Maven Makers Archives - Maven Sewing Patterns & Sustainable Haberdashery

Posted on 21/03/2017 by mavenpatterns

MAVEN MAKERS | Kitty in the snow

#MAVEN MAKERS | Kitty in the snow

I’m so pleased to be able to share with you Marie-Fleurine’s Kitty dress. As soon as I saw these pictures of Fleurine, wearing her Kitty dress with that contrasting peter pan collar in the snow, I was totally smitten!

She has used a beautiful handwoven cotton from Karlotta Pink, a company with strong ethical views that works closely with weavers in India (and across the world).

These handwoven fabrics are two toned, having used a different colour thread for the warp and weft threads. Fleurine has made the most of these gorgeous fabrics by selecting a blue/mustard for the body of her Kitty dress and a contrasting gold/brown for the peter pan collar and covered button. I have just purchased 3 metres of the green/black colourway, to use for my next pattern. You have no idea how long I have been looking for the perfect green cloth! (only about 2 years….)

I don’t really need to say anything else…I’m going to let Fleurine’s beautiful pictures and the magical Norwegian light do the talking.

A huge thank you to Fleurine for allowing me to share her pictures. You can read Fleurine’s thoughts on The Kitty Dress and sewing her handmade wardrobe on her blog Sew MarieFleur. Impressively she only started sewing in 2015!

I urge you to go and take a peek at Karlotta Pink. Their fabrics are beautiful. Their beliefs are firmly rooted in sustainability, fair trade and empowering women.

And you can buy your own Kitty Dress pattern here!

Posted on 04/03/2016 by mavenpatterns — 4 Comments

#MAVENMAKERS and a giveaway!

#MAVENMAKER

This is Kat.

This is Kat’s version of The French Dart Shift Dress.

Kat was inspired by David Bowie.

Oh and ladies, Kat colour blocked that entire dress.

Kat is AWESOME!

I actually have no words for how glorious this dress and these images are.

So what you need to do RIGHT NOW is head over to SEW CHIBI and check out Kat’s blog for yourself…

and while you’re there enter her GIVEAWAY to win a French Dart Shift Pattern of your very own!

Yep – that’s right a chance for a FREE PATTERN!!!

Are you still here?

Off you go….PATTERN GIVEAWAY!!!!

Can’t wait? Need the amazing FRENCH DART SHIFT PDF SEWING PATTERN right now, this instant? You can get her here from ETSY!

Posted on 19/01/201623/03/2021 by mavenpatterns — 2 Comments

The Original Maria….

This really is the most delightful Maria Wrap Apron I’ve seen. Let me tell you why…It’s made by THE actual Maria that the apron is named after! Oh, yes…my very inspiring friend Maria of Maria Thomas Textiles is a textile artist, screen printer and a very generous teacher. She wore the very first incarnation of the Wrap apron in her studio, where this image was shot, and you can see some of her work hanging behind her apron. As you can probably see, Maria works with found objects and recycled materials, often recanting the daily rituals of life within her work.

Her apron has been made from an embroidered table cloth, that she has rescued and hand-dyed indigo and given careful consideration to the placement of the embroidery. The edges have been bound as a facing wouldn’t have been a suitable finish in this case, and she has stitched all of that binding down by hand, because she is, in fact, a demon hand stitcher! She has worked with the fabric and squared off the back at the hem to make the most of the embroidered edge.

I met Maria by chance, our eldest children in the same year at school, me also with a 2-year-old in tow & Maria with one a year younger – we discovered we had a mutual love of denim and a hatred of cooking the tea so I think the friendship was meant to be! She talked me into doing a screen printing course that she was teaching, just 2 or 3 days, where we met Wendy (of the smock), who had coincidentally worked with my other friend from college that I had dragged along at the very last minute to cheer her up…funny how you meet your tribe isn’t it!? Well those 2 days, turned into a 4 year, 1 day a week print course, a couple of exhibitions and some very good friends. She is also the reason why I have paper spoons hanging in my kitchen, the occasional hangover, more fabric than is strictly necessary and the knowledge that making stuff is a way of life and I didn’t know I was missing it. Like I said…good friend.

Maria is currently working on her next exhibition and will be at the Sewing for Pleasure show at the NEC in Birmingham, 17-20 March 2016 where you’ll be able to chat to her about her art, her inspiration and find out more about the amazing workshops that she runs.

Work from a previous Maria Thomas Textiles exhibition, nothing to do with me…I just wanted to share it! Now go be inspired!

Maria Thomas Textiles: The Blog

Maria Thomas Textiles: Facebook

Posted on 26/05/201523/03/2021 by mavenpatterns

Instagram first for Maven!

I’m so excited to share this with you all…The first Maria Wrap Apron has appeared on Instagram! YAY!!

Maddy posted her apron on her lovely Instagram Salt_of_the North. She has made such a beautiful job of this one. I was very intrigued to see she is going to add some red line embroidery to the front, I can’t wait to see it completed. I just love the idea of everyone personalising their Aprons.

You should go and check out Salt_of_the North, it’s a wonderfully curated collection of images – very inspiring. A big thank you to Maddy for sharing her apron and I hope it’s not too long before her dream of being a shepherdess is fulfilled!

Don’t forget to add your own Maven Makes to Instagram by tagging us @mavenpatterns and with the hashtags #mavenmakers #mavenpatterns