[Posted Dec. 12, 2007]

Making The Holidays Come Alive 

ETHNIC GIFTS: POSITIVE VIBES

Rosaland Tyler

Associate Editor

New Journal and Guide      

   Once upon a time, it was difficult to find authentic African jewelry, black art, ethnic keepsakes, and books for African Americans.
Then, everything changed. A friend gave Brett Hewitt a book by a black writer. The book was impossible to find in Hampton Roads. So Hewitt contacted a wholesaler, buying that book along with 30 other titles. Presto. Hewitt started Positive Vibes about 15 years ago in the trunk of his automobile.
“Each year we’ve had a huge increase in business,” Hewitt said. “This year, more African Americans are coming into the store saying they’re not buying anything but books for Christmas.”
Currently, the store has about 60 titles for children. Overall, the store carries about 1,000 titles by writers of color. It also sells tee-shirts, figurines, cosmetics, and collectible artwork. Prices in the store range from $5 to $2,000.
Located at 6220 B Indian River Rd., Positive Vibes has expanded over the years
Then in 1999, Hewitt traveled for the first time to Africa to purchase items. So far, he has purchased items in Egypt, Senegal, Ghana and other African cities.
“It was the best thing I’d ever done for myself,” he said, recalling his first shopping trip to Africa.

GETTING SPRUCED UP: JW’S ALTERATION AND DRESSMAKING

   The handiwork of Eva Burton Stallings is all over the Hampton Roads area.
Whether it’s the communion case at St. John’s AME on Bute Street which she belongs to, or the starched white drapes covering the altar at Piney Grove Baptist in Virginia Beach, her skillfully stitched items are everywhere. There are choir robes, debutante gowns, wedding dresses, and even her first creation—an empire style dress she made in home economics class in high school in the 1960s.

“I’m like an artist,” said Stalling, who currently runs JW’s Alteration and Dressmaking Inc. As a new high school graduate, she learned her trade altering garments downtown. Then she opened her first business, Eve’s Alteration and Custom Dressmaking, which she operated for 12 years. Later, she was one of the first blacks to open a business on Pleasure House Road in the Thoroughgood section of Virginia Beach.
“It was important for blacks to learn a trade back then,” Stallings said. So she learned how to design, sew and alter garments.
“With a skill you don’t feel inferior. With a skill, it put me with the highest levels of society. I felt my job was as important as that of a doctor because only a person who had money could afford my services.”
During the holiday season, Stallings alters men’s suits, hems party dresses, designs red and black dresses for mother and daughter photos. She also makes her own line of designer clothing. She’ll create any type of garment, in other words. “I have been able to pass my designs on for two to three generations because of the workmanship that I put into each garment,” she said.
“I learned to sew good,” Stallings said. Although she charged only $5 to $10 for her first designs back in the 1960s, Stallings has charged far more over the years while operating her own business. Earning a degree in tailoring at Norfolk State, she has also reared three children while running a busy business.
Currently the owner of JW’s Alteration and Dressmaking Inc., she trains student-interns ages 18-23. “That’s how we keep the profession from dying out,” she said.
“I’ve gotten better and better over the years. So many people have liked my work.” In addition to designing wedding gowns, she also teaches advanced dress making.
She is the mother of three grown children: James and Warren Robinson, and Anna Marie Purnell. Her website is: wwww.jwsalterationsanddressmaking.com.

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