Sew on the Go: a Maker’s Journey

Hello Mobile Makery friends!

I miss my blog! So I’m going to start updating it again with further tales from The Mobile Makery aka Bambi. Bambi has been very busy since I last posted here, but I’ve mainly been updating via my Facebook page Mary Jane Makes & her Mobile Makery.

However, for those of you who’d like to have more fulsome blog updates - then I’m bringing them back. Where else do I really have the chance to share my exploits in detail? First up, is exciting news about the new book I’m publishing with UNBOUND.

Sew on the Go: a Maker’s Journey is going to be a beautiful creative travel book. It’s all about the journey Bambi and I made around Europe in 2015 - the very journey that I talked about in this blog. In addition, there’ll be a special ‘cut out and keep’ travelling wardrobe section - an extra chapter showing you how to sew a selection of chic and cheap upcycled outfits for stylishly hitting the road!

The book is being crowdfunded - and I’m well on the way to getting it out there. If you’d like to learn more about the book and buy an advance copy (or one of the many other fabulous treats on offer) then please click on this link. There’s a fab video on there too! https://unbound.com/books/sew-on-the-go/

London - Spring workshop dates

Would you like to make yourself a beautiful vintage-style headpiece just like this?

Join me at my little home studio in South East London and spend a day immersed in millinery. You'll learn how to make this specialist ribbon-pleated trim by hand, how to create the birdcage veil, and how to recreate that all-important vintage look with this beautiful headpiece. 

All materials will provided. Participants can choose to make a headpiece using either black or tea-dyed cream ribbon. 

A moroccan-style lunch will be provided along with a glass of wine.

Places limited to four - small is beautiful and ensures my full attention!

Price: £125.00 

Dates:

Workshops will be from 10-5 with an hour for lunch

Sat 12th March

Sat 26th March

Sun 3rd April 

Further dates TBC

For further details or to book a private workshop please contact

maryjanemillinery@hotmail.co.uk

XX

Dutch Hat Magazine feature

A big thankyou to Elly Stemerdink for featuring my Mobile Makery Europe tour in October's English edition of HoedenNieuws - the excellent and very glossy Dutch hat magazine. It's a real privilege to be included. 

I met Elly during an incredible hat festival in the South West of France at a place called Caussade, which was once the centre of the French straw hat-making industry. Having e-mailed the organisers and failed to hear back I decided to gatecrash the event, hot on the heels of having attended a little music festival at a place called Lagrasse. I was warmly welcomed and invited to set up a stall - with Bambi taking a starring role - comme toujours! 

I met all sorts of incredible people involved in the hat business in one way or another, and was offered the warmest hospitality, in spite of being a complete stranger. Elly was amongst a group of milliners from the Netherlands who come to Caussade every year to ply their wares and make contacts. Not only has she featured me in this month's magazine, but she's invited me to run a vintage-trim-making workshop in Eindhoven on National Hat Day - 7th November. Click on the website below for further details. Thanks Elly!

If you're interested in subscribing to the magazine then please e-mail Elly:

press@nederlandsehoedenvereniging.nl

Please look at the website for all details relating to the National Hat Day event (where I'll be amongst a group of milliners offering classes in different skills) www.nederlandsehoedenvereniging.nl

Dorothee L'a Fait

"Even tiny objects can be interesting, sensual and rich," says Dorothee

I first got to know Dorothee when I worked as a reporter for the BBC in Brussels over ten years ago. Dorothee had a part-time job at an enticing little shop full of tastefully curated vintage finds and curios near the square in Ixelles where I lived.  One day I went in wearing a '50's dress handed down to me by my Aunt. The dress is gorgeous. Black and white, it has a little Peter Pan collar and is covered in writing (although interestingly none of the words make sense). Dorothee remarked on my outfit and just like that, we became friends. She was my only non-BBC acquaintance in Brussels, and as a costume designer and artist, her world fascinated me. Moreover, she was an inspirational and lovely person.

Dorothee grew up in a bohemian household in Paris. It was perfectly normal for her parents to hold colour-themed soirees and even dinners were cooked according to shade and tone. It's hardly surprising then that colour is Dorothee's passion. One of her recent projects has been to create a series of silk flower corsages all hand dyed and sewn. The flowers are completely unique and many have been made with a specific person in mind using colours that complement them. Each flower is numbered and named after the person who owns it. You can see my beautiful specimen here below.

Here you can see some of the pretty headpieces from Dorothee's new collection. She has become fascinated by millinery and her hats are a wonderful showcase for the handmade flowers she loves to create. 

Dorothee's atelier is full of intriguing objects. Her training in costume design means she has a keen eye for unusual detail and I just love the way she groups things together. A visit to her flat is such a treat - a feast for all the senses!

Dorothee's latest collection features beautiful bridal pieces. Delicate and fragile in appearance each one is made carefully by hand and they seem somehow to spread a little magic.  I love the way that Dorothee sees her work. "Hats can transform a person and reveal hidden things about them," she says. I couldn't agree more!

Beautiful single flowers below made for a special day - each one formed by hand.

Find out more about Dorothee's work by looking at her website - just click on the link.

Mary Jane's Mobile Makery - How to Make: EASY PEASY Vintage Pillowcase Top

Whilst in France I've bought dozens of vintage 1960's pillowcases in bight bold florals.  Many of them are the old bolster-style pillowcases which people don't use any more. These tend to be open at both ends and just simply hemmed.  They cost as little as 50p each, and are lovely and soft after being used such a lot. 

In this little tutorial I show you how to make a very easy top from one of these pillowcases creating your own pattern first from newspaper. Don't worry - you don't need to be an expert pattern draughtsman or woman - it's really easy! My cunning time-saving tip is that if you position the pattern at the top and bottom of the pillowcase, you won't have to bother hemming your top as the hem on the pillowcase is already there for you to use. Hey Presto, no tricky hemming! This pattern will work for a size 10 - 14 (UK) - it'll be loose and breezy on the 10 and a little more fitted on a 14. For your info: I'm a 14 so you can see how it looks on me. If you need another size you'll have to adjust the pattern a little.  

Hope you like it! Please send me pics when you make yours! maryjanemillinery@hotmail.co.uk. If you don't have a vintage French pillowcase to hand (and why should you!) you can just use fabric of course. Recycled is best! GOOD LUCK!

Mary Jane's Mobile Makery - How to Make: Vintage Pillowcase Top Trailer!

Coming Soon! How to make a fabulous vintage top from a recycled French pillowcase thrifted on my travels!

Mary Jane's Mobile Makery - How to Make: Vintage Paper Decorations

I've been asked alot recently for some 'how to' tutorials and so I've been giving it a go! Using a couple of apps on my i-phone I've been having great fun putting something together. It's hard to make how-to videos stylish in my opinion as well as informative. So this is my first attempt! Not quite there yet, but I hope you enjoy this. It's all filmed in my Mobile Makery, my fabulous little craft studio on wheels with which I've been travelling around France and Italy.

Introducing Mary Jane's Mobile Makery Tutorials: How to Make: Vintage Paper Decorations!

Ti Recup - Carhaix in Brittany

There's nothing better than spending a morning searching for vintage bargains in France. I shouldn't really give away this address as it's so good - but fortunately for you I'm that kinda gal! This is Ti Recup in Carhaix in central Brittany. It basically recycles and repairs stuff that people normally throw away whilst offering much-needed jobs to local people in an area of France which suffers from high unemployment. 

The great thing is that the prices are really really low and the variety of things on offer enormous!

This fabulous 1960's kitchen unit was just 20 euros. If ONLY I could have fitted into the Mobile Makery I would have snapped it up!

I did however buy this beautiful chest of drawers for all of 12 euros. It takes up half the space in my campervan, but hey, when I get back to the UK, I'll need somewhere to store all the stuff I've bought on my travels.

Luckily my cousin's husband Philippe was on hand to help heave the purchases into the car! Because as you can see from the video below - I found quite alot of things that I liked!

I was joined on the trip by my young cousins who also love buying and styling-up second-hand gems. They're already showing a keen eye.....

...and as you can see from the photos below, they wear vintage incredibly well! Left, blouse 1 euro, necklace 20 centimes, shoes 3 euros. Right, dungarees 1 euro.

Mobile Makery makes over Maurice

I have to admit. There hasn't been a whole lot of making going on recently what with all the travelling. However whilst staying with my friends in Bourg St Maurice there was a perfect opportunity to sew-on-the-go! A little help was required to make-over my friends' campervan Maurice and so in the best Blue Peter tradition we got busy with some sticky-backed plastic, some quirky Ikea fabric and my trusty sewing machine. 

We made curtains for Maurice and used the blue sticky-backed plastic to give the table a cool blue '50's feel. Wildflowers from the garden for the photoshoot of course......

...and hey presto!! We used lace for tie-backs. Perfect as the lace has ready-made holes for hanging!

You know that every stylish camper van needs a homemade up-cycled hot water bottle cover for colder nights and so we put an old jumper to good use. Pin it around the bottle inside out to get your pattern and then stitch around twice before trimming. Turn the right way out.

You don't even need to felt the jumper first. This cover will come in handy once summer is done and is a quick and simple project for beginners to tackle. Chic on a shoestring!