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: Jack Sprat & My son John

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Salley Mavor

All of the borders from Pocketful of Posies are finished and the artwork is hung at Highfield for the first leg of the tour. The book release party will be held at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA on Sunday, Sept. 26, from 4 to 6pm. I hope to see some of you there!

I still have some photos which show the border making process for a few more illustrations. This one incorporates two different rhymes, Jack Sprat (who ate no fat) and Deedle, deedle dumpling, my son John (who went to bed with his trousers on).

The gray of the driftwood house is too monochromatic for me, so I added a favorite color combination of orange and blue to the figures and props. I used cool colors on the felt border, allowing the warmer browns and oranges to pop out visually. Jack Sprat and his wife are holding doll house utensils.

I embroidered the border pieces with variegated thread.

The driftwood beams and floor boards are sewn onto the felt background through tiny drilled holes. No dreaded glue! Now that I think of it, I did use some glue on the furniture.

But sewed son John’s bed in place.

I can remember really liking the process of building the house, which was so different from sewing. There was sawing, sanding, drilling, carving and whittling. Sawdust mingled with threads on the floor.

Jack Sprat from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

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

Dolls from Istanbul

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Salley Mavor

A family I know from Woods Hole went on a trip to Turkey this summer. Deb sent me this series of photos of a doll shop in Istanbul. Here is her daughter Celeste standing alongside the amazing display of felt dolls. Among the conservatively dressed female figures, I can see some whirling dervish dancers in white as well as some pretty wild-looking felt caps.

Please Note: Mara from Ankara, Turkey just wrote a comment and said, “These are actually made in Central Asia — in Uzbekhistan, if I remember correctly — but they are sold quite widely in Turkey”.

There are dressed up rabbits, mothers with babies hanging on, and moustached short squat men. Thanks for sharing these, Deb!

Close-ups (cottages)

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’m a hopeless homebody and have been putting cottages and other cozy shelters in my artwork forever. This first yellow house is from the back cover of the first edition of Mary Had a Little Lamb. The board book version shows a portion of the picture that doesn’t include the house.

This one from You and Me: Poems of Friendship has a ribbon porch roof decorated with tatting.

I used cloth-covered wire to make the gingerbread edging along the roof line in this cottage from The Hollyhock Wall. Looking more closely, there is a lot of cloth wrapped wire in this scene: tree branches, hollyhock stems wicker furniture and straw hats. The dolls are about 1 1/4″ tall.

This is the Russian grandfather’s house from Peter and the Wolf. See the whole illustration in an earlier story about the CD here.

This quintessential thatched cottage is from the rhyme, “One, two, three, four, Mary’s at the cottage door”, which is in my new book, Pocketful of Posies. Find out about the book and the traveling exhibit of original artwork here. Also, see the whole double page spread in another post here.

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

nursery rhyme cookies

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Salley Mavor

My friend Terry and I made nursery rhymes themed cookies ahead of time for the Pocketful of Posies book release party on Sept. 26th at Highfield. We had a fun time picking shapes that would go with the book from our collections of cookie cutters. Terry is always game for anything to do with cooking or sewing. We’ve worked on many projects together including the Woods Hole Village Quilt, which I wrote about here.

We made sugar cookies…

and gingerbread cookies.

This tree cookie cutter was from my grandmother’s kitchen stuff. It looks like some of the embroidered felt trees in the book.

from Jack & Jill in “Pocketful of Posies”

I especially liked decorating the little houses with squiggles which reminded me of the embroidered doodles on the felt borders I’ve been making for the past few months. We had a lot of cookies to cover with icing, so I squirted quickly and loosely, not worrying about perfection.

There are many houses in the book. This one is from the rhyme “Rain, rain, go away, come again another day”.

Rain, rain go away, from “Pocketful of Posies”

At about midnight, we stopped and loaded the cookies into the freezer, to keep until the party.

Giveaway winner & Highfield Hall Show

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Salley Mavor

It’s been a busy day. First, the book giveaway winner is Ann Irvin! I’ll be contacting Ann via e-mail and will send her an autographed copy of Pocketful of Posies. It is also the first day of the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit at Highfield Hall.

This is the back room at Eight Cousins Children’s Books, where I signed a stack of books today. They will take orders for inscribed books at 508-548-5548.

Here is Historic Highfield Hall in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where the exhibit is showing through Oct 31st. The opening reception and book release party will be on Sunday, Sept. 26th from 4 to 6pm. Eight Cousins will be selling books and I’ll be on hand to meet you and autograph copies. To add to the festivities, Eight Cousins will be giving away posters to the first 50 customers. All are welcome.

I’m really pleased with how the show looks at Highfield and the people have been just great to work with. It’s such a warm, homey setting for the artwork.

“Posies” artwork ready to hang!

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Today, we finished framing the Pocketful of Posies artwork and will be ready to hang the show tomorrow! Talk about working ’til the last-minute. I don’t usually do things this way and have everything completed way ahead. The whole family helped out over the weekend, while I sewed the last border together. My studio was a beehive of activity; my husband Rob put the last of the artwork into frames and sons Peter and Ian drilled holes and screwed in the eyes on the back. It will take several car loads to transport all 51 pictures over to Highfield Hall tomorrow morning. It’s a good thing we live close by. Wow, does it feel good to have this project done! You can read about Pocketful of Posies: A Traveling Exhibit and see the schedule here.

Pocketful of Borders: Little piggies & back jacket

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This is a quick update on the border project for the illustrations from Pocketful of Posies. I’m working on the last one now, so if everything goes as planned, we will be readyto hang the show next Monday! My husband has been helping by putting the artwork into the frames he made. To see the show schedule, go to the Traveling Exhibit Page here. These pictures are from This Little Piggy and the back book jacket.

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

Closeups (grapes)

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I smelled grapes this morning. Wild Concord grape vines strangle the trees along the bike path and their dark purple fruit is ripening. Women were picking low growing grapes and filling plastic bags. Here are some closeups of grapes in my artwork over an almost 50 year span.

crayon on lined paper, 1960 (age 5)

This pin was made by covering red beads with sheer lavender fabric. Read the story of my pins here.

pin, 1978

The grapes in this fabric relief piece were made the same way as the pin, but about 1/2 the size. I used real curly grape vines. See another detail from “Vineyard Family” here.

detail from “Vineyard Family” 1985

Here’s one from my kitchen faux tiles, which you can see here.

faux tile, 1991

Here’s a scene from Mary Had a Little Lamb, when the lamb was following Mary to school. See other closeups from the book here.

detail from “Mary Had a Little Lamb” 1995

And this is a felt pin from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects.

felt pin from “Felt Wee Folk” 2003

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

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.