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December is FFTCM (feel free to compliment me) month over in the Self Sewn Wardrobe Facebook group and Mallory has shared links everyday to a group member’s page, blog, etsy shop, or profile and told everyone to feel free to compliment them. Because the Facebook group is so large we don’t allow people to post links to their own blogs or affiliate links. We try to keep the page non promotional  and centered on our own business, so this has been really fun and different.

If you want to participate go to SewHere.com/submissions and submit a link to your stuff. It’s ok to submit after December 2018 as well because we keep a log of these and we may use it later.

Zede and Mallory are going to take a minute and pat themselves on the back in this weeks episode. Mallory does have a quick FFTCM shout out for Aimee L. from the Self Sewn Wardrobe FB group. Aimee posted her make of some fun slightly off color dish towels and Mal says she “would be tickled to receive them” if she was a gift recipient. Mallory notes they are definitely NSFW (not safe for work) but really hilarious.

Feel Free to Compliment Zede

Zede is really proud of her dog bed design that has taken 4-5 years of perfecting. Her dog beds are more like people beds and have to stand up to her 150# dogs lounging on them. They need to be big, well made, non scrunchy and be machine wash and dry. Her last dog bed make was actually a repair job on a bed she bought sometime ago. Her dog took a large bite out of it (which is really uncharacteristic of her dogs) and the bed sat in her garage for a couple of years waiting to be fixed. She was really happy she was able to salvage the stuffing (because that’s a lot of stuffing) and remake the inside of the bed following her perfect dog bed design. She cut a new top out of some fabric that really coordinated with the original bed parts and really pulled the look of the bed together. She really loves how it turned out and her dogs love it more.

Feel Free to Compliment Mallory

Mallory would like all the compliments for finishing her cropped bouclé jacket that she resurrected from a plastic grocery bag (where she last touched it some 2 years ago). She said the fabric is just beautiful and was on the expensive side for her at ~ $50-$70/ yard.

She originally started the jacket after baby number one was born but lost the desire to make it because who really wants to nurse and have baby spit on their expensive hand tailored silk jacket, not Mallory. Then baby number two came along and so it just sat.

She recently got the itch to finish it when she rediscovered it while doing a deep clean up. She was pleasantly surprised to find she had everything cut out and ready to sew. She did have to hong kong finish all the seams and she accomplished sewing the jacket by taking little chunks of time, anywhere from 10-40 minutes to sit and sew. She has found it difficult in the past to find time to sew but changing her mindset to sew in these little windows of time instead of waiting for big spaces have allowed her accomplish more – you can read more of Mallory’s thoughts on finding the time to sew here. What made the project really nice was that all the bias was cut , yay!

She wore it over a dress to a couple of Thanksgiving dinners and Zede said it looked really good how she styled it. Mallory would like to find a few more things to wear with it. She has some high waist trousers in mind so stay tuned.

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Zede’s other FFTCM

It’s no secret Zede is addicted to aerial arts. She recently set out on a quest to make the perfect rosin bags which help keep her hands dry and a little tacky for gripping the silks. Zede turned to Google for inspiration and fails (so she knew what not to do) and down the rabbit hole she went. She found out that marijauna rosin bags are a thing and that really the only other people using rosin regularly were gymnasts who use vats of the stuff, so she was not off to a great start but then…

She came across a post about a guy who worked for the St.Louis Cardinals who made rosin bag socks for ball players. He used a white athletic tube sock that he filled with rosin and used the tube part of the sock to make a knotted end. What Zede learned is she needed something porous to feed a little rosin out but not so porous it poured out.

She also wanted to refill hers so she cut up a bunch of her socks and experimented. She tried an invisible zipper but the rosin is quite sticky and the zipper coils are too tight so that attempt didn’t work well. With trial and error she did find a perfect design for her which was, one side of the bag is woven fabric and the other side is a knit which is more porous and flexible. She put a regular zipper in the woven side for refills and can lay the bag on the woven side to keep the rosin from getting on surfaces, brilliant! She also loves that it’s her design and she can make them whenever she wants in whatever color combinations she likes. She thinks the bags she’s made so far are super cute and functional and she’s really proud of them.

She does have a modification in mind to add a ribbon hanger which will be great for attaching to gym bags. She’s been making them on the serger but she wants to make welt zippers in the future which will require the sewing machine.

FFTCM Mallory Round 2

This time she would like to compliment her daughter Zelda which she says is like complimenting herself really since she made her, right?!

Mallory says this FFTCM is part bragging of course but genuine surprise too. She actually wrote a blog post that you can find here to read more about Zelda’s sewing creations. What Mallory can’t stop gushing about is how Zelda has been hand sewing with actual needle and thread in an embroidery hoop all by herself. Mal does have to give her the occasional reminder to sew into the hoop not around but she’s on her own from there.

Mallory put together a little kit for her and she is really proud that she has provided her with sewing rules and making time for Zelda to sew as well as listening to what Zelda wants to sew and not giving unsolicited sewing instruction.

Zelda’s sewing journey actually began with Mallory starting her on an embroidery hoop but it proved too cumbersome and awkward initially. So instead she gave her bits of fabric and felt squares and Zelda made free form creations and pillows (as Zelda referred to some of her creations). From her creations Zelda got a better feel for how the needle and thread worked.

One evening Mal was hand embroidering a small letter and Zelda was pretty fascinated by the process and asked if she could try. To Mal’s amazement she was able to work in the hoop and it held her attention for longer than anticipated. It was a progression to the hoop and in fact all Zede’s grand kids (excluding baby Jerome of course) wanted to participate. So Mal and Zede provided supplies and free form sewing time for all 4 of them, ages ranging between 4 and 13, all having a great time creating.

Mallory was so surprised by Zelda’s sewing accomplishments. She made a triangle on one of her hoops and she keeps an eye on the back of her hoop making sure her thread stays taught, impressive indeed.

Mallory thought it would be helpful to find a hoop stand to help Zelda manage handling the hoops and Zede was able to find a really cool 3 hoop stand thing that even stores the hoop in the stand, you can check them out here.

Mal notes that she felt it was important for her to not ask Zelda if she wants to sew but rather let Zelda ask on her own. Mallory feels letting Zelda create and explore on her own opens her mind and allows her to learn about making and also helps connect her to her enviornment. When Zelda looks around she notices things around her needed to be made too. Sewing is a great learning and development skill/tool.

Thanks for letting us share some of the projects we’re proud of and feel deserve some complimenting. We are sharing the love and want to feel free to compliment YOU on all your makes and proud sewing achievements.

~Tangents~

Zede describes how Mallory learned to sew.

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