The Material Mama Podcast

How a zipper works!

One of my posts went mini-viral with my 'how a bobbin works' -- so many people are interested in the mechanics of things, myself included! (note -- that is my old blog and comments are turned off. Post here to tell me what's wrong with that .gif ;)

So here is a fun .gif of how a zipper works.  Or how a zipper SHOULD work.  Because with three daughters and a goofy dog, more often than not these don't line up for me ;)

 

By the way -- 

I'm looking for a photo or drawing of an 'exploded' sewing machine. Sort of like this but cuter, maybe hand drawn.  Any takers?  I have some fun Material Mama swag to entice you!  Think VERY hard to find fabrics, patterns, notions, etc in a purty box from Cali-for-ni-a :)

New Material Mama Fabrics!

Happy end of August!

It's been a few summers of cooler weather so these last 100+ degree weather has been troubling. And hot.  As I told one friend yesterday "It's too hot to go to the pool!".  We live on a small lake and the hot weather makes the bacteria/junk grow fast and the top gets slimy so we don't go there either.  I did relent and we ended up at the pool.

So what did I do in the cool of my home?  Created new fabrics of course!

I need to approve these before I can post them for sale, which takes about two weeks.  However I wanted to show you what they look like.  I have two designs up at Spoonflower so far:

Vintage Fairies

Vintage Ads

Now, soon you will be able to sew your own Checkers/Chess set, including the chess'men'!  As soon as these arrive and I can put a photo tute together. These do look a bit dreary, all black white and grey but rest assured, they get really colorful and custom with your own fabric details!

 

 

So looking forward to this!

Free Swatch Day @ Spoonflower!

I love Spoonflower!  You can see my designs here.  I'll be adding a few today

Today they are having a 'free swatch day'.  Here's the details!

 Get a single free, custom fabric swatch for 24 hours between noon EST on Thursday, August 26, and noon EST on Friday, August 27

 HOW DOES IT WORK? This offer is limited to one swatch per customer. To activate the discount, just add a swatch-sized piece of fabric to your shopping cart between noon EST on Thursday, August 26 and noon EST on Friday, August 27, then proceed to checkout. The discount will be subtracted from your cart total automatically. Note that in order to receive your swatches, you need to follow the transaction through to the order confirmation page. [And yes, shipping is free, too.] This offer works for your own designs or for any of the designs available for sale in the Spoonflower marketplace.

PRINT YOUR OWN DESIGN: If you're new to Spoonflower this is a great chance to test the quality of our fabric and our printing for free. Just go to the Spoonflower home page, click Get Started, upload one or more designs, click on your design and then follow the instructions above.

SHOP FOR FABRICS BY INDIE DESIGNERS: Instead of printing your own fabric, choose a free swatch from any of the thousands of unique designs in the Spoonflower marketplace.

TRY A NEW FABRIC: We currently offer six base fabrics to choose from, including quilting cotton, organic cotton sateen, organic interlock knit, upholstery-weight cotton twill, linen-cotton canvas, and cotton lawn. Read more about our fabrics.

Kids are growing up

It happened when Emmie was 12, and to M now at 8. I made her a white tee shirt and sewed on a picture of Snow White (her favorite princess). I put them out to wear to school today and she said:

"Oh mom, seriously?"

I think my face was a little sad/confused so she promised she'd wear it on Saturday, she just didn't want her friends to see her.

I miss my babies!

Here's a recent photo shoot we had done at the coast last week.  Yes growing up far too fast.

It's that time of year again!

As per usual, lots going on around our house. 

The best part is school starting today.  You know, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?

And I'm the loser Sewing Mama that didn't make dresses for the first day.  Sigh. Well apparently they still had fun.  The drag was that it is a minimum day.

Maybe I'll make a "Yay you made it through the first week it's Friday!!!" Dress

See you all very soon!