Two Feathers in My Cap


You never know where you'll find sewing accessories or accessories for your hats.

My friend Ruth and I were on our way to the farmer's market and then Jo-Ann Fabrics when Ruth's vehicle made a Sudden Stop half-block away from my apartment ...in front of a yard sale. She had to shop (my pal not her aut0)...and so I figured, "What the heck. I'll go too."

I used to be yard-sale, flea market and estate sale junkie, getting up at the pre-dawn hours to get in line for Good Stuff - I got a creaky 1920s-era Mahogany twin bed for $75 that way plus a rickety bamboo shelf that wasn't worth $50 I shelled out for it, but that's how I've slowly amassed my post-collegiate furniture collection. But I've been burned out on the Hunt for Cheap Stuff for a while. Yard Sales? I walk past. Estate sales? Yawn. Flea market? I'll go if you go and you drive. Hah!

This yard sale wasn't different from others. Lots of 1960s-era couch-cover plastics, a few pale pink quilted house coats, even a child-sized knitting gizmo still in its original box. Ruth almost got that, but she didn't. Such restraint! Instead she bought a few sewing notions, including hem tape. I purchased a pair of circular knitting needles, a stiff brush (good for the cleaning I still need to do), an umbrella (which I hate, but I'll need one day), Joke Riot (a box of laugh for anytime, anyplace, anywhere!) and a bag of fragile feathers, which you see above on my H&M hats.

Five of those plumes cost me twenty-five cents. They were apparently from France originally, according to a faded paper label. They're attached to what looks like a buckram base - I'm not sure what that's for. I was going to attach my finds to a pin, but on second thought, I'll take a millinery needle and sew them onto my chapeaux the next time I feel lighter than a feather. Which hat do you like better? I'll tell you mine. You first.