ST. PAUL - Justine Jeffery isn't your average small business owner, she's a knotty one.
The mother of three started her side hustle, Knotty Macrame By J earlier this year, and while she admits running a business and being a mom keeps her on her toes, she wouldn't have it any other way.
Macrame started as a way of filling the walls of Jeffery's home and eventually twisted its way into what it is today.
"I was looking online for home decor and came across the feathers," said Jeffery.
But rather than add a pre-made piece to her cart, Jeffery got creative.
"I said to myself, ‘why can’t I do that? Instead of buying it why can’t I just make it?’” she detailed. "I started googling how to make it and it just evolved from there."
She continued, "I took it upon myself to make a piece. Well, I decided to make a post about it with my picture and the caption 'finding my creative side,' and the feedback was beyond what I could have imagined. Friends and family stating I should start selling them and how I should start an Etsy shop. That’s when I decided it could be a little hobby of mine while I was on mat leave and through COVID, and (I) started Knotty Macrame By J."
Macrame involves a lot of knot tying using cotton cord.
According to Jeffery there are patterns you can follow, or you can make your own design. However, no matter how closely you follow a pattern it will never look exactly as shown.
“Not one piece is the exact same,” stated Jeffery.
Jeffery launched her online business in March and has been knotting custom pieces every since. She often has people ask her to recreate a piece they love, but it's not as easy as it looks.
"I have to tell them that it won’t be exactly the same. It’s hard because it depends on the knot you do and the tension on the knot. It can make it look like a whole different piece,” expressed Jeffery, adding each piece, depending on the size, can take upwards of four hours to create.
Despite how time consuming her craft can be, Jeffery is happy to do it.
“With three kids, COVID, being on maternity leave, it’s hard to find time for yourself. I just needed something that I could do for myself, because being a mother, you get lost... You can lose yourself. This was a way to bring me back to me,” she told Lakeland This Week.
While Jeffery loves making her classic feather design because of its versatility, she also likes thinking outside the knots.
“I do create pieces people want, and I am trying to come up with new pieces myself too,” she said.
Referring in particular to a recent piece, Jeffery described the story behind the angel wings now featured on her social media page.
Jeffery said her husband's grandmother recently passed away, so she made the wings special for his grandmother's only daughter.
"They were inseparable. They were very close so I decided to make these angel wings.”
After looking up the basic design Jeffery "took it upon myself to make them for her."
In addition to offering art-style works, Knotty Macrame By J also creates shelves and planter holders, although Jeffery admits these require a lot more work than the standard wall piece.
“I would love to do driftwood, but starting this hobby in the wintertime, there’s not really any access to driftwood,” she laughed.
Jeffery continued, “I am just trying to create pieces that I think people would be interested in and it has taken off and I am getting a lot of interest. I am just thrilled people are happy with their pieces.”
Jeffery didn't get too tied up naming her business. Before she launched her Facebook page, she ran the name by a friend, explaining how it's a play on how she makes the macrame while also being a bit risque.
In addition to running her own small online business, Jeffery is a mother of three currently on maternity from her full-time job working at the St. Paul RCMP detachment.
When asked if she encourages others to give macrame a try, Jeffery responded "absolutely."
“It gives you a sense of accomplishment, that you can take it upon yourself and create something particularly and specifically to you,” she emphasized. “That accomplishment gives you a great feeling, to know that you’ve done this, not anyone else. You took it upon yourself to do this and it’s very rewarding."
