Sewing initials like this makes American mother complain (8)
I believe the answer is:
monogram
'sewing initials' is the definition.
'monogram' can be an answer for 'initials' (I have seen 'Symbolic initials ' mean 'monogram' so perhaps 'initials' could also mean 'monogram'). I'm unsure of the 'sewing' bit.
'this makes american mother complain' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'american' could be 'am' (abbreviation in some contexts) and 'am' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'like' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for monogram that I've seen before include "Embroidered motif" , "Initial pairing" , "Symbolic initials" , "Initials mark" , "Motif designed around letters" .)