my fabric order is here and it's like the entire ups truck, but that's closer to being true for you.
[00:24:56] Lisa Woolfork: I mean, I can only imagine like how tall these things are. Is [00:25:00] it rolls? I'm thinking it's not coming broken down on eight yard bolts. Like we see at Joanne do these must be like, Giant giant roles. It might be as tall as you are, you know, like how does, how does that work? Like rolling out fabric. That might be the size of a carpet roll rather than a regular fabric bowl.
[00:25:18] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah, it is the size of a
[00:25:19] Pamela: carpet roll and, and sometimes, you know, laughingly refer to it as a body bag, you know, it's, it is longer a little bit, I'm almost six feet tall. It's a little bit longer than me. And it's, it is like a carpet roll and they are really heavy. Um, 300 yards of fabric. You know, my fabric group is small.
[00:25:37] Pamela: It's growing, but it's small is, is small compared to some of the larger groups who are getting thousands of yards at a time. Um, but you know, I process everything on my own. I, I cut it all. When you get fabric from me, I have done everything from putting your postage on the envelope, you know, I don't. Have my family help cuz I can't when I'm cutting my yardage, I'm too specific about it has to be done a [00:26:00] certain way.
[00:26:00] Pamela: So I can't rele relinquish hold of that. So I literally cut every piece of fabric, um, myself. So what I do is we get these huge roles and I have, um, I have two huge industrial tables that I have put together. That I unroll all the fabric on. I unroll everything first and those roles may have cotton, like, or cotton woven, French chair.
[00:26:20] Pamela: It's all mixed up sometimes. Right? Which roll? Yes. So I unroll all the fabric and then the next thing I do is I start cutting it, um, based on what the print is, because it's not separated, you know, it'll be connected to a, a different print. So, um, I cut them into prints and then I fold them on the grain.
[00:26:41] Pamela: Um, that makes it easier when I'm cutting to make sure that you're getting the yardage that you're supposed to get if it's on the grain. So I, I make sure it's folded on the grain and I roll the fabric
[00:26:50] Lisa Woolfork: up. And
[00:26:51] Pamela: then later, once everything's enrolls, that's when I then, um, pull it and start cutting, you know, oh, you ordered a yard.
[00:26:59] Pamela: Oh, [00:27:00] you ordered two yards. I then unroll it. And since I already have it rolled on the grain, it makes it easier for me. I unroll, I have an electric cutter that I use and, um, I have a T ruler that goes the, the width of my table. And so it's kind of like when you're cutting with your rotary cut cutter and you have your, uh, yeah.
[00:27:20] Pamela: That's what that ruler does. I can basically cut right next to it with my electric cutter to keep it in place. And, uh, I cut my yardage like that.
[00:27:29] Lisa Woolfork: That's that's incredible. So like your electric cutter, is it like electric scissors or is it something else more like a table saw type it's a table saw, it looks like a table.
[00:27:38] Lisa Woolfork: Oh, my gosh, you can use a table song fabric. No, I don't need to know this information. Yes, you do. Yeah. A lot
[00:27:44] Pamela: of people use it to cut their
[00:27:45] Lisa Woolfork: fabric girl, please I'll end up chopping off my pinky finger. They'll be like, what happened to your didn't? You used to have 10 fingers. It's like, well, I used to have 10 fingers and I talked to Pamela Laredo on my podcast and now I only have, I have
[00:27:57] Pamela: nine and a half now we put
[00:27:59] Lisa Woolfork: battle scar it's [00:28:00] okay.
[00:28:00] Lisa Woolfork: I suppose, I suppose. Um, so this is helping me to understand too. One of the questions that I think you said you might get a lot is, or help people to understand if they are familiar with the custom fabric world, or if they're not at all and they go to try, this fabric is more expensive than the fabric you will see at a Joanne fabrics or.
[00:28:23] Lisa Woolfork: Almost any other like brick and mortar fabric retailer, except for maybe fine fabrics, you know, finer couture type fabrics. Um, I know places like mood and B and J have fabrics that are up within the, that are, that sell for hundreds of hundreds of dollars per yard. Um, but most folks aren't used to seeing, um, fabrics that cost what custom fabrics did, what custom fabrics cost.
[00:28:47] Lisa Woolfork: And so you mentioned pre-order and something that I was confused by was the difference between pre-order and retail as terms. So can you talk a little bit about, um, what happens between pre-order and retail? [00:29:00]
[00:29:00] Pamela: Yes. So, oh, I'm actually between pre-order and retail right now. So that would be easy for me to explain to you.
[00:29:05] Pamela: So what, how I, what I do, because I. Offer retail, um, as well as pre-order I recently finished cutting up and shipping out my fabric for pre-order the last round when people pre-ordered that's been shipped out. And now what I have left over is going to be offered as retail and retail is where once you order from the website, I literally pack in usually that day or the next day and ship it out immediately.
[00:29:30] Pamela: There's no wait time retail is a little more expensive than preor pre-order is too. So a benefit of pre-order is you get that kind of reduced price. Um, but I don't offer retail. I have to wait to offer retail. I wanna make sure that all the fabric that I ship to my customers who pre-order has been shipped and received with no issues, because if say a customer gets their fabric and.
[00:29:54] Pamela: A huge flaw on it. I will have to go to what, you know, the fabric that I have available and send them new [00:30:00] fabric. So before I sell any of that fabric as retail, I want, I make sure that my pre-order customers are taken care of first. So once that happens, I will open retail and I'll post what I have on the website and you can order it and it will be shipped to you pretty much the next.
[00:30:15] Lisa Woolfork: So the, so one of the advantages of retail is that, you know, you know exactly, you know, that it's, it's, there it'll ship much quicker. You don't have to wait the, the up to 12 weeks for the fabric to arrive. But one of the disadvantages is that you will be, you will pay more for this. And so I love what I'm hearing is that you're saying you don't.
[00:30:35] Lisa Woolfork: Order extra fabric for retail. You wanna make sure that you have enough fabric to cover the people who pre-ordered. So I think pre-order, it seems more beneficial because not only does it help you make whatever minimums that you might need in order for the, um, the round of fabric to be published, it also gives the customer a benefit of paying a little bit less for something really impressive, um, which you can't get [00:31:00] anywhere else.
[00:31:00] Lisa Woolfork: And so that'll, that's that gives us a chance to transition to, um, we talked about again about the pre-order and about why this fabric is more expensive. Is there anything else you wanna add to explain? I mean, I feel like somebody who was hauling off 300 yards of fabric and cutting it by hand is certainly going to need to charge more than someone, um, who is not doing that.
[00:31:24] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. Um, but are there other elements that make custom fabric more expensive?
[00:31:30] Pamela: Yes. There, there are a few other, I would. Others. I'd like to mention the first being that custom fabric is of a higher quality than the fabric you will get if you go into a Joanne's and buy fabric. So, um, you know, the cotton LIR, for example, is one of the more popular base people buy Joanne's has what they call doodles.
[00:31:51] Pamela: Um, it shrinks a lot when you bring that fabric home, it's not as thick. It it's not as, as good to work with. The [00:32:00] custom fabric that I have in cotton. Lira is very little shrinkage. It's very thick. It's high quality. The prints are vibrant. So that is another reason why the cost is more because you're getting a higher quality product that's gonna last longer.
[00:32:13] Pamela: The second reason is because behind the scenes, you know, we have, uh, as a small business owner, we have the expenses of my team that sews for me, I don't require them to pay for their fabric. So I have to provide, you know, they're providing a service to me to, to go out and show the world their makes with my fabric and in return, I don't require them to pay for the fabric.
[00:32:35] Pamela: So there's some behind the scene costs that go into being able to provide custom
[00:32:39] Lisa Woolfork: fabric. And I imagine that you kind of need to pay yourself. I imagine that, you know, that I think particularly when you're starting out any nude endeavor, there's a lot of times where folks don't get a salary, you know, like, you know, people who start a restaurant and have friends who have a restaurant and for the first two years they didn't pay themselves.
[00:32:57] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. Um, you know, they pay their employees, but they didn't pay [00:33:00] themselves. You know, I don't pay myself yet. Not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Most of my, and also
[00:33:05] Pamela: I'm glad you said that though, because. All the money I get back is going into artwork. I hire black artists, um, to create, you know, what you see on the fabric is being created by an artist.
[00:33:20] Pamela: Um, so I, you know, sometimes I do use stock art, but, um, I always in every round have custom items that I have paid in artists to create. So there's a cost involved with that
[00:33:30] Lisa Woolfork: as well. And, and I think that, I think that between the physical labor, um, of the, of the custom fabric management, that you're doing, the intellectual labor, that you are ethically compensating, somebody for, you know, this intellectual labor, this artist who's creating this kind of creative special work.
[00:33:49] Lisa Woolfork: That's only for you and only for your customers. I think that. Cost money, you know? And so I, I think that that's really a wonderful thing to [00:34:00] remind us of is that this all is, you know, in the same way that you are putting your hands, like every step of the way to the wheel of this project, you know, you are really making it happen.
[00:34:11] Lisa Woolfork: And if it wasn't for you would not be happening, you know, so too, this is part of a larger, very complicated network, um, of work that it means it's gonna be different. It's not gonna be $9. It's just not, you know, it's right. It's just not. Um, so let's talk about some of the, the art, because I think for me, that's where I see such an affinity between my project here at black women's stitch and the stitch please podcast, and the work that you're doing with your custom fabric line.
[00:34:41] Lisa Woolfork: Um, and so can you tell us about the round you have out, right. The round, the upcoming round, the upcoming round, the one that, so one of the days you said the, was it April 21st, April
[00:34:51] Pamela: 21st. I'm so excited. Yes. April 21st is when, um, this is my sixth round is opening and there's so much [00:35:00] beautiful art. Um, I am really excited about, I have some artwork, which, you know, she's gonna give you the links, but you'll see there, um, are two beautiful black girls in the art and they are definitely some of my favorite.
[00:35:15] Pamela: I've been holding this art since, before I opened last. April to, um, to offer it. And my favorite thing about this art is their hair, because they're such a huge part of, for black women. You know, when black children growing up and their hair looks like our hair, I black children will see themselves reflected in these little girls.
[00:35:42] Pamela: And it is just
[00:35:42] Lisa Woolfork: gorgeous. They're gorgeous. It really is. I'm looking at one right now with glasses and she's, I think she's sitting on the floor holding two little Teddy, two little bunnies or something. It's hair love
[00:35:55] Pamela: H a R E
[00:35:56] Lisa Woolfork: hair. Love. Oh, my gosh, you [00:36:00] know, I love a pun. I really love puns so much. Oh. And look at her with her, like, look, she has like a yellow jacket.
[00:36:08] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. You can see some of these images. If you go to, um, the Emel curtain fabric, Facebook page, um, this episode is going to air Pamela on the 22nd of April, which is next week. We're recording. You know, I record ahead of time. Y'all y'all know how busy I am. so, um, but that means that basically what we're doing today.
[00:36:30] Lisa Woolfork: Coinciding perfectly with the round of fabric that opened yesterday. So if you're listening to this episode, now you will be able to go to Pamela's website and look at this fabric for yourself and put in your pre-orders. Um, what, how many, what, how many bases do you tend to offer and by basis? I mean, I know, you know, this Pamela, but base is another word in the custom fabric world, which means type of fabric.
[00:36:56] Lisa Woolfork: So you could have the same design on cotton Lyra on [00:37:00] swim on Liverpool, on all these different types. What types of fabric do you offer? So
[00:37:06] Pamela: I'll be offering cotton Lyra, bamboo Lyra. French cherry cotton woven, which is quilting, cotton, um, swim. I will be adding cotton lawn, which will be another woven option.
[00:37:21] Pamela: If you don't want the, um, quilting, cotton,
[00:37:24] Lisa Woolfork: Minky and double Minky. Oh my gosh. What is double Minky? double Minky is where it's meat
[00:37:31] Pamela: on both sides and it has stretch to it. It feels wonderful. It's also known as plush. I think. Um, that's what Joanne's calls it. And some places calls it fluff, but it's like super thick and warm it's it feels luxurious.
[00:37:45] Lisa Woolfork: Oh, my gosh. That sounds like a nice thing. Thinking about for fall. Yeah. Um, yeah. Oh, that is so cool. Okay. Yeah. People make leggings with it. It's it's it feels really good. Oh, okay. Okay. This is very exciting. so what are some [00:38:00] of the art images that you have most loved? If you had to pick the top three images of Emerald curtain fabrics.
[00:38:08] Lisa Woolfork: Now you said you were on your sixth round yes. Of fabric now. So if you had to go back and pick the top three. What would they be? The ones that you love the most, that really kind of reflect? Um, you know, when you look at this, you're like, yes, I did it. I got it. Nailed it. This is, this is what we are about.
[00:38:27] Pamela: Um, mother Africa is one of my favorites. That's from round one, which is the image of the black woman in her hair is in the shape
[00:38:34] Lisa Woolfork: of Africa. I have that one. I love, yeah. I bought that one, a small, the small
[00:38:41] Pamela: panel makes a mask and when it opens up, you can see her whole face it's it's. It's wonderful. So that, oh my gosh, um, everything is everything, which was, uh, I think two rounds ago, which has all the different black women.
[00:38:55] Pamela: Um, I don't know if you remember that one.
[00:38:58] Lisa Woolfork: I think I did get this one. Was this, it, [00:39:00] it was kind of like lots of different women. Like they were kind of doing different things. Yes. It's like a graffiti scene of like yes, like . Yes. Yeah.
[00:39:08] Pamela: Yes. That's also one of my favorites. Um, oh gosh. It's so hard to pick just the, I have to, um, the lava burden pro that I around is also one of my favorite.
[00:39:24] Lisa Woolfork: That I'm looking at that I'm looking through your page right now and that's absolutely great. I love the Lizzo one, which of course, I mean, you know, I, you know, you have a lot of really great fabrics when you, like, when you kind of forget that you have, um, one with Lizzo playing the flute. Yeah. Um, so that's a big, yes.
[00:39:45] Lisa Woolfork: That's a, that's a very big yes for me. And I also bought the one, the, you did the one that with the, with the cupcakes, right? The cupcakes mm-hmm no, I, I guess it was. Yeah. So maybe I'm confusing because [00:40:00] I have, I did buy some in the first round of your fabrics and I made, I bought the mother Africa and I bought the coordinate and I ended up making this hooded.
[00:40:14] Lisa Woolfork: Dress with, and I wore it with it, with it was tapered at the bottom. I loved it. I loved the print. Anyway. I remember it took me a long time to find a particular pattern because I was like, I don't wanna cut this. I don't want to, I want to make sure her whole profile is in here. And so it worked out really, really beautifully.
[00:40:37] Lisa Woolfork: And so I made the dress and loved it. And then I ended up giving it to a friend because my sisters came to help me quote, clean out my closet, which you know, was also, um, I guess some might call it an intervention. And, um, and I ended up like bundling up a bunch of fabric, not fabric, a bunch of clothes that I had made to give [00:41:00] away.
[00:41:00] Lisa Woolfork: And I mailed some to select friends. So like, you know, that was one of them. And that was one of the dresses that the friend I sent it to was like, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I saw this. And so, because this is stuff you can't get anywhere else. Yes. You cannot get it anywhere else. So I love that one. And I think I might have bought some of those with the graffiti girls.
[00:41:23] Lisa Woolfork: I feel like I might have bought that, you know, popular. And I know for sure, I'm already looking at the ones for this round and those little girls are a yes, please. They're so gorgeous. They are absolutely so gorgeous. And the little and the lollipops and the mm-hmm , I mean, it's just a lot of really great things that you have put together for us to do.
[00:41:46] Lisa Woolfork: So what have been some of the positive, good feedback that you've received and what have been some of the, the, the negative, um, or criticisms that you have received? [00:42:00] um, and I say this because as someone who has also received some criticisms for, for like centering black women, girls and fems in my work, um, and in this, not my work work, but in this particular project, like, you know, oh, they're like, oh, well you have, you have these retreats, but they're four black women.
[00:42:18] Lisa Woolfork: And is that allowed? And I'm like, um, it's, it's 19. It's like, you might not know this, but we are currently living in the year 20, 19, not 18, 19 and black people are allowed to gather without white supervision now. So if I wanna convene a group of black women to get together and sew something, we are totally allowed to do it now.
[00:42:43] Lisa Woolfork: Yes. You know? Yeah. So that is something that like, I don't, I don't absolutely don't apologize for, because I know when I go to my Instagram and I put in hashtag sewing, um, it's white person, white person, white person, white person, white person, white person, white person. [00:43:00] And then by the time you get down, maybe to the seventh screen, then you might see a non-white person.
[00:43:05] Lisa Woolfork: And until that algorithm changes, I'm gonna keep doing what I'm doing. Okay. Um, and it's filling a need. The same is true of your fabric. So tell me if you've had any type of, um, feedback, um, that, that you find. That where people are uncomfortable or white people in particular are uncomfortable. Maybe some black people cuz anti-blackness is not just something white people practice anti-blackness is a pretty widely practiced press time.
[00:43:31] Lisa Woolfork: Um, so have you faced any type of, um, critiques or whatever, like that? Only a
[00:43:38] Pamela: small amount? Um, I'm sure it's out there, but they don't share it with me, which is fine.
[00:43:43] Lisa Woolfork: Um, it's preferred actually, actually I prefer it way. You keep that shit to yourself. Keep your side. Right.
[00:43:50] Pamela: So the reason that the little girls that I'm running have been holding onto them is because I was advised that I should [00:44:00] find a white character to, um, Match them so that everyone could get a panel representing themselves.
[00:44:13] Pamela: And I listen and held onto it. And I regret that because I was reminded by a friend that white women can go anywhere and get panels with white little girls on it.
[00:44:26] Lisa Woolfork: Absolutely. That I need to always
[00:44:29] Pamela: center black women.
[00:44:31] Lisa Woolfork: And
[00:44:32] Pamela: that is so true. And I said, you know what, the next round I am, I I'm, I'm releasing the little girls.
[00:44:38] Pamela: So that was a reminder to me that, you know, we need to be uplifted and centered because we don't have access to that. And they do. Um, so that was the only kind of negative is, oh, maybe you should wait until you can, you. Put everybody
[00:44:53] Lisa Woolfork: on there. That's right. So, you know, I think that, I find so infuriating about that is that it's that it's always [00:45:00] like black women.
[00:45:00] Lisa Woolfork: It's always us. That has to do everybody else's work for them. ain't that the
[00:45:12] Lisa Woolfork: you, so the number of people who have said, why is it black? Women's stitch? Why can't it be women of color stitch? Oh my God. And I was like, Like, why do I, why do black women have to be the one to carry everybody across the finish line? Yeah. You know, I don't know if other women of color are being approached, you know, to do the same thing.
[00:45:36] Lisa Woolfork: Like why do you have an, you know, I don't know, I'm just, you know, an Asian American network of blank, blank, blank. Mm-hmm does someone go to them and say, why are you focusing on Asian Americans? Yeah. You should focus on everybody right in the world. I mean like that, it just makes it, it makes no sense.
[00:45:56] Lisa Woolfork: Like, I just don't understand that. I mean, I can't speak for what other, [00:46:00] um, different racial or ethnic groups might kind of be having to hold onto or be charged with. But as a black woman, I certainly have felt and seen and experienced this idea that, um, oh, well, to do it just for black people is somehow small and not as meaningful if, as if you were doing it for all the non-whites.
[00:46:22] Lisa Woolfork: Or all the peoples, you know, and I'm like, I would like to know who is going up to white people and saying, why is your timeline so full of white people? Yeah. You know, like why is it that? And I believe this was a study from a couple years ago that I think that like 80% of white people only have white friends or something like that.
[00:46:43] Lisa Woolfork: That is true. Yes. You know? And so. You know, and yet that's not statistically true for black folks, like 80 per like black people tend to have a more diverse group of friends. And I think a lot of it has to do with in some ways anti-blackness right. It has to do [00:47:00] with this socialization that teaches us that to be among ourselves is somehow, um, a negative thing or not as good as, or, you know, and some people have argued.
[00:47:12] Lisa Woolfork: This is one of the side effects of a misinterpretation of what racial integration brought about it wasn't that people wanted to black people wanted to be with white people who white people were so great. It was that black people wanted to have the resources that get allocated to white people. You know, it's not like somehow knowing a white person is going to drastically improve my life.
[00:47:33] Lisa Woolfork: It was having access to the same resources that one gives white schools and white neighborhoods and white communities. These are the things that black folks want to. Kind of thing. Yeah. Um, so it's just, it's just really interesting to me that, that, that someone would say to you, oh, you had these beautiful black girls.
[00:47:51] Lisa Woolfork: Oh my gosh. They're really wonderful. Wow. Why don't you wait until you can find a white girl with an Afro two and then you can [00:48:00] put it out without hurting anybody's feelings, because, you know, could you imagine Pamela that goal, could you imagine going to look at some fabric and not seeing yourself wouldn't that like, theoretically, if that were to ever happen, like hurt your feelings or make you not feel welcome or included.
[00:48:18] Lisa Woolfork: And it's like, oh yeah, that's just Wednesday at any fabric store in America. Absolutely. You know, um, or the idea that they think that they're doing something when they have like a repeat pattern that might have 12 women in it. Um, and two of them are. Or dark brown and some have red hair or brown hair. Um, and like that's meant to be, cause that's good enough.
[00:48:39] Lisa Woolfork: Yes. Or
[00:48:40] Pamela: just changing. I've seen it where they brand like aerial the little mermaid aerial, and then they'll do another aerial with dark skin. But her hair is still long and red. Like not even time features or make them look like us. It's like minimal effort to change the color in Photoshop and
[00:48:57] Lisa Woolfork: paint it on.
[00:48:58] Lisa Woolfork: And they'll say, well, here we [00:49:00] go. It's and, and I'm not, I'm not sure if you've ever been in the planner community. Um, the planner, the planner, also a different world. I'm not gonna get into it, but I can just, just trust me when I say that in the same way that the custom fabric is its own world, its own community.
[00:49:16] Lisa Woolfork: So to our planners, and these are, um, usually women who, um, who see planning as a craft and they have a variety of planners. There's stickers, there's washy tape, there's special pins. And something that you see with the stickers is that for many years, black women were buying planner stickers, sold by white folks, and then just coloring them and brown the.
[00:49:44] Lisa Woolfork: because they were so eager to see themselves reflected. Yeah. And these white companies were refusing to do it. Um, and then when they refused to do, then now some of them are starting to do it. And it's just like, for me, I am not interested in you just, you know, [00:50:00] making somebody a few shades darker on Photoshop, you know, I would much rather buy these products from someone who is truly committed to promoting the wellness and wellbeing of black girls and black women and black people in general.
[00:50:15] Lisa Woolfork: Um, and I think that that's what we have in an opportunity. This, this is the opportunity we have in you and in your work. Um, and to kind of see all these beautiful designs that you've created and that when you wear them, you know, they are. You know, and I think that that must be a pretty gratifying feeling.
[00:50:34] Lisa Woolfork: Is it like when you see images of people and they tag you in their garments? Yeah. And that's the positive
[00:50:40] Pamela: you're just answered. The positive side of, of this is, you know, when someone makes something and tags and recurrent fabric, and they're just so excited to see fabric that represents them and you know, it, it just, it brings, I've actually cried about it before I see someone, you know, tag me in something and you know, the community is.
[00:50:59] Pamela: The, the [00:51:00] black community, sewing community is tight knit and any issues I've had with anyone or a white person coming and starting issues yesterday, we had it on my page, cuz there's a huge giveaway right now where people are donating gift cards and I have aid gift cards to giveaway to. To, so is of color and a white woman entered and, you know, asked what do you mean?
[00:51:22] Pamela: So is of color. And we explained, you know, it's meated folks and, and got mad and said, you know, I feel like I'm being excluded as a Jewish, um, Italian American, white woman.
[00:51:34] Lisa Woolfork: And , I was just, you know, the community just flock right
[00:51:37] Pamela: in and, and, you know, answered her. And I ended up having to, um, you know, I booted her and blocked her from the group because, you know, we have enough of that going on, where we have to always defend our reasons and that wasn't gonna be a place where it was happening.
[00:51:53] Pamela: This was something good being done, but the community just comes together and they support me. And I am just, I'm in awe [00:52:00] of the black sewing community
[00:52:02] Lisa Woolfork: is it's so true. I mean, and I think that, again, what we are engaged in at least thinking for myself, what I see myself as in being engaged in is this corrective, right?
[00:52:13] Lisa Woolfork: There are a ton of sewing podcasts out there. There are really quite a few sewing podcasts out there, but there aren't any that I could find that center, black women. Girls and fems deliberately that say that the questions and topics that we are interested in talking about are relevant to our lives. Um, whenever I've tried to bring up or the way not bring up, but when they've come up in majority white sewing groups on Facebook or whatever, they always go south, they always go badly.
[00:52:42] Lisa Woolfork: There's always someone on there, a white person saying, well, this just seems unfair. And America's about equality and we're all created equal. And you are the one bringing the racism because you wanna talk about black people. And it's just like, I don't have time for that stupidity. Right. I really don't. I just, I don't have the patience for it.
[00:52:59] Lisa Woolfork: I, [00:53:00] I have very, my tolerance for it is incredibly low. I always think Pamela that people are really just fucking with me. I really feel like they know that what I think I'm being, I'm being gaslighted, right? Like they're gaslighted me. They must know that what they're saying is, um, problematic and reprehensible and harmful.
[00:53:19] Lisa Woolfork: Some of them do they're being
[00:53:20] Pamela: purposely
[00:53:21] Lisa Woolfork: obtuse. Yeah. And it's just like, you don't get to be innocent. Like you are not innocent. Yeah. You just are not like we live in a white supremacist society. We live and that does, that's not just people in clan robes. Right. It's saying things like you're pretty for a black girl.
[00:53:37] Lisa Woolfork: Mm-hmm that is white supremacy right there to say that to someone, even in quote unquote, kindness is harmful and toxic and rooted in the idea that somehow, or when I look at you, I don't see black. When I look at you, I don't think about you as a black person, or you didn't sound black on the phone. And it's like, none of those are compliments.
[00:53:56] Lisa Woolfork: No, none of them are compliments. And it just shows that you [00:54:00] have a really negative and hostile view of black people. And I get to be your exception because you know me. Um, and so I'm not down for that in any way. And I think that your unapologetic embrace. Of yourself, which is something that everybody else gets to do, right.
[00:54:18] Lisa Woolfork: Everybody else gets to just, you know, roll over to Joanne's and find a picture of someone that looks remotely like their child, you know, the same folks that can buy flesh colored panty hose, um, at TJ max or at Nordstroms are the same folks who are like, well, why do you all think about this so much? And I'm like, I think about this because your nude.
[00:54:42] Lisa Woolfork: Is available all around the country. And my nude has to be special ordered from someone who would diet to my color. Yeah. You know, so it's just these additional extra efforts, um, that, that, that gets so tiring. And I think maybe that's one of the reasons that I've not really [00:55:00] been, that I've had no reason, I guess, to get involved in the or intervene.
[00:55:03] Lisa Woolfork: I've not been, you know, of course, if I was asked, I'm sure I would, but in certain debates and stuff on free speech, because I just feel like these are prevalent issues that I, that I, that I already know about. And I am not gonna spend. Anytime educating people who are whole adults. Yeah. And know how to Google.
[00:55:25] Lisa Woolfork: Yeah. And know how to read books. Yes. On this topic or even Buzzfeed articles. They're short. You can, that's
[00:55:31] Pamela: easy. You can get on Reddit. I mean, there's so many, uh, resources out there, you know, where they can do that. And, and I get like that, I'm just like, I'm too exhausted. I don't have the, you know, the spoon, so to speak for it.
[00:55:41] Pamela: And sometimes it's like, I'm just not gonna explain it. That's what I did yesterday. I'm just like, once this person pushed back when they were answered, that's when I was just like, I put up the waving hand emoji, when she said I'm gonna have to leave the group. That was
[00:55:54] Lisa Woolfork: my byebye friend. I'm sure. I wish you all the best.
[00:55:59] Lisa Woolfork: [00:56:00] I'm sure you will find a group with other white people in it that will make you feel safe and at home. Right. Um, and you can take that right back where you got it from. Yeah, they'll hold your hand and make you feel better about how the blacks were mean to you today. Right? They're
[00:56:14] Pamela: like, this is a sewing group.
[00:56:15] Pamela: Why are we discussing this? You know, as if it doesn't affect us in every
[00:56:19] Lisa Woolfork: aspect of our lives and, and who are you to say what you can discuss in your dog on sewing group? Yes, that's what I wanna know. You know, like you can talk about whatever you wanna talk about cuz it's yours, you know, and, and the idea of like drawing the boundaries about what is acceptable and sewing and what is not, is such an important.
[00:56:39] Lisa Woolfork: I think topic that you are completely shattering with your fabric, because you are showing and pushing and teaching that there are black children in this world who have black parents who love them and want to sew for them and do not have access to [00:57:00] images that look like their own children. And that is not a failure of the black sewists.
[00:57:05] Lisa Woolfork: It is a failure of this larger industry that refuses to. And I think that this is like a perfect example of colorblind racism, um, in choosing to, um, you know, to not acknowledge that our images are just not printed on fabric and that we have to do it ourselves, which is great because we have people who like yourself who are creative and smart and ethical and like pushing the envelope and broadening the possibilities for us.
[00:57:37] Lisa Woolfork: And that is something I think that you can celebrate every. Absolutely. So, uh, what's next. So you have this round that opened yesterday. Again, everybody, I am going to put the link to her website as well as Instagram page and Facebook group. Um, if you're interested, what, um, what do you, what do you, what do you foresee after round [00:58:00] six?
[00:58:00] Lisa Woolfork: So
[00:58:00] Pamela: after round six, I am gonna have our one year celebration. So there's gonna be a lot of giveaways, a lot of prizes, um, free fabric, um, just gonna host like a week of giveaways to celebrate IUR fabric, being open for a year. Um,
[00:58:19] Lisa Woolfork: and then, uh,
[00:58:21] Pamela: I'm gonna have a rerun
[00:58:23] Lisa Woolfork: round. Oh, nice.
[00:58:26] Pamela: So people who were not able to get mother Africa or everything is everything I'm only gonna run the most popular prints and I'm gonna let the, um, members vote for what prints they wanna see again.
[00:58:41] Pamela: And I'm gonna, um, have a rerun round.
[00:58:44] Lisa Woolfork: I love it. Yeah. I gotta make sure to get my vote in. Yeah. I'm excited about
[00:58:49] Pamela: that too. Cause I'm like, oh, I need some more mother Africa.
[00:58:52] Lisa Woolfork: Same. I gave my dress away. So I now need to make another one that was really sweet of you, by the way, I suppose I was coerced. [00:59:00] Well, Pamela, this has been such a delight.
[00:59:03] Lisa Woolfork: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us and tell us where we can find you on the socials. Yeah. Um,
[00:59:09] Pamela: my Facebook is Ameral curtain fabric. Instagram is Emeral underscore curtain underscore fabric. So you can find me in either one of those.
[00:59:18] Lisa Woolfork: Fantastic. And I will be sure to provide those links.
[00:59:21] Lisa Woolfork: Thank you so much for taking the time to, um, join us today and looking forward to ordering some fabric for myself.
[00:59:26] Pamela: Thank you. I'm honored. Thank you. All right. Bye bye.
[00:59:31] Lisa Woolfork: Thank you for joining us for this week's episode of the stitch, please podcast the official podcast of black women's stitch, the sewing group, where black lives matter.
[00:59:41] Lisa Woolfork: There are a variety of ways that you can support the program and you're doing it right now by listening to the pro, by listening to the podcast, it does help us grow. Another way to do that is to rate the podcast, review it, subscribe to it. All of these things are ways that you can [01:00:00] support the podcast without having to spend any money at.
[01:00:03] Lisa Woolfork: If you would like to spend some money to support us, there are ways to do that as well. You can make direct donations to our Patreon site for monthly contributions, as well as one time contributions to PayPal cash app or Venmo. And finally, we have another cute, very adorable way for you to support the black women's stitch project.
[01:00:23] Lisa Woolfork: It's a pin, a P I N enamel lapel pin. That's very cute. It's about two inches wide and one and a half inch tall. And it's of the black women's stitch logo. And that is $15 with free shipping to the us. And so if you drop $15 in the, a PayPal, Venmo, or cash app accounts, and then send me your email. Oh, not email, you send me your mailing address to my email either@blackwomenstitchatgmail.com or you send me a direct message on the black [01:01:00] women's stitch Instagram page, we will put the pin in the mail to you.
[01:01:05] Lisa Woolfork: Um, again, free shipping. $15 for the pen and all of this goes to support the black women's stitch project. Thank you again for joining us this week. Come back next week and we will help you get your stitch together.
