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.

Pocketful of Borders: Go to bed first

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Salley Mavor

There are only 5 more borders to make before we hang the first installment of the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit at Highfield Hall in Falmouth next week. Besides stitching, all I’ve been doing for the past month is eating, sleeping and occasionally riding my bike for exercise. It takes about 8 to 10 hours of sewing to complete each border, so I’ve been aiming for one a day. My broken wrist set me back 4 months last winter, so I’m making up for it now.

“Go to bed first, a golden purse” begins the last rhyme in the book. Here’s my work table with the illustration surrounded by piles of wool felt.

The border colors have been selected and cut.

I was so intent on finishing this one, that I skipped taking pictures of the stitching process. The rug under the beds is decorated with embroidery on felt, with thread tassels.

The different beds are made with found objects like beads, dowels, and hollow thorns.

It’s always a good idea to end a bedtime story book with a picture of a sleeping child.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Bike Path: calm before the storm

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Hurricane Earl is heading north and Cape Cod and the islands should feel its effects tonight. Yesterday was busy with hauling boats and putting away outdoor furniture, not to mention cleaning up the junk that somehow accumulates in the yard. This morning the scene on the bike path in Sippewissett and West Falmouth was calm and serene. If you don’t see a new post in a few days, it might be because we’ve lost power, but hopefully we’ll weather the storm OK.

Pocketful of Borders: Old woman who lived in a shoe, etc.

Posted on September 1, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This double page spread from Pocketful of Posies has three rhymes dispersed throughout; There was an old woman who lived under a shoe, Lillies are white and See saw, Margery Daw. Since I’m so busy stitching, I’ll just show pictures of the border making process without description.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

The Pocketful of Posies books are here!

Posted on August 30, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Copies of Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes have arrived a little ahead of schedule and I’m so excited! The experience of opening the box and seeing a stack of my books for the first time is like theater on opening night, not the dress rehearsal, but the real thing!

Making a children’s book is quite a production, involving many people, usually over several years. In this case it took about 5 years to go from the initial commitment of the publisher, Houghton Mifflin and myself to this moment when the books are out in stores. Autographed copies can be ordered from my local bookshop, Eight Cousins 508-548-5548. Also, Amazon.com has a feature that allows you to look inside the book. Those of you who have already ordered copies should be receiving yours soon.

But, I’m still not finished getting the original illustrations ready for the traveling exhibit. There are 9 more borders to make before we hang the first show in Falmouth on Sept. 14th. Instead of typing, I’ve got to go thread a needle!

To celebrate their arrival, I’m offering a giveaway of a copy of Pocketful of Posies to a reader in the USA. Please leave a comment on this post and the winner will be chosen at random on Sept. 15th.

Pocketful of Borders: Humpty Dumpty

Posted on August 28, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Here’s a shot of my work table (ironing board) with a border in progress. It shows the illustration from Pocketful of Posies that includes “Humpty Dumpty”, “Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers” and “Two little dicky birds sitting on a wall”.

There’s lots of foliage and a stone wall build with a combination of stone beads and individually appliqued felt stones. Peter Piper’s hat and basket of peppers are made with thread wrapped and coiled wire.

I had fun using some interesting pieces of driftwood and other found objects.

detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Picture frames are finished!

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Salley Mavor

After slaving away for most of the summer, Rob has finished all 51 picture frames for the Pocketful of Posies exhibit and they look beautiful! In my last post about the frames (see here) , the partly made pile was stacked up on his work bench.

Rob cut off the excess from the corner ears on the table saw…

and used a planer to smooth off the surface.

Here you can see a before and after, with one ear planed and another still bumpy with glue and wood.

Then the frames were sanded with 2 grades of sand paper until they were really smooth.

Then he carried the frames up from the basement into his new workshop and applied Tung oil, which brings out the natural color and wood grain.

To make a good finish, the oil has to be rubbed off after it has soaked in.

Here’s a frame with the inside slats. I love the way cherry looks with the oil.

But they are not finished yet! The last step is rubbing on paste wax to make a satiny finish.

Now, they are lying in wait for my artwork. The UV Plexiglas will be arriving soon and we’ll start assembling the pictures!

Pocketful of Borders: my black hen

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This illustration from Pocketful of Posies is for the rhyme, Hickety, pickety, my black hen, she lays eggs for gentlemen. My descriptions will be brief, as I’m working hard to finish all of the borders for the upcoming traveling show. The colors vary in this series of photos becuase I took them at different times of day, under different lighting conditions. The color green is famously difficult to reproduce anyways. Here’s the fabric relief piece sewn to foam core board, before a border was attached. Yes, I made the egg basket, by wrapping and coiling wire around and around. Pretty obsessive, but necessary!

The arched hen-house is made with bittersweet vine, with driftwood floor boards.

The border need a little punch, so I sewed some purple perle cotton around the outside edges.

The embroidered leaves could also be seen as feathers.

The hen’s nest is made from some curly excelsior packing material and her feathers are highlighted with purple metallic thread.

This coloring is more true to the original piece.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Baby Jacket for Moss

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Salley Mavor

When little Moss was born last fall, I knew I had to make something green for him to wear. His jacket is made from the same Simplicity pattern (6256) as Evan’s, which you can see here. I am not waiting for grandchildren of my own to make clothes for. Whether or not I will ever become a grandmother is uncertain and out of my control, so I take the opportunity to sew for those children who are here now. I made some children’s clothes earlier in the summer, before I realized that I was way behind in getting ready for my show in September. Sewing from a pattern is relaxing, like following a favorite cookie recipe. For Moss’s jacket, I used mottled green fabric with orange dots and lined it with cotton batting.

Then I chain stitched a name tag with Moss.

And shaped it into a leaf, which I appliqued to the jacket front.

Then a stem and pointed leaf edging were added with variegated embroidery floss.

The jacket was lined with a solid moss-green fabric and I made bias tape to sew around the raw edges.

Buttons and button holes came next.

This little guy is ready for cool days this fall.

Pocketful of Borders: Donkey & Elsie Marley

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’m making good progress on the borders for the Pocketful of Posies Exhibit and thought I’d show one from earlier this summer. This double page spread illustrates the nursery rhymes “Donkey, donkey, old and gray…” and “Elsie Marley has grown so fine, she won’t get up to feed the swine…”.

UPDATE: Autographed copies of Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes are available in my Etsy Shop here.

The hungry swine were fun to make! The stones on the path were made with chain stitches in a tight spiral.

See a detail shot of the driftwood roofs and tree in an earlier post here.

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

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Closeups (summer trees)

Posted on August 18, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Before summer passes us by, I’ve gathered a group of trees from my artwork to show. The first one is a crayon drawing on lined paper from 1963, when I was 8 years old.

crayon on lined paper, 1963, age 8

Jumping ahead 20 years, this tree is from an early fabric relief picture called “Jumping Girl”. My obsession with embroidering leaves was underway!

detail from “Jumping Girl” 1985

This is from my first children’s book, The Way Home, published in 1991. By this time, I’d started making branches with thread wrapped wire. Read the story of the making of the book here.