 Hi you guys, Abby and Lindsay here today. We are talking about all of our March favorites. And this month we have put together a sewing favorite, a sort of sewing favorite, something sewing related, and then something that's not sewing related at all because we actually have lives outside of sewing and things that we love outside of sewing and so we thought we would share that with you guys as well. So Abby's going to kick us off with her first sewing related favorite. Okay so I don't know if you guys have ever heard of Republic de Chiffon, excuse my lack of a French accent there, but I have been eyeing all you people overseas making a lot of their patterns. I looked into them, they were only in French, I didn't think I could figure it out myself. I'm not, I can't translate it into English. So I was recently looking, following the Style Maker Fabrics blog tour. I know you guys probably watched our video and have been following along with that blog tour. And one of the girls, the Sarah Project, can look up on Instagram, posted a picture which she had made from the fabric with Style Maker fabrics, this blouse that I've had my eye on forever and it's the, I would call it in American, the Martha Blouse, I'm not sure how they pronounce it in French, but I have had my eye on this blouse forever. It's a super cute, flowy kind of peplum blouse, really gathered, it's lower in the front than in the back. And so I asked her, I'm like, did you translate that yourself? She said, no, they're starting to translate their patterns into English. So I immediately purchased the pattern. I'm so excited that they're translating and I wanted to share this with you guys because if I don't know, maybe you don't know either. But go on their website, their PDF patterns, so you can download them instantly. Not all of the patterns have been translated yet, but a few more that I'm planning on purchasing are their Georgina dress. It is super cute, a vina in the back, real low, bright for summer. And then the My Ava shirt is this cute little button-up peplum blouse. And I'm just really excited to sew up some of these new patterns from them. Cool. And my first, my sewing related favorite is a new sort of take on Seamwork magazine's patterns. If you don't know, Seamwork magazine is a project of Colette patterns. Colette has been in my pattern library from the beginning. I want to say their shorts were one of the first things I ever made. Their dress was my first project. It was it? And they have a free pattern, the sorbetotop, which I'm sure every beginner pattern, every beginner sewist has tried that out. If you haven't, it's completely free. It's super cute. So anyways, Colette is like very well established in the sewing world and they launched a magazine, an online magazine, maybe a year ago, maybe a little bit longer. And with your magazine subscription, you would get two patterns of your choice. And these patterns are all intended to be done in three hours or less. And it's always just like a fresh new take, something new to add to your library. So this past month, they launched something called Paper Block scissors. And it is basically a pattern modification to one of their existing patterns. So they started with their Katarina dress, which is basically a spaghetti strap, kind of like a blousy, bodice elastic waist dress. It's super cute made out of anything from a silk to like a boil. And the pattern modification that they sent out with Paper Block scissors is how to create a flounce that, yeah, that updates, wanting to make something like that. Yeah, that updates the blousy bodice to more of a flounce where you get that kind of flowy, tiered look. That is all over the place right now. I just went spring shopping and everything was like a double layer of some sort. So that's really in style right now. Yeah, I think it's a great way to get that whole like crop top look without actually having to show any midriff or anything like that. So in addition to it being awesome, just because you could make the Katarina dress now look completely different one, one version versus the other. It also by going through the process of doing it, the modifying the pattern piece, you actually end up learning a lot about pattern making and pattern modifications. They don't give you a PDF of the modified pattern piece. They walk you through each step of how to take that bodice piece and to turn it into a flounce. So it would be super helpful to take that same technique and apply it to a sleeve pattern. And you can make like a cute flutter sleeve or take a even a pencil skirt and turn it into like a really flowy skirt. So what is your sort of sewing favorite? Sort of sewing favorite would be this new little guy. I found this super cute hedgehog at West Elm. My sewing space has lots of metallic gold in it. So anytime I see metallic gold somewhere, some way to incorporate it into my sewing room, I just have to get it. I also really have a thing for cute little animal figures. My sewing room also has elephants in it that I've spray painted metallic gold. So I'm going to found this guy just had to have him. So I brought him home not knowing what I was going to do with him and then decided we'll have her pick to store my sewing needle then. So he's just perfect. He sits behind my sewing machine and I can put my needles in there and he just adds a lot of character to my sewing table. Also keep what you use to change the needle with. So I always have it handy. I also think it would be great. I don't know if you've ever seen a lot of people will show you how to attach a magnet to any kind of thing. You can do a teacup, a little bowl and then store pins in it. So it would be like a little magnetic pin holder. So a couple different ways to use him in your sewing world. He's so cute. He used a name. Well, I figured out he's a boy for something that I keep calling in a him. Yeah, he's a boy too. Hedgey? Hedgey, that's okay. I don't know. If you think of anything, let me know. Yeah, I was thinking Henry. Henry is kind of cute. That sounds like a Henry to me. What do you guys think? Hi, Henry. But he's still available. Well, I've done that. I checked. So you can pick him up if you think he's cute and he would fit into your sewing room. Yep, link below for that. Definitely. My sort of sewing is something that I have been doing while I'm sewing. I started in January a book challenge. It's a it's a 12 month book challenge and each month that gives you kind of like a challenge of what to read that month. So the first month it was a book that's going to be made into a movie. The second month it was a book recommended to you by a friend. Anyway, so I've actually been keeping up with it and I'm on my third book and there's really no way for me to actually get that much reading done just sitting down and reading a hard book. So for me, audiobooks are really the way to go. And I get all my audiobooks through Audible. And to me, it actually ends up being a it's always a different experience. I mean, you have a professional actor or actress who's reading it. So it helps the story kind of come alive a little bit instead of just the voices in your head interpreting how it's being read. You have somebody who's probably worked with the author kind of bring these characters to life. So I listen to Audible in my car whenever I'm in traffic whenever I'm just like waiting around for someone or a meeting or whatever. But I also listen to Audible whenever I am sewing. I sew in large chunks of time. So it kind of helps me. I guess multitasking is the best way to explain it. Yeah, that's I don't read a lot of books because on my spare time I'm sewing. So I find myself just putting on Pandora and then it's the same music or putting on law and order repeat. So that would help me read some books, which I do love to read. And then so which I also love. Yeah, it makes me feel so much more like, I don't know, educated. Is that weird to say? I feel like people who read are typically smarter in my mind. So I think I'm one of them. You know, I've read three books this year and that sounds, you know, so cultured or something. But there are so many great books out there. A lot of them are being made into movies eventually. So it's always fun to kind of be a part of that experience before it becomes completely mainstream. But so audible.com actually does a promotion for its new members. You can click the link below and get a three 30 day trial. During that trial period, they'll let you download two books of your choice. There are like hundreds of thousands of titles to choose from and every single genre. And so you can try out two books. And if you like it, great. And if not, you can cancel at the end of your trial. Also, something else really cool about audible that I don't think a lot of people know is that they have like a listen guarantee. And if you're listening to your audible book and for any reason you don't like it, including you don't like the story, you can return it and get a credit for another book. Yeah. So I've returned a couple of books. One of them, the storyline did not match up with the description. And I was just having a really hard time getting into it. And I just knew I wasn't going to finish. So I returned that one. And then another time the like recording was terrible. Like I don't know why they went so rogue on recording the actual audible book, but you can hear the woman breathing like heavily breathing between every sentence. It was really awkward. So I returned that and it's like no questions asked. They don't really care why you return it. You just get to pick another book of your choice, which I mean, I love that. That's great. Okay, what is your non sewing? Okay, so for my non sewing is actually something I got in my March pop sugar box. You can make it a little sewing if you need to justify a purchase right now, but it is this necklace that I'm wearing right now. It's just super cute, super unique. It's made out of thread. So perfect for a seamstress is this little five tassel. It's like an ombre kind of design with the colors they chose. And if you don't know about pop sugar, it's something Lindsey actually introduced me to. It's a monthly subscription to a curated box. So you get this box every month. You have no idea what's going to be in it. So much fun when it arrives. You open it up and it's just a variety of things in your box. So there'll be beauty items, there'll be things you can wear like jewelry. We got a scarf in February that was actually worth 125 dollars. Yeah, it's silk. Yeah. There's also things for your home, things you can eat. So it's just really interesting things that you may not have thought to buy for yourself, but even brands you've never even heard of before. And a lot of times they'll send you a coupon code for the brand. So you like it. Yeah, you can. Yeah, I've actually purchased a couple of different things from items I've discovered in my pop sugar box. Yeah, they're a lot of fun. This necklace was actually made exclusively for the March Pop Sugar Box, but I googled it to see if you guys get your hands on it too. And there are people selling it. So I found it on eBay, TradeZ, and they're selling it for cheaper than it's worth. This is a $40 necklace. So I saw some people selling it for as cheap as 250. So check it out. I'll put it in the comment, the description below so you can Google that exact wording and find one for yourself. Cool. So many of you, or if anybody follows me on my personal social media, then you know, I went to Key West last week. It was my first time there. And a lot like Charleston, Key West is a walking town. You know, you park at your hotel and then you really never get back in your car again. Everything's just so close together. It doesn't make sense to drive from place to place. So I knew I would be wearing like summery dresses and I just really wanted some comfortable shoes. And I don't know about you, but even wearing flip-flops all day is still not comfortable for me. Yeah, I feel like my heels hurt or my arches start to hurt. And so I knew I wanted some cute shoes that would be comfortable. So I initially went on the hunt for some Espa drills and kind of came up empty-handed. I don't know, did Espa drills like throw out of style or something? That's all I really wear. Yeah. So I wasn't able to find any, but I did stumble upon these shoes here and they're called Corks, K-O-R-K-S. Obviously they have a cork bottom, but I was in Belk and looking for the Espa drills, I figured, okay, I'm not going to find any Espa drills. I just started picking up wedges and these were one of them. And so I tried them on and you guys, these are like walking on clouds. They're like little pillows. Like the bottom of your feet are just so supported and they're just so comfortable. And as I was trying them on, a lady came up to me and said, oh my God, are those corks? And I said, yeah, they are. And she said, I got them before I went on a trip and they are so comfortable. So I kind of felt like, you know, our worlds were a little bit parallel in that moment and that she was speaking specifically to me. So I had to get them. But proof's in the pudding. I went to Key West. Our first day there, we walked seven miles around that little town and not one lister, not one achy bone, nothing hurt at all. Yeah, I was able to wear these the whole trip outside of the shoes that I wore to dinner. I wore these on the airplane. I wore these walking around. Absolutely everywhere. I love them. You can feel they're really light. Yeah, super light. Yeah. And I think it's great, you know, being in Charleston, it's what, the number one tourist station still in the United States. So we are often out to dinner and I see people come in and they're wearing sneakers. I understand they're walking around town all day, but then they go to the restaurant and they're in these sneakers and I'm like, obviously they're tourists. But if you have something like this, it doesn't have to be like that. You don't have to wear sneakers to be comfortable. Exactly. I think that that's a big misnomer. These I think are just as comfortable as sneakers. And you know, they're open in areas. You don't get old sweaty. Yeah. But anyways, loving some corks. So those are our favorites for March. I hope you enjoyed watching along with us. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss our next video and you can follow us on all the social medias. We are currently on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. So if you're into any of those, just search at Inside the Hymn and you'll find us there. So until our next video. All right. Bye-bye.