Eve Penman: An Empowered Housewife in Rural America

With all the harrumphing amongst presidential candidates in regards to raising the minimum wage and/or closing the supposedly sexist pay gap, I can't help but ponder: Rather than bureaucratically coercing businesses to pay more money to employees, what if the Federal Reserve worked at raising the value of the US dollar? After all, the value of the US dollar has only fallen 2,297.3% since the federal government was given control to regulate inflation upon the creation of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913.  Only 2 ,297.3%. That's all.  To put it another way, according to the US Inflation Calculator , an item priced at $1.00 in 1913 would cost $23.97 in 2015, with 2,297.3% being the cumulative rate of inflation.  Now, while the US Inflation Calculator website defines Inflation as ' continuously rising prices ,' the site also defines Inflation as ' the continuous fall in the value of the dollar .' Hence, the value of the dollar has fallen 2,297.3% since 1913 ,...

My sewing machine has finally been serviced, so I broke it (and me) in by making a moderately challenging  reversible bag using an old pair of Carhartt jeans, a cotton fat quarter, and a couple of t-shirt cutouts for a touch of personal flair. The tutorial linked above is for a larger bag, but I experimented and sized it down into a handbag (see pic for cutting board measurements). I based the size of the bag on the fat quarter when cut in half; I then cut the denim jeans to the same size and drew a pattern on paper similar to the one in the tutorial. Eat your heart out, Riff Randell. I'm happy with how I utilized the final scraps of one of my 20-year-old Ramones concert t-shirts. I used a medium sized zig-zag stitch around the t-shirt cutouts and made a few laps to secure them. The other t-shirt I used features pin-up art from Bawiddiman . I love his style and couldn't part with the t-shirt even though I don't wear it anymore, so it has been sitting in the proje...