About Salley Mavor

I make 3-dimensional fabric relief pictures that are photographed and used to illustrate children’s books. I sew together different materials to create fanciful scenes in relief, much like a miniature stage set, with figures imposed on an embellished fabric background. My work is decorative and detailed, full of patterns from nature and found objects, all sewn together by hand with a needle and thread.

fairy girls in the studio

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Salley Mavor

Last week, I had a delightful visit with Bronwyn Malicoat and a carload of girls, who drove to my studio in Falmouth, from Provincetown, which is at least a 1 1/2 hour ride from the other end of Cape Cod. It’s common knowledge that people from our different poles rarely visit each other (especially in the summer), because there is no direct route and the traffic can be a pain. But, I’m really glad that they came, bursting out of the car with their little fairies in hand. The girls are enrolled in Bronwyn’s summer craft program, which includes a good dose of fairy projects.

When they arrived, Rob and I were just finishing a photo shoot out on our patio.

Here, the girls are looking at the scene, which includes some of my doll projects. They’ll be in the 2nd edition of my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk. Sorry, but I can’t show any details until the book is published in 2015.

They were so proud of their fairies that they made earlier in the week.

They played with them the whole time they were outside.

They ate what was left of the blueberry crop and took photos of their fairies in the blueberry bushes.

Then, they looked around my studio and took more pictures.

It was a treat to spend time with Bronwyn and her students. Being the mother of sons, I have not been around young girls very much and being in their company brought back childhood memories of playing with my sister and friends. We would spend hours making things and setting up scenes to play with. Come to think of it, I still do that now!

Giveaway winner in stitches

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Salley Mavor

Thank you to all of you who wrote about your favorite stitch this past week for the 2000 Likes on Facebook Giveaway. I loved hearing your descriptions of how certain stitches bring back sweet memories of learning from grandmothers. In this modern age, it is wonderful to hear from so many people who make a place in their lives for handwork. One entrant described herself as “a stitch dictionary junkie” and another wrote, “My favorites are the first and last stitches. Happy to begin and to finish.” Some stitches were identified as a signature of sorts, with one woman declaring, “I’m a blanket stitch with variegated thread kind of girl.”

Although I didn’t intend for this to be an embroidery stitch popularity contest, I couldn’t help keeping a tally of the various choices. In the end, it was dead heat between the blanket (or button hole) stitch and the french knot, which were both way out in the lead. Other favorites were the chain stitch, bullion, feather, daisy, stem, seed, satin and even the beaded Palestrina stitch, which I had to learn for the sampler pictured above. Mary Corbet has some easy to follow tutorials on her web site, Needle N’Thread. The different stitches are shown in numbers according to their popularity on the comments. I was not surprised by how the simple ones prevailed in the final count. No matter how many fancy stitches I try, I find that I can achieve almost everything I want with the basic blanket, chain and french knot stitches.

The 3 winners of the Giveaway are Teresa, Petra and Pam W. I will notify them by e-mail and send each a copy of my 1995 book Mary Had a Little Lamb. To see a list of all my books go here. Thank you to all who participated!

My how-to book, Felt Wee Folk, has pictures, directions and patterns for making a wide range of bendable figures with a variety of hairstyles, outfits, and armatures.

To keep up with new posts, subscribe to this blog (top right column on the home page). Your contact info will not be sold or shared. If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram.

2,000 Likes Giveaway!

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Salley Mavor

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As of today, 2,000 people have “Liked” my Facebook page! I’m flabbergasted by the how rapidly my audience has grown, since it took me so long to welcome Facebook into my life (8 months ago). It’s different from my blog, in that I post pictures just about every day and share images that I find inspirational. Thank you to all of you who follow my work, either on Facebook and/or this blog. To celebrate, I’m giving away 3 signed paperback copies of my 1995 picture book, Mary Had a Little Lamb. You can see all of my books listed here. Since more than half of you are from outside of the United States, the contest is open to everyone, worldwide. To enter, please leave a comment naming or describing your favorite stitch. The winners will be picked at random on Wednesday, August 21st, 2013.

Mary Had a Little Lamb 1995

Oak Bluffs cottages and The Moth

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Salley Mavor

Last Saturday, a friend and I took a boat over to Oak Bluffs. We had tickets to go to The Moth on Martha’s Vineyard, which I describe at the end of this post. Before the evening show, we walked around the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting neighborhood and I took some photos of the perfectly charming little cottages. See a post about last year’s visit here. The purpose of our visit to Oak Bluffs was to attend an evening of storytelling presented by The Moth radio program. If your local NPR station airs The Moth, you know how inspiring and moving the stories can be. Last summer, Martha’s Vineyard writer, Cynthia Riggs told a most compelling story that has by now been heard all over the world. It is worth hearing her tale, so click the link on her name. She returned this year and gave an update of her adventure to a cheering crowd of 1700. Here’s the inside of the Tabernacle while we were waiting for the storytelling performances to begin. It was quite an evening!

my garden

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Salley Mavor

Yesterday, I picked the last of the blueberries and the first golden cherry tomatoes from our garden. We have a wire mesh cage to keep the birds away from the blueberry bushes. Still, chipmunks manage to get find a way in and fill their cheeks to capacity. Unlike the birds, they leave plenty of berries for us!

The lilies are just about gone, but the trumpet vine is flowering.

My husband Rob took the closeup photos of wildlife and flowers found in our garden this spring and summer. You can see more of his great pictures on Flickr here.

Close-ups (emotion)

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Salley Mavor

One of the fun and challenging parts about illustrating for children is showing emotion and action, especially in fiber art, which tends to be static. To counter-act the stiff blandness, I like to bring forth emotion by exaggerating the poses and facial expressions of my characters. But there’s a fine line between evoking believable feeling and creating a grotesque appearance, much like the difference between acting well and over acting. I’ve seen some doll faces that are downright scary and bizarre. My goal is to portray emotion with a subtle firmness, without being too disturbing.

Nursery Rhymes are full of emotional and physical activity, so I had lots of opportunities to experiment with poses and facial expressions in my book, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. Here are a selection of close-ups from the book.

Do you want to see the original embroidered illustrations from the book? There are still several locations scheduled for the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit, which has been touring the country since 2010.

Fairy House Raffle

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Salley Mavor

I want to let everyone know about the opportunity to win this fairy house. In conjunction with the Fairy Houses of Beebe Woods Exhibit (which ends on July 21, 2013), Highfield Hall is holding a raffle for my driftwood and felt covered wire hanging doorway. It’s intended for indoor display because the glue isn’t water proof.

We were lucky enough to snap a picture of this blue fairy as she was peaking out of the door.

Other Fairy House News
(added May 30, 2015)
The Fairy Houses of Highfield Hall outdoor exhibit will be held from June 28th to August 31, 2015 at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA. In addition to curating the exhibit, Salley Mavor has made a fairy family of 5, which is being raffled (3 tickets for $5.00). Tickets may be purchased online or at Highfield Hall, where the fairy family is on display. The raffle drawing will be August 30, 2015. The prize will be sent to the winner anywhere in the world! Good luck!rway, but she flew away, so she won’t be coming along with the house.

Jurors go for the Birds

Posted on July 16, 2013 by Salley Mavor

Poster – Birds of Beebe Woods

I am pleased to announce that Birds of Beebe Woods has received the Juror’s Choice Award in the New Legacies: Contemporary Art Quilt Exhibition! The show will be on display until August 31st at the Lincoln Center Art Gallery, Fort Collins, CO.

Posters (pictured above) are available from my Etsy Shop.

In the past year, the original “Birds” has been displayed in Falmouth, MA, Plymouth, MA and Paducah, KY. I’d like to have the piece shown in public in other locations around the country, so that more people can experience the embroidered details up close. I’ll continue to enter it into juried shows before it ages out, since most exhibits have a date of completion requirement. There’s always the question of which shows to enter. My work doesn’t easily fit into a category, so I usually broaden my search to include shows looking for fiber art, illustration, fine crafts, needlework, mixed media, collage and art quilts. I’ve found that a lot of quilt shows have narrow eligibility requirements, so I pass over most of them. I consider the venue, location, prestige and length of the exhibit to determine if it’s worth the expense of shipping a heavy crate. Then, I look at the jurors’ artwork and gauge if they might be receptive to my combination of techniques and style. So much of the selection process comes down to personal taste. To some, the narrative nature of my work comes across as sweet and precious and it doesn’t fit with the other more intellectual artistic explorations. My work is so outside of the abstract and edgy trends found in today’s art and fine craft world. I admit to being oblivious to what’s going on out there and find the art scene perplexing. Instead of trying to fit in, I will continue to do as I’ve always done; let my art lead the way. And as long as I keep making new pieces, I’ll find a way to have them seen in public!

that brocade peplum bodice

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Salley Mavor

A few weeks ago, I posted this picture of my hand painted with henna on this blog and my Facebook page. The photo was taken at the opening of The Fairy Houses of Beebe Woods exhibit. Questions were asked about the garment I’m wearing, so here are more pictures of “that brocade peplum bodice”. I made it in the mid 2000’s to wear at the Fairie Festival in Pennsylvania. Rob and I would tow a trailer loaded with a canvas tent, all kinds of odd pieces of wood, display racks, tables, cloths and garlands. The crowd at this event was a perfect match for my fairy kits and cards, as well as my books and we really enjoyed being a part of the festival scene.

It was quite a job setting up the tent and arched doorway. We went for a few years and then I stopped making the kits in order to have time to work on my book, Pocketful of Posies.

The bodice is made from a heavy brocade fabric and the lining is striped seersucker. For embellishment, I embroidered a wavy chain stitch and added red soutache braid by hand to the black piping. I hand stitched the artificial leaves around the neck and machine sewed leaves to the tabs or piccadils. I can’t remember where the metal rings came from, but they worked well for the laced up red cord in front. Don’t ask how it holds up in the laundry, because, as was common in the olden days, I’ve never washed it.

If you want to make one yourself, the pattern is the Easy Peasant Bodice – front laced sold by The Farthingale.

Fairy Houses of Beebe Woods #3

Posted on July 8, 2013 by Salley Mavor

“Home of the Tooth Fairy” by Sue Beardsley

People are still flocking to see The Fairy Houses of Beebe Woods exhibit, which will be in and around the grounds of Highfield Hall until July 21st. Stop by the building to get a tour map during their open hours (M – F, 10 – 4, S – S 10 – 2) or print out your own from this pdf file.

detail from “Home of the Tooth Fairy” by Sue Beardsley

My husband, Rob took these “house portraits” of the dwellings in the morning or evening light, depending on their orientation. As you can see, each artist has interpreted the Fairy House theme in a vastly different way. More photographs of other houses can be seen on posts #1 and #2.